Lamington

Many a time while traveling I would look for ecotour rather than entirely self-guided tour. This is one of the best ways to learn about the wildlife.

I was lucky enough to find one gifted guide to bring our family to Lamington National Park. One of those very rare, special nature buffs who are as knowledgeable as Sir David Attenborough. By the way, my guide's name happened to be David, too.

Following David is like joining a field trip aboard Miss Frizzle's Magic School Bus. We learned everything from remnants of subtropical rainforest some 50 million years ago (when Australia was still part of Gondwana), to the whereabouts of our lost blue pegs and blue bottle tops (oh yes, they are pilfered by male satin bowerbirds to decorate their bowers for mating). It would have been impossible for us to find those blue "love hotels" ourselves at the World Heritage-listed national park.

On our way back, I asked David his major at university, and expected answers like biology or environmental science.

"No, I didn't study them at university. I know all these out of my own interest. The key is to have genuine interest in a subject, and not a major in the subject," David added.