ABOVE THE CLOUDS …. But headed toward the ground at last. (Remember that you can click on any photo to see it larger.)

Qantas was great but 17 hours in cattle class was definitely NOT (although we were lucky enough to have several extra seats each).

 

Crow’s Nest National Park was our first stop for 2 nights of learning to camp again. No one else was there, probably because it was still charred and occasionally smoking a bit from the controlled burn of the previous week.

 

Tawny frogmouth in his "can't see me" pose.

 

 

Australian brush turkeys patrolled the campground regularly. This bejewelled male - we called him Big Daddy - made quite a splash with his iridescent yellow collar swaying as he strutted.

 

 
Jacaranda trees are at their magnificent peak of bloom everywhere!
 

We stopped for an all too brief visit and lunch in the lovely home and garden of friends Anne and Allan whom we met in 1995 while camping our way north along this same east coast of Australia.