O’Reilly’s Rainforest Retreat

After a wonderful hot breakfast we did a guided walk to picnic rock and Sunshine Falls. 7.6 km

 A brush box estimated to be 700 years old . 

Sunshine Falls. 

After a hearty lunch we did the Python rock track to Python Rock lookout. 4.4 km

O’Reilly’s Rainforest Retreat

On our early morning guided bird walk (6:45 am) we were lucky enough to get Glen Treflo who has been working as a guide here for 41 years. He makes all photography for stills and for the documentaries for O’Reilly’s. He’s passionate about the birdlife and has them all - including the illusive whip bird - eating out of his hand. He even impressed David Attenborough who came up here to make a documentary up here.

Ronnie’s new friend.

Satin bowerbird. 

Satin bowerbird’ bower. 

Eastern yellow Robin

Yellow throated scrubhen. 

Regent Bowerbird endemic to local area. 

Male and female whip birds. They mate for life.

Then we did the zip line, tree top walk including the higher ladder platforms up in the tree tops and visited the gardens, saw the wildlife encounter and the birds of prey all on our first full day.

O’Reilly’s Rainforest Retreat

We came up to O’Reilly’s Rainforest Retreat to break up the trip from Anne and Dennis’s place in Brisbane. It is in the Lamington National Park 2 hrs south of Brisbane. The O’Reilly family bought the land back in 1912 when the Queensland government were trying to entice primary producers to the area. They has lots of requests from the public for food and shelter and after the surrounding area was made a National Park they decided being a guesthouse was more profitable than farming although they had to be self sufficient up here so the kept the farming going to sustain the families and the visitors.

It’s a lovely place. Really quiet and peaceful - the guests are able to spread around a lot.

The first day we had lunch, walked around the area, then afternoon tea and O’Reilly’s champagne at the manager’s greeting then watched the spirit of O’Reilly’s documentary, had dinner and then went on the glow worm tour.

This is what the glow worms look like. Not taken by me as mine didn’t work at all. 

This is what the wall where they live looks like in daylight hours.

As you can see there is a lot of eating going on and the food is fabulous and the portion sizes very generous.

Day 43 - Flights home - July 9

We checked out and drove straight to the Palermo airport to drop off the Avis car (all went well) and enjoy the air-conditioning because it’s 38*C here and we are dressed for cold Sydney weather. Lucky we got here hours early because 5:10 pm Alitalia flight to Rome had been cancelled! They got us on a 3:15pm flight.

There are some crabby people in airports!

From Rome we flew with Qatar to Doha then Sydney.

Day 42 - Scopello - July 8

Our last day.  Had a fabulous breakfast and made our way down to the pool at 10:30.

We have the pool to ourselves today - right now anyway! 

Booked a table on the terrace at Nettuno’s because the food was so fantastic last night. 

Day 41 - Scopello - July 7

Drove to Segesta today. Went to buy an entry ticket at the ticket office and he handed us two and said it was free. Went to the ticket office on the way to the Temple and we had to show the free tickets to get in!  So funny! Keeping people employed for the day I guess.

Amazingly well preserved Temple from 400 BC. One lintel needs a bit of support. It is in the middle  of a rural setting and looks a little surreal. 

After the temple I was happy to walk to the Teatro as it was only 1250m but Ronnie wanted to wait 20mins for the shuttle bus. Thankfully we did because it was all uphill! But on the way up I noticed you get a great view of the temple half way down so after we saw the Teatro Ronnie agreed to walk back down under the midday sun.

The path was rocky and I fell (blood was involved) but it was worth it to get this surreal photo.

Day 40 - Scopello - July 6

Agrigento to Scopello.

Scala dei Turchi.

Lunch in Scopello.

Afternoon relaxing by the pool.

Hotel la Tavernetta, Scopello.

Dinner at the hotel.

Day 39 - Agrigento - July 5

The Valley of Temples and the whole surrounding are is being taken over today by Dolce & Gabbana for a multi million dollar photo shoot, concert and dinner.

Today we are relaxing by the pool in 36* heat and listening to the music they are testing for tonight. We are close enough (1km to Concordia and 500m to Hera) to see it which isn't obvious on my photos. 

This is the dinner the owners of our Villa are putting on for everyone staying tonight.
The family have owned the property since 1810 and it has been handed down from daughter to daughter. The parents and 5 children (youngest is about 25) live here and run it - each with their own jobs. Breakfast was fantastic with home made yoghurt, marmalade, ricotta cheese and couscous dolce Agrigentino.

Day 38 - Agrigento - July 4

Leaving Ortigia we picked up the car and came back to the B&B to get our bags. When we got back the three parking spaces were all taken so Ronnie pulled tightly into the left in the hope that cars already banking up behind could pass - they still couldn't and he was going to move but Carmelo (the receptionist- not his name but that's what we call him, it's a long story) told them to be patient (in a long winded Italian discussion!) as he was loading bags. Unfortunately, Ronnie was trapped in the car and no one can fit the bags into the tiny boot like he can so this took a few attempts. Eventually Carmelo slammed the boot and we were off...to stop in the first free car space to repack the boot.

Finally, on our way to Agrigento we headed for Ragusa.

Duomo of San Giorgio (Dome of St George) a Baroque Church built in 1738-1775.

The only place I could see the glass Dome which built in 1810.

A Rusticana restaurant

Luca Zingaretti, star of the Inspector Montalbano series, Italy's most popular tv export of all time wrote on the restaurant wall.

Beautiful vaulted ceilings of the restaurant.

As we were walking around town we noticed Inspector Montalbano's car and realised they were in the middle of filming a new episode. 

Unfortunately the stars must have been at lunch or hiding in the air-conditioned trucks on the left.

 White mandevilla in a window box.

 Vaulted tunnel.

 Drinking fountain. These were everywhere in Switzerland and they were flowing constantly. Here they are dry.

Doorway and rough wall.

Then we headed to Agrigento but on the way we were stopped by a fire! The firemen wouldn't let us thought so we had to wait for the police.

We arrived at San Marco Villas which is a farm house just out of Agrigento overlooking the Valley of Temples. It's really quiet, has peacocks, chooks and doves running around. Salvatore told us that Dolce & Gabbana have hired the whole valley of the temples for tomorrow and no one will be allowed in. So, we set out again to view the temples tonight!

Temple of Juno 450 BC

Statue recently excavated.

Temple of Concordia 440 BC

Temple of Juno.

Dolce & Gabbana's gold painted scaffolding!

D&G's lights at night.

Day 37 - Syracuse - July 3

Walking around Ortigia.

Castello Maniace 1230 AD

Bridge over the moat Castello Maniace. 

Castello 

Ortigia free beach.

Cafe near Aretusa fountain.

Fig tree at largo Aretusa.

Chiesa di San Filippo Apostolo built in the 1600s and renovated after the 1693 earthquake it houses one of the earliest Jewish purification baths for women in the crypt.

Chiesa di San Filippo Apostolo - very minimalist interior.

Temple of Apollo.

Fountain of Diana. It took a lot of patience waiting for the selfie crowd to move on before i could take this photo. I've seen a lot of interesting poses on this trip.

Chiesa di San Paolo

Wonderful Ortigia markets. Fish, fruit, vegetables and nick nacks.