Maleny Botanical Gardens and Bird World is a wonderful place to visit. Superb views of the Glass House Mountains are to be had from within the gardens. The mountains are so named because Captain Cook was reminded of glasshouses back in England when he first saw them.

The last time we visited it was with Roger’s family from Germany, this time with mine from Switzerland. Although the gardens are beautiful it is the birds that stay in your memory – this time for devastating (at least for me) reasons.

We hired a cart as we had my 93 year old mother with us for the day and as her mobility was limited it was the only way she was going to enjoy the gardens.

Helmeted guinea fowl wander the grounds

giving me beautiful feathers to photograph.

While we visited the bird world Mum waited outside – in safety. The birds were predominantly rescue birds whether from the wild or captivity. Some would not have survived in the wild.

All were beautiful. There are four massive walk in aviaries. The first is for the smaller and more fragile birds. The second is the ones who need help. The third is for the smaller parrots and the fourth for the big parrots such as the macaws and other bully birds. The birds were not frightened and happily landed on anyone they choose. Everyone was warned to remove hearing aids, earrings, jewellery, and remove caps if you didn’t want to lose the button from it. The birds loved stealing things. Feather dusters were available to take with you in case you wanted to remove a bird from your head or other part of your body. They could be quite painful.

Mainly though they were a delight.

and then Felix transferred a bird he was having trouble with to my brother.

and as I photographed

The parrot came forward and ate my lens shutter to a point it no longer operated as it should and hung down over the lens preventing any further photography. I could have shot myself.

The next day I went to the camera shop only to find that to replace the malfunctioning apparatus the entire lens had to be replaced at a cost greater than we had paid for the camera. I declined and started researching new cameras. Roger delicately removed the offending piece and it didn’t appear that the lens had been damaged. I decided I would use it until I could decide on a replacement. I am still using it over a year later.

It’s lens is covered by a spectacle cloth and then it lives in a bubble wrap bag. Not great for quick photos but so far it works.

So if you go anywhere near birds – be warned.