Because Steve, unusually, had a whole weekend without any gigs to perform, we decided to head up to the mountains south of Brisbane for a couple of days . Rosa and Steve have very fond memories of staying in a pretty old church in Beechmont but unfortunately the church was not available for the weekend in question. However, the owners offered us the chalet accommodation opposite and Steve expertly negotiated the deal. We packed all of our belongings into the cars (a lengthy process) and we set off only a little later than we had planned. Tony reversed ‘Neville’, Steve’s station wagon, out of the driveway checking in all directions for traffic on the fairly busy road outside the house. Unfortunately he did not check well enough for the guy parked in his car on the opposite of the road and promptly reversed into his door. Although Neville had suffered only minor damage, our departure was delayed as we had to uncover all the necessary documents from their hiding places around the house (and at Steve’s office), ring the insurance company and ‘fess up to the accident. In reality they were completely calm about it, no doubt confirming their prejudiced views of the witless state of most pommies…

The drive, once begun, was largely uneventful We expertly negotiated the way through twisty roads up into the mountains admiring the wide vistas over deep valleys all around . After a while we seemed to stumble all at once upon Beechmont and saw the extremely delightful church building. We pulled into the lane opposite where the owner of the properties, Wilson, greeted us and introduced us to our little home for the next couple of days. And what an introduction! Not only was the cottage beautifully set out and furnished but he and his wife Christine had stocked the fridge with a wide range of provisions, adorned the house with fresh flowers and on the stove was a scrumptious tomato and olive sauce prepared with home grown vegetables and herbs to be served with pasta and a complimentary bottle of red wine!

However, lunch had to wait as we gathered on the veranda at the back of the cottage, looking out at the view across the valley, taking in the sounds of the chickens, ducks and guinea fowl, while admiring the huge numbers of Strelitzia plants all around the house (the residue from Wilson and Christine's earlier business). At home we call these ‘bird of paradise' flowers and only ever really see them as cut flowers - it's strange to see them as a bedding plant! Early next morning Jen was the first to spot a kangaroo in the garden (actually it was a red necked pademelon but we're not going to engage in any argy-bargy here as, in our experience, most aussies seem a bit hazy about the differences, beyond a rather general, 'some are smaller'

During the day we went for a drive and stopped for coffee and cakes (actually it was Devonshire cream scones although most Devonians would probably argue) at a Alpaca farm . We sat on a terrace looking out over the valley and watching the animals grazing, while being dive bombed by swifts in search of new homes (remember it is spring here).

We then continued on to O'Reilley's which is a section of rainforest which includes a statue commemorating the search carried out by the said O'Reilley in the 1930's to seek out survivors of an air crash. O'Reilley used his knowledge of the rainforest and his tracking skills to continue the search when all hope of finding anyone alive had been abandoned. Despite the time that had passed, he eventually found two of those lost from the plane and enabled their rescue from the mountain. Now the area seems to attract tourists mostly for its opportunities to have coffee, cake or ice cream and to feed the 'wild' birds (it's hard for them to stay completely wild when they have regular feeding times by hordes of tourists, and rangers when too few tourists have turned up). Lest you think us too dismissive, the birds were absolutely delightful and we can't get over the huge numbers of different, often brightly coloured, birds there are everywhere we go . A short observation at any time, in almost any place, leads to at least a couple of 'what sort of bird is that?' moments. The cries and songs of the birds are also so different from those we expect. (And you should hear the racket every evening almost anywhere as dusk approaches when flocks of birds jostle to find the best roosting points in all the trees). 

We enjoyed visiting the lovely botanical garden at the top of the rise, with a good range of plants and some interesting information. We all chose our favourite part to be photographed in. O'Reilley's has a number of good walks, well signed with information about the flora and fauna, some directed bush walks and a pretty exciting suspended walkway through the treetops, including a shimmy up ladders to the very top of the tree. The true 'high point' of our visit, however, was the appearance, just as we were leaving, of a wallaby with a good sized joey in her pouch. We were all riveted as we watched her grazing on the long grass as the joey below her leant right out of the pouch to get his own share of the grass . To complete our 'Roo-spotting' for the day, a larger kangaroo also decided to bounce along beside us, effortlessly keeping up with us as we drove down the mountain to our chalet!

We all felt that we had had a fine break but were really delighted when Wilson arrived the next morning to say that, as they had no guests to follow straight on, we could have an additional night's stay 'on the house' if we liked. We did. During the day we visited Mount Tambourine and admired the shops, each declaring how they were more original and more appealing than all the others. Others, more cynical than I perhaps, might suggest that much of the stuff was much the same and pretty tacky anyway. However, it is a fine place to savour the Australian staple of coffee and cake (although Jen and I have lamented the relative lack of coffee and cake combo special offers that seemed so ubiquitous last year - if any Aussie café owners are reading this, please take note!).

We completed our day's perambulations with a visit to Elaine's garden followed by the feeding of Manning the horse . Elaine is one of Beechmont's 'characters', having lived in the area for decades and still an enormous bundle of energy. She always has something else that she really needs to do but is able at the same time to spend time talking to you. Her pride and joy is Manning the horse who lives in a field close to the chalet we stayed in. Manning was a gift to her some years ago, after she had offered to look after him when the owner had to work away from the area for a bit. Manning is now 32 years old, moves a bit more slowly, but seems to be in very good spirits and looks far younger than his age, taking after Elaine!

Up at her house, Elaine's delightful garden was in full bloom. Originally she carved the garden out of the grassland (hence the house name Grassmere) with her husband who sadly passed away a couple of years ago. There seems little that Elaine does not know about the local animals and birds and seems to know many of them personally, particularly the vast range of birds who come daily to her house for their various feeds, each carefully mixed and delivered to ensure they get the right nutrients . Without Elaine I would not have realised that although you can feed kookaburras with 'pet mince' but you must also add crushed insects to give them the right balance

Elaine's koala story

Elaine told us a story which we felt was worth retelling although there is no way that I can recapture her own recounting. She was reminiscing about the early days when the land around her house was a bit wilder. One Christmas she and her husband were sorting out the presents for their boys when they were aware of a scratching at the door at the back of the house. They opened the door and were surprised to find a koala, who, to their further surprise was quite happy to come inside. They took some pictures of the koala posing on the boys' train set and on their chopper bicycles. When it came to moving the critter on, however, things were more complex because it showed a degree of unexpected strength, even managing to give Elaine's husband a good taste of its claws . 'At this point' said Elaine, 'we called on the lion tamer who lived at the end of the street'!

We all fell about at this stage at the whole concept of a neighbour who just happened to be a lion tamer. However, Steve dredged up in his mind that there had been a kind of safari park in the area a long time ago, and indeed this is where the afore mentioned lion tamer was employed. Cue Steve and Elaine digressing for some while about the park and what subsequently happened to it.

Anyway, the lion tamer came round to deal with the koala, bringing with him a cage. 'Not a proper koala cage of course, but one that should be strong enough'. After struggling with the koala it was eventually placed in the cage and the cage placed outside to await the morning and the surprise of the boys as they were shown the caged animal. However, the koala had other ideas and when the boys were taken out to see, the cage bars had been bent aside by the koala who was now long gone. The boys were doubtful (perhaps thinking that the parents had had one too many Christmas wines?) but luckily photos had been taken. Of course there was no digital photography at that time so the film had to be taken for processing before the boys could be finally be convinced.