Last Sunday we went for another walk in the bush with the local Wildlife Queensland people – a bit further from home than our first, and more interesting in that it took us to a place we knew about but hadn’t visited before. We know Paluma, and Little Crystal Creek on the road up the range to it, but had somehow never diverged from that road to visit Big Crystal Creek and Paradise Lagoon. It’s easy enough: turn off the highway as if you’re going to Paluma but then follow the signs (about 7km) to Big Crystal Creek instead of turning left to go up Mount Spec to Paluma.
We parked at the Paradise Lagoon picnic ground and walked up the road to the Water Slides area. WQ will soon have a full report on the walk (now here) so I will concentrate on the bugs and leave most of the plants and birds to them. I’m still going to put one bird photo here, however, just because the birds were obliging enough to pose for a series of portraits (as usual, click on it for a full-size image).
As well as these Flycatchers (Microeca flavigaster) we saw a tiny Scarlet Honeyeater and several other birds. Insects and spiders were also abundant, from the mantis and preyed-upon grasshopper I spotted before we even left the carpark, to the grasshoppers preying upon flowers of the native hibiscus (see them here), to the spiders waiting patiently in their webs above the fast-flowing rocky stream. There were lots of butterflies, too – we saw Blue Triangles, Clearwing Swallowtail, Common Crow, Eurema, Common Eggfly, Blue Argus, a Pierid which was probably a Migrant, and an orange butterfly which may have been an Australian Rustic – but they are all species which I have already photographed lots of times and I didn’t try too hard to catch them this time.
We returned to Paradise Lagoon picnic ground for lunch and a short walk to the swimming hole:
Beautiful words and pictures! Are you fortunate enough to have a partner who doesn’t mind frequent photography stops during bushwalks? Mine is very tolerant…to a point. Did you use a tripod to get all of these shots? I especially love the close ups with bokeh.
Thanks, Michelle.
Your question about ‘frequent stops’ is very, ah, relevant (wouldn’t want to get myself into trouble, would I?) but wasn’t an issue on this walk because there was a group of eight or ten like-minded people moving quite slowly and constantly stopping to look at one thing or another.
As for techniques – no, I don’t use a tripod, although I know that one would help me get better shots. The downside of the tripod, especially on a walk like this, is that you miss opportunities because it takes too long to set up, or it won’t reach to where you want your camera; and of course it’s an extra thing to carry. This post says a bit more about how I get my photos.
Hi, can you camp at Paradise Lagoon?
Yes, you can – normally, anyway. The picnic area and camping ground are operated by the National Parks people and sites have to be booked through the Nat Parks website, or by phone 137468. See http://www.nprsr.qld.gov.au/parks/paluma-mount-spec/camping.html for more information.