This is the twelfth of my Highlights: a visit to the mountain eyrie of Binna Burra, location of the heritage-listed lodge where I have in the past spent happy days and weekends.
Binna Burra occupies a lofty peak in the Gold Coast hinterland with panoramic views of Lamington National Park and it fell victim to the wildfires that engulfed the surrounding forest in September 2019.
So this was a very poignant visit to the mountain top : the views as beautiful as ever but all around the evidence of trees consumed by the flames.
Now on the site of the former lodge we found a temporary marquee.
Further down the path we found a very moving and informative exhibition about the wildfires, about how human beings respond to disasters and how hope can arise from despair. What you read here is of vital importance because even now as I write this blog post, due to worldwide government inaction, it may already be too late to avert irreversible climate tipping points leading the planet to catastrophe.
After viewing this exhibition we moved off down the path and across to the area near the campsite where the Binna Burra Tea House has been beautifully refurbished and extended: and indeed the interior did remind me of the communal room in the former heritage-listed lodge that has now been lost.
surrounding views
Finally we walked along the rainforest circuit with its abundant strangler figs, buttress roots, and its twisty whirligig branches and vines. Even a walk here shows you life and death in the rainforest. That is nature: life and death working together in a symbiotic relationship. Perhaps we can take heart from that.
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