Our first stop was at Eastwood Farm Bed and Breakfast. Eastwood is located high on a hill with an expansive view south and east toward the town of Gympie and surrounding area.
It was plain to see that Mike and Gina would be our kind of people.
Mike has lived in the Gympie area most of his life, and uniquely combines a love of the land with a love of birds and wildlife. He combines a genuinely friendly Aussie demeanor, with a wealth of wildlife knowledge and outback stories resulting from his years as a host and guide.
Gina had a sumptuous selection of sausage, cheeses, olives, shortbread, jams and crackers for afternoon tea. This was followed an hour or so later with a feast of roast pork, roasted pumpkin and potatoes, roasted onion and tomatoes, steamed carrots and zucchini and cooked apples. Dessert was a simple but elegant serving of vanilla ice cream with kiwi slices.
After dinner, Mike brought out his harmonicas, and serenaded us with some familiar American and Irish songs. There was more great conversation and then off to dream about Whipbirds and Wompoo Fruit Doves.
On a bird walk down the long driveway and around a hillside below the house, we were treated to several life birds and consumed the available light watching two pairs of gorgeous Variegated Fairy-wrens moving about the shrubs along the bottom of the driveway.
Mike took us on a day tour of the country around Gympie. Although we had an Australian Field Guide, we would have been lost without Mike. We never could we have learned so much and observed such varied habitat: rainforest; eucalyptus forest; pine forest; grassland; cropland and savannah in one day. Mike is truly an expert and at the same time a guide with whom you immediately feel comfortable.
If you go to Queensland, a stay with the Ostwalds at Eastwood Farm is a must!
Selection of comments from very happy clients, Merlin and Sarah, 2010 (USA)
