The Bunya Mountains National Park.

We arrived at the Bunya Mountains National Park about 2.30pm on Saturday after driving up the Brisbane Valley and past the Wivenhoe Dam, the enormous reservoir that provides Brisbane with its water.We set up our camp at the Dandabah Camping ground. There were quite a few tents and vans already there but we found a good spot over by the trees, between the shower block and the barbeque area.  Listening to the various people around us and judging by the greetings of people passing our tent everybody seemed to be British. There were a quite a lot of red necked wallabies nibbling the grass around the campsite and female bower birds scouting the territory for leftovers.We checked out the Information Centre but it was closed. There were a few buildings close by which appeared to be holiday lets. There was no telephone signal at all and we had to ring Dulcie to let her know we had arrived safely. In looking for the payphone we discovered a restaurant, an historical cottage and an old school house down by the picnic area. A sign on the Old School house said that the roof was the roost for a large colony of Chocolate Wattled Bats.We went into the rainforest and did the ‘Scenic Circuit’, a 4km walk. There were warnings at the start of the walks to watch out for ticks and to be aware that between the months of December and March, Bunya Nuts, some the size of footballs, may drop from the Bunya Pines. ‘Do not linger too long beneath the pines!’ it said.Bunya Pines come from the same family as the Monkey Puzzle tree. They can grow up to heights of between 30 and 45 metres. The cones contain edible kernels which can be eaten raw, boiled or roasted and supposedly taste like chestnuts. Every three years the pines produce a bumper crop. They are a sacred tree to the Aboriginal people. Indigenous people in the past used to gather at these boom times for Bunya Feasts where they would gather together and put aside their differences to feast on the kernels. At these meetings disputes were settled, marriages were arranged, ceremonies carried out and goods traded. The meetings would sometimes last for months until the supply of nuts ran out. Later the loggers came and many of the trees were felled for timber. Today there are only a few areas where these trees still remain and The Bunya Mountains National Park has one of the largest stands still remaining.They are enormous and their great trunks look like the wrinkled skin of giant brontosaurus legs. Some even look like they have toes protruding out at the bottom. On many there appear to be scars on the trunk which may be where old branches have broken away but could also be the toe holes cut by the Aboriginal people to aid the climb to knock down the cones.We saw many trees on our walks but never found any cones on the ground or saw any on the trees. We did find some old remains of a cone but no nuts. It was a bit worrying that we saw very few young Bunya Pines...and feared for the next generation.After tea on the Saturday evening we walked down to the old school house at dusk and watched the Chocolate Wattled Bats leave their roost and fly off into the night.There were about 7 other campers there that first night. Most were in camper vans with awnings. After a hot shower we were in our tent by 8.00pm. The crickets just after sunset were deafening in the forest near to our tent and I doubted I would be able to sleep with the racket but by the time I was in my sleeping bag it was silent. I heard a lone Mopoke Owl calling in the night but apart from that...nothing! It was eerily quiet for such a large forest.The next day after breakfast we set off on the Barker Creek Circuit, a 10km walk. Big Falls Lookout and Barker Creek Lookout were a bit disappointing. Firstly there was no water we could see going over the falls and secondly Barkers Creek Lookout was obstructed by young trees. We did find a Regent Bower bird feather though.Some of the walk was in eucalyptus forest, some across open grasslands but mostly through rainforest. We saw Bush Turkeys and a Rufous Fantail and heard lots of Whip Birds and Green Cat birds. The Cat birds sound like babies wailing and the Whip bird, well, like someone cracking a whip.I was wary all the time about snakes, especially as Wendi, Will’s sister had said the last time she called before we left, “Watch out for snakes!” I was also very uneasy about the ticks. A particularly nasty one is the Paralysis Tick...which like Ronseal, does exactly what it says in its name. I had seen some of the wallabies with ticks on them. These little blighters get on you if you brush past the branch they are waiting on or they can even drop on you as you pass under them. I wore a hat for as long as I could stand it and covered myself in insect repellent. Apart from the ticks and the snakes you also have the plants! Yes, we have nettles and there are nettles here too, that look exactly the same but here they have giant stinging trees too. Brushing past a leaf of a giant stinging tree is not recommended. Will said the pain is so bad people are said to want to rip their arms off! There were lots of giant stinging trees around and lots of their leaves on the path. So apart from the snakes, the ticks, the giant stinging trees, the possibility of being crowned by a Bunya Nut and nettles I was quite enjoying the walk.We came to Paradise Falls. It was nice but not like Ronseal. While trying to get a better shot of the falls with his camera Will slipped on a rock. He did marvellously well at keeping his balance while trying to keep his camera safe and I thought he was going to make it but sadly he ended up sat in the creek and on the way down his hand brushed a leaf from the giant stinging tree that was floating on the water. It was painful. He said the pain came in waves. He rubbed some of the juice of a Cunjevoi plant that was growing nearby on it. In the end it felt little more than a nasty nettle sting. I wasn’t going to try it for myself though.From the Paradise parking area we extended our walk by heading on to Westcott via Westcliff Lookout. We passed ‘Little Pocket’, a circular clearing in the forest.  It was one of the areas that the Aboriginal people cleared in the forest and where they would have camped when they came for the Bunya Feasts. Further along the path we found a large Strangler Fig Tree. No, don’t be alarmed. It does not reach out to you on the path and wrap its tendrils around your throat and squeeze. No, it grows slowly up another tree and over the years strangles it. The one we found was completely hollow as the host tree had rotted away. Will just had to climb up inside it. While we were inside it exploring and taking picture a party of Korean girls wandered past. Will was hanging out of a hole halfway up and I stuck my face out of a hole near the bottom. One of the Korean girls saw Will and shrieked which set all the others off.‘You scared me,’ she laughed and they wandered off chattering loudly.Westcliff Lookout was much more rewarding and the view across the plain was magnificent. The land just stretched away from the foot of the mountains away into the distance and the horizon was completely flat. It was a good place to have lunch and admire the view. We carried on.  Here on the western side of the park there were no Bunya Pines but lots of Grass Trees. It was much drier but some rainforest in the sheltered gullies of the hills. Will was in front and suddenly was startled by a large lizard climbing up a tree. It was a Goanna or Monitor Lizard and was about 3 foot long. It hissed at us as we stood looking at it. We walked to the Koondaii Lookout which was again quite breathtaking before heading to Westcott Camping Ground and then back down the road to Paradise. From Paradise we went back into the rainforest and followed the Barker Creek Circuit track back to the camp. On the way we heard a distant cracking and then a loud thud and I am sure I felt the ground shudder. It was the death of a giant tree somewhere out there in the forest. I wondered how often that happened. Daily? Weekly?We had walked over 20km and my feet ached. Back at the campsite we found that a few campers had left and there were only about four other vans left.The evening was much the same as the previous one, wallaby watching, dinner, bat watching, hot showers and bed.The next day after breakfast we drove up to the other end of the National Park. Burton’s Well campground looked good and we wished we had camped there but we decided to go back and leave Roxy at Cherry Plain Picnic Area so that the last part of our walk would be downhill.The walk from Cherry Plain to Burton’s Well was about 8 and a half kms in all. It was the least interesting walk of them all and from the looks of the path the least frequented. There was lots of evidence of Feral pigs with large parts of the path dug up by the foraging creatures. I had noted on one of the signs that ‘Feral Pig Management’ was ongoing at the moment. It must have been going well as we never saw one.We returned to the camp in the afternoon and read our books in the shade. I looked down at my leg at one point at something crawling on my trousers.‘Is that a tick?’ I asked Will. It was. He dispatched it quickly and I moved out from under the tree into the barbeque hut to read my book. A young Indian boy and his pregnant mother were wandering about...well he was running rings round her and he wasn’t listening one bit to what she was saying or asking him to do. We had an early tea and as we were eating it a car pulled up right next to our camp and two Indian gentlemen got out. It was dad and uncle? I hoped they were just having an evening barbeque and not going to pitch a tent so close when there were so many other spots to choose from on the nearly empty campsite.After our early tea we drove back to Burton’s Well and left Roxy to walk up Mt Kiangarow, the highest point in the National Park, to watch the sunset. It was only just over 1km to the summit and the final approach was through an avenue of lovely grass trees. We were a good hour early for sunset. Will wandered off to look at the telecom mast near the summit and came back saying he had seen one of the feral pigs. As we sat waiting for the sun to set a bird flew onto the bare top most  branch of a tree on the summit. It was a male Regent Bowerbird with its golden crown. It flew off before either of us could get a picture but fitting that we had seen one on our last evening there.The sunset, when it came, was wonderful and definitely the highlight of the trip for me. We walked back down in the growing darkness and drove back to camp.Yes, the Indian family had pitched their tent right next to ours. The boy was running about in his pyjamas shouting and the adults were chattering loudly too...and so it went on, long after our hot showers and crawling into our sleeping bags. I heard the child crying a few times in the night and the loud chatter of the adults. It was as if they had absolutely no awareness of others around them.We left this morning around 9.00am and drove back to Brisbane via Kingaroy, Woodford and Caboolture. It was roasting! I think it was the hottest day so far since I have been here and it is Christmas Eve. I had a headache and felt a bit off.‘Hmmm,’ said Will, ‘I’ll check you for ticks later.’ Apparently, it is one of the symptoms.Wonderful!What a lovely way to spend Christmas Eve!(I will post some pictures of our trip to the Bunya Mountains tomorrow.)