Head in the Clouds

Well we have our baby Lu visiting us for a few days. (You may remember that when we moved north from Melbourne she stayed behind moving on campus at her University)

So today we went for a drive instead of working on the cottage.  We headed along the Waterfall Way (one of the local highways) before turning off to drive up to one of the highest places around here - the 1,564 m (5,131 ft) Point Lookout in the New England National Park.

In clear weather you can see around 100km (around 60 miles) right down the Bellinger Valley to the coast.
But as you can see it was raining. So all Lu got to see from the lookout itself was the clouds.

Truth be told of the dozen or so times I have been up there it has probably only been clear twice.

Moist air coming in from the coast is pushed up by the mountains and condenses in to rain.

So much rain that it nurtures a sub-alpine rainforest.

Given the wet and cold we didn't hang around long... but behind this mossy rock
 
we spied a critter

to be precise she (and I know she is a she) is a female Superb Lyrebird (Menura novaehollandiae).
If you think she has a fancy tail it is nothing on her husbands!
Male Lyrebirds have a tail that is spectacular in its finery but perhaps more amazing they are fantastic mimics copying the sound of any thing from bird-song to the sound of a chainsaw. I once heard one making the sound of a camera shutter and film drive!