FIFTY SHADES OF GRE….

Middle Earth without any sign of a Hobbit. Under the thick rain

forest canopy, Pandanus palms, swamp she-oaks and hibiscus flourish. Brush box forest red gums and grey ironbarks overlook smaller trees, ferns and twisting vines. Fifty shades of green.

The silence of the sanctuary is interrupted by the squawk of a rainbow lorikeet or a Brush Turkey scratching. Lace monitors, echidnas, possums and koalas blend into this tropical tapestry.

The creative touch of Mother Nature’s creative brush has painted rock and ageing trunk with mottled green and white.

Burleigh Heads National Park is metres from our balcony; a patch of paradise, a stark contrast with the synthetic concrete jungle of “Surface Paradise” a little further north.