Long Weekend part four

I met up with John, Mark, Andrew and Brett [and assorted wives kids and dogs] out at the the Head of the Brisbane river and enjoyed a peaceful afternoon listening to the birds.
Leaden flycatcher...


After a good night around the campfire we waded into the swamp in search of frogs etc


There were a few Eastern Sedge frogs around...


This one had a nice position...


Didn't even realise there was a brown one in the pic as well...


Spotted this Goanna up a tree...


Oops sorry mate, didn't mean to intrude on your privacy...


Then it was time to pack up and head towards home but decided to detour via the rolling green hills of Monsildale...


then detoured past Wivenhoe Dam to avoid the returning holiday traffic...


was another great weekend out and about in South East Queensland :)

Long Weekend part three

Angie had arranged for access to the roof of her building so we climbed up and positioned ourselves to watch the Mooloolaba Australia Day Fireworks...


they were launched from the other side of the Harbour this time so were a bit far away...


it was hard to get "not too many" flashes in the shot...


I then drove out to Mapleton Falls and stayed the night.
Next morning i had a look at the Falls but found them a bit hard to to get a decent view...


i went for a walk to try and find a better view but without success, did enjoy the view through the Picabeen Palms though...


Next i drove out to Kenilworth then Imbil for a look at the old Railway bridge...


and across the road is the Imbil Station where i saw some people playing golf on the Railway tracks...


heres a better view of the train turntable...


The station buildings have been nicely restored...


and even locked by one of the old fashioned brass locks...


i then drove across to Landcruiser park via the Bellbird track.

Long Weekend part two

In the bush about 15K's from Kilkivan is the remains of an old Copper Smelter with a fairly intact Chimney...


i continued on up the track to try and see the old mine workings but its blocked off now... i think they mean it !!


on the way back the track passes hills completely covered in grass trees...


I drove into Kilkivan and grabbed a pic of the old loading crane at the Railway Station...


Leaving Kilkivan i followed a sign out to Mudlo National park and explored a bit out the other side in grazing country...


coming back into the park i did a climb up to Pearsons Lookout but its too overgrown to see much, lots of Grasshoppers around though...


i also did a creek walk, check out the base of this tree...


I headed back towards Gympie and stopped off at Eaglest Nest Lookout ...


I grabbed a pic of the Mary Valley Rattler steaming back into town before heading off to the Sunshine Coast.
click on it for a larger pic...

Long Weekend part one

While making a coffee and thinking of what to do for the long weekend i noticed the address on the back of a can of International Roast Coffee was up in Gympie so after work i headed off in that direction and battled the holiday traffic for about 4 1/2 hours to get there.

The biggest Coffee Maker i've ever seen :)


I had a look around Gympie and noticed one building stood out from all directions at night, the court house...


Next morning i wandered around the duck pond...


This statue at the park fronts the main road...


I followed some signs to the Old Gympie station but there was no one around...


i snuck down for a look at the old Motor Rail engine...


the station even has a matching Pub ...


i noticed this neat mural down stairs...


I then decided to head out to Kilkivan for a look around an area i had visited about 15 years ago.

The Green behind the Gold

Jo, Ron and myself had planned an early start to visit the Mountains behind the Gold Coast and were up at first light on Sunday morning so we could get the golden morning light on the tops of the mountains at Springbrook... only problem was ... we were in very heavy cloud so instead of a pic FROM the Canyon lookout i had to compromise and get a pic OF the Canyon lookout !!

We drove on to Goomoolahra Picnic Area but the fog hadn't moved and visibility was short...


Jo spotted this Painted Cray from the nearby creek hiding in the BBQ...


We headed up to "Best of All" lookout figuring that the ancient Antartic Beech Trees would look right at home in the primordial mists...




When we got to the end of the track i couldn't help a smirk at the sign at the lookout :) ... [it partly reads "an impressive outlook"]


We headed down to Tallanbana Picnic Area and spotted this nice little mossy creek in the mist...


The track goes through splits in the rock slabs...


I finally caught a glimpse of Twin Falls through the tall Ferns...


The walk behind the Falls was pretty wet due to the heavy water flow...


The walk follows the base of the cliffs until it reaches Blackfellow Falls then passes behind the water .. well, its supposed to but i got soaked running through...


The track doubled back and started climbing and just as i reached the top of the cliffs i found a 2 metre snake lying across the path ... just my luck as the only lens i had with me was the DA12-24/4 !!
I slowly moved closer and closer until i got to about 20 cm away and clicked but he started to move into an S shape to bite so i backed away and he turned away and slithered off into the scrub...






Not far along the track i stumbled on to a strangly named "Land Mullet" ...


We had some lunch then drove over to Natural Arch where the water flows through a hole in the roof of a cave...




Just downstream i spotted an eel in between the boulders...


On the way home the signs of the recent flooding wrapped around this give way sign which makes the water level higher than the flood sign !!