A weekend in paradise

We had a very outdoorsy long weekend in Lamington National Park last weekend. It was a surprise present for Craig's birthday - very unselfish of me I know!
We stayed at O Reilly's - a luxury mountain retreat.
A small number of villas have been built on the side of a hill overlooking the stunning valley of Lamington Park. They are all self contained with fantastic kitchens, outdoor spa and BBQ area, fireplace etc. Perfect hideaway for a romantic weekend in the wilderness.


Our favourite bit was getting back from a long walk and sinking into a hot bubbly spa watching the sunset with cold beer in hand. Fantastic! I wish I could afford to move in...



We did some great walks around the national park and saw lots and lots of beautiful fern trees, big palm trees and general rainforest vegetation in lushest green, lots of waterfalls and birds... just beautiful.



And I am always so amazed by those strangler fig trees. They start their life in the tree tops as a seed getting dropped by a bird and then grow these huge long arms down to the ground when they wrap around existing trees and slowly squeeze them to death. The process takes about 150 years and at the end the original tree decays and disappears. Totally amazing! So cruel. They look quite scary don't you think?



This is the view from our balcony - miles and miles of protected rainforest with the Flinders Range in the background. It really is a magical place.