This morning (Monday), we had the privilege of doing a nature walk with Michael O’Reilly, one of the older members of the famous O’Reilly family. He kept us captivated for over 3 hours as he described many of the plants, insects and bird life. He also had an amazing ability to learn the names of everyone in our little group within a few minutes
During our nature walk we found the bower of the satin bower bird which was decorated with all sorts of blue objects – straws, a pen, bottle tops, etc. Further along the track, we found a number of forest birds including the yellow robin which Michael was able to entice down out of the tree to eat a piece of cheese out of his hand.
If you are ever staying at O’Reilly’s, a nature walk with Michael is an activity not to be missed. He is a charming man with a great ability to tell interesting stories about the flora & fauna of the area. And what an infectious laugh he has!
After lunch we went on a trip with another identity of this place – Glen Trelfo, the man who has developed a number of stunning documentaries on birdlife in the rainforest.
He took us down an easy track to West Cliffs which gave us an opportunity to look over Castle Crag and the Lost World. The track that we followed for 3kms each way was part of the original bridle track that as used by guests to reach O’Reilly’s on horseback in the 1920s. By now we are fairly familiar with the plants of the rainforest but whilst we didn’t see much that was new, we did come across some very large buttress trees and many large ferns that had fallen from their original tree top homes.
We were back at the guest house for a late afternoon tea (yes, more food) and a bit of time for relaxation before dinner.
