Hi there all:)

We went on a day trip to O'Reilleys yesterday, was eventful:)

First stop was at the Opal shed, where we were told all about the history of the opal and the different varieties. I think I found this a little more interesting than Ian and lucky for him we were only there for about half an hour:@) He was distracted anyway, eating free Anzac biscuits and tea.......

Secondly we went to Tamborine Mountain, filled with arts and craft shops, art galleries, wine and gourmet food shops. We had a chance to look at one gallery as again we only had half an hour here. There was some work by an artist called Richelle Ryan I really liked, well one of them did look a bit like a dead fly stuck on the wall, but I liked the idea of what she was doing.

Next we stopped shortly to take a quick picture of the view of the Albert valley. The coach travelled along narrow winding roads around the sub tropical rainforest, with spectacular views of lush green landscapes from up high. Hills were covered in trees, with houses dotted about. The coach driver told us they apparently collect their own water from rain fall, they don't have a main supply. That would explain the dirty brown water in the toilets at Tamborine Mountain. Small wild pretty faced wallabies were jumping through the trees and white Cockatoos eating from the ground.

Finally we had reached Lamington National Park, O'Reilleys!!! :) The trees were taller here, because of a larger rainfall. We all stepped off the coach and had two and a half hours to explore.

We firstly went into the rainforest following the footpaths, before it rained. Ian was hunting about for snakes and spiders and this area was known to have 9 ot of 10 of the most deadliest in all of Australia. I was a little scared!!! and thankfully all we saw was some kind of lizard and a type of kangaroo.

We then took a walk across a wooden bridge 20m above the ground!!! only 6 people could step on it at one time!!! It was getting windy! and starting to rain!!! so we thought it would be a good idea to climb up a tree!! lol!!! It had a ladder attached to it and a cage behind you, but there was nothing there to hold you up whislt you were climbing! and it was a vertical drop! lol

We made it out alive believe it or not! and saw an area filled with parrots!! we fed them seeds and they were on our heads, arms and all over the ground! was so much fun! lol We also saw a snake in a tree next to them! which had apparently eaten a bird not all that long ago.

Our time had come to an end and we all had to get back onto the coach. We had two more stops before home, the first being Alpaca Barn. We met a cute little Alpaca called Roy! and had a chance to stroke him and have pictures taken with him.

Our last stop was wine tasting! :) we both tried many differnet wines, but didnt buy anything.

Well that was it!!! it was a fab day!!! I would definately recommend this to anyone coming to Australia.

Bye for now Xxx