Tourist TRAP or MUST VISIT birding destination?
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- Опубликовано: 8 сен 2024
- Join us as we go birding at the iconic O'Reilly's Rainforest Retreat.
We travel from our home state of Victoria up to the Gold Coast (SE Qld). From here we travel to the Lamington National Park (this takes about 2 hours!!) to stay 3 nights at O'Reilly's Rainforest Retreat.
O'Reilly's has been operating as a tourist destination for nearly 100 years. There are many activities you can choose to participate in from spa treatments & segway tours to hiking, morning bird tours & wildlife photography.
To find out more about O'Reilly's Rainforest Retreat, please visit - oreillys.com.au/
Birds in this video:
* Australian Brushturkey
* White-headed Pigeon
* Pied Currawong
* Satin Bowerbird
* Regent Bowerbird
* Eastern Whipbird
* Bush Stone-Curlew
* Australian Logrunner
* Brown Cuckoo-dove
* Large-billed Scrubwren
* Brown Gerygone
* Eastern Yellow Robin
* Superb Fairywren
* Pacific Baza
* Red-browed Finch
* Lewin's Honeyeater
* White-browed Scrubwren
* Yellow-throated Scrubwren
* Crimson Rosella
The camera equipment we used on this trip:
Olympus OM DE 1 Mark iii & Olympus 100-400mm
Panasonic G9 & Olympus 12-100mm PRO
Sony A6700 & Sony FE 200-600mm
GoPro9
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Maps - Microsoft Bing
#birdphotography #sonya6700 #olympus #birdsofaustralia #birdwatching
#birdingadventures #naturephotographychallenge
Such an amazing place for bird photography
It really was quite a fun place to visit. Apparently there are even more interesting birds to see in the warmer months. Worth a revisit 😀
Another great video. You guy's put out such a terrific story every time and it is such fun to watch , you are becoming one of our favorite RUclipsrs and your subscriber numbers should have at least three more zeros .
Thank you so much! 😀❤ We really appreciate your very kind comments! We're just so happy to get our videos out & people seem to like them ~ Karen
I remember the drive up there. Very twisty and narrow. Quite fun but also a bit hairy here and there with many blind corners. Did you see Albert's Lyrebird at all? Or try for the Rufous Scrubbird?
That road was quite interesting!! During the day it was quite fun to drive (when we went back down) but on the way up, we arrived late & drove a rental car up that narrow road in the dark. The car also had a habit of turning off the high beam lights every time we turned a corner 🙃 Nimal did see an Albert's Lyrebird but didn't get any footage. I heard one but that was my effort. We didn't manage the Rufous Scrubbird at all ~ Karen
Thanks for a great trip. We loved O'Reilly's too. It's one of those "tourist trap" great birding places. When one leaves the main tourist areas and gets down a trail it's fantastic! Loved the Tree runners! Quite exquisite! Lots of bird to see. Thanks for your great videos! Keep them coming please. Y'all always do a great job. Jim
Thanks Jim! 😀❤ O'Reilly's was great!! First time we'd ever been there and we were kind of jealous that you'd been there before us! haha! 😂 Now that we've been there, we'll know what people are talking about ~ Karen
Top birding place
We absolutely agree! Such a fun place to visit 😀
Pity u didn'there Glen Thelfo as a guide hes thebest
Thanks for sharing. My most vivid bird memory is seeing my first Regent bowerbird. I was 12 at the time on my first solo camping trip and while sitting in my little tent in a grassy clearing in among thick tea tree growing on a low sand dune by the sea. A Regent bird landed in a tree just a few metres away - I didn't know there was such a stunning bird. That was 65 tears ago and I still have the fondest memory of that encounter.
I would love to go to O'Reily's and witness what your video showed, unfortunately that may not happen.
Thanks for publishing your nature photographing outings and sharing with us.
What a wonderful experience & a fabulous memory of a special camping trip!! ❤ They are amazingly beautiful birds that don't seem quite real. I didn't even know they existed until Nimal told me about them so it was great to see some in real life. I'm so glad that you enjoy our videos & we hope you enjoy coming along with us on our travels. 😀~ Karen
Great job you two! Keep up the great work!
Thank you so much! 😀
Nice and so beautiful video
Thank you so much! 😀
Oh no! It's already over! I wanted moooooooooooooooooooooooore video, boo-hoo, sniffles😭Ah, well, I'll have to watch it at least twice, then.
Very entertaining video, now I'm forever doomed pondering Nimal's packing habits😏Another fave part of the video: the Logrunners! Fingers crossed they're around when we get there, too.
Balcony birdwatching is a very nice hobby, imo. I wonder if the White-headed Pigeons are around in October or if it is a seasonal thing. That birdwalk seems to be a touristy way to ensure visuals of some species, maybe. Could be worth at least one try. (Usually I dislike activities like that, with lots of people. Very unsocial, me.)
Also: I think Duade would approve of that bin as background for close-ups. Such nice dark green-gray even colour... (But the scratches in the plastic surface mars the perfection, eh?)😉
haha! And this is why we'll never do a video about "what's in our camera bag" 🤣
We're pretty sure you should see White-headed Pigeons in October. Nimal says you should see way more species of birds than we did.
OOPS! Wardrobe malfunction
It is a long time since we were there.
Both! A tourist and nature destination, I believe there is a very good balance.
Such a beautiful and magical place, Peter and I visited there in 2006.
Yes the female Bower birds are not as handsome as the Black and yellow males.
You got a Mountain View Room.
There are also some wonderful walks that take you to waterfalls.
Great little adventure.
Yes! To both Karen.
Have a great weekend. 🙏🏼👍🏼🤠🌸
Thank you so much! 😀 How wonderful you two have been there as well. We had heard about it from other people but this was the first time we've both ever been there. The accommodation was so amazing! We couldn't have asked for a nicer spot and the view of the mountains with all that fog & mist swirling about in the valley was magical!! Thanks so much for watching!! Wishing you & Peter a wonderful weekend as well. ~ Karen
@@naturephotographychallenge Thank you Karen.
This came up in my suggested videos, and I'm glad it did. I really enjoyed it.
I get what you said about the touristy "billy tea and damper". That's one of my jobs where I work at the moment 😀 But honestly, some people do thoroughly enjoy it. It is as much about the chat than anything else.
Wonderful images, great choice of music, the editing and style of presentation I very much enjoyed. I look forward to watching more. New subscriber.
Hello & welcome to our channel!! 😀 I agree! I think the Australiana experiences for tourists is a great opportunity for people from many different regions to get together & create fun memories of their trip. Everyone we saw seemed to be having a wonderful time (no matter what activity they chose to do). Thanks for commenting & I hope you enjoy our videos! 😀 ~ Karen
@@naturephotographychallenge Thanks Karen, I'm sure I will find many interesting things in your channel library.
Having never been here myself (yet 😊) I absolutely loved sharing your experiences with you. What an amazing looking place. Really appreciated both your senses of humour (haha undies and tripod leg ) and that you certainly demonstrated not only the beauty of this place, but also the challenging environments i would encounter as a bird photographer. So glad you had fun and ticked off some lifer's along the way ❤
Thank you so much! 😀 The environment was way more challenging than we expected! The light was so low in the forest that all our equipment found it a bit difficult. But it was so much fun & the birds were fabulous! ~ Karen
@naturephotographychallenge yes it sure did look dark in there...while watching, my brain was constantly thinking about camera settings and wondering how the heck my camera would go trying to lock focus 🤣🤣
@@kimmaree5701 it was quite difficult at times! Even the Gopro didn't like it at all 😅 I'm just glad I took my G9 & 12-100mm lens. That arrangement handled the low light much better.
@naturephotographychallenge wise decision by the sounds of it 👌 I have the em1mkiii and 150-400mm. Pretty sure that even being able to use aperture of 4.5 I'd be cranking the ISO 😂😂
@@kimmaree5701 Wow!! That is a very impressive lens you have!! Nimal would have to sell a kidney for one of those 🤣
Fabulous video Karen and Nimal, this place is definitly on our list to visit. How long did you stay for, and was that enough time to see all your target species?
Thanks Roger! I can imagine how amazing your video would be if you went there!! 😀 We were only there for 3 nights so had 2 full days (one was rainy & the other sunny). Apparently there are loads more birds in the warmer months so we didn't see all the birds we would have liked. Oddly enough too, we saw way more birds on the rainy day (from a distance) than on the sunny day. The mornings & afternoons were also the most active (as you'd expect). Great place to visit so definitely put it on your birding list. I think it would be better to enjoy at least 3 full days or more to get the best chance to see the most species. ~ Karen
@@naturephotographychallenge yes it’s hard to pick the right time of year to go there, it is a rainforest (like you mentioned in the vid) so have to expect rain anytime. I love how friendly the birds seem, just the interaction with the birds looks fun. I was also not sure on the tourist side of it, but looks like you get some amazing access to birds so that was great. We will have to go there next year, for the rest of this year I have used up all my birding credits with my wife 😂 (can’t wait so share where we are going!)
@@RogerMacKertich ooh I can’t wait to see where you go too!! 😊 Very exciting!!
I love your videos and easygoing nature. What are the best binoculars to use for birding?
Thank you so much! 😀 I think the perfect binoculars for birding are the ones that feel comfortable for you & have the reach that you need at a price you can afford. We are not binocular specialists so wouldn't give advice on which one is best. Nimal does have a fairly new pair. They are Nikon Monarch 8x42 which he likes. He also has an older pair of Nikon Aculon 12x50 but he doesn't use them very much anymore as the new ones are much better (more expensive though). It took him a while to choose the new pair but the Monarchs were recommended by other birders & they've been great so far. Hope that helps! 😀 ~ K
@@naturephotographychallenge Thank you for that advice. I had a brand, now long gone, called Oceanic back in the sixties (10x50), and they had perfect focus and no distortion whatsoever. I find lens coatings don't show true colours and are not as clear.
@@grant8124 hopefully you'll find another pair that you'll love just as much! 😀
Eastern Whipbird are my nemesis bird. I have a few bad shots of them, but they are so flighty and shy , I have not been able to really get photos I am remotely happy with. Seeing them quite tame and feeding from feeder is actually annoying , it would remove achievement excitement for me if I was there.
Yes it was quite a different experience for us too seeing all the birds eating from people's hands & from feeders. We are used to seeing Eastern Whipbirds (well.... not really seeing) but hearing them in the Dandenongs. We usually only get a tiny glimpse if we're lucky as they run through the forest floor. They have been quite a nemesis bird for us too. I have to say though, it was cool to see them up close for once though... just to see what they actually look like!! 🤣 ~ Karen
Another fun video - O'Reilly's has some cracking birds, butI agree with your assessment that its tourist trappy too. Curious to know how you're going witht he big new lens. are you pleased with the results and how do you find the weight and bulk?
Thanks! Fortunately the place is so large that we could wander off & find places where there weren't many people (or none at all). The new lens & camera are FABULOUS! Yes the lens is heavy but I haven't really noticed it too much. I haven't really noticed it being bulky as I was used to carrying a camera bag & camera at the same time but now I just carry the new camera/lens without a bag. I'm still fluffing things up but I'm really enjoying photography again & loving the results. ~ Karen
@@naturephotographychallenge Many thanks Karen - that's really useful feedback. I'm just on the point of upgrading and had my eye on the Sony 200-600 for a while.
@@pseudophotog well I can definitely recommend it! I love the smooth internal zoom. Super easy to use. The switch for manual focus has been really easy to use too 😁 And the price compared to other telephoto lenses is an absolute bargain!!
Ive been many times its not a tourist trap O Reillys is fab
You're so lucky to have visited numerous times! 😀 It would be a fun spot to go back to later in the year when more birds visit. Hopefully we'll get to go back again. I'd like to camp there next time. The campground was lovely & peaceful (mid week) ~ Karen
@@naturephotographychallenge well O R is expensive but ive never liked camping
Of course it’s not a tourist trap. It’s just phrased that way so more people click on the video.
@@dmsdms215 dont agree