Winter seems to be my time for visiting Wallaman Falls, and my latest visit aligned exactly with the Winter Solstice – completely by chance, unless the world is more mysterious than we usually like to think it is.
I introduced the falls and their surrounds quite fully in this post (May 2015). Nothing important has changed, so I can concentrate on seasonal highlights this time.
Wattles were flowering beside the road all the way from Trebonne to the top of the range but we were surprised by sunbursts of Golden Penda blossom along the creek and around the camping ground. Previous visits, in April and May, must have been too early for their flowering.
Golden Pendas (Xanthostemon chrysanthus) have recently become popular street trees in Townsville. They supposedly only get to 7 metres in cultivation but after seeing them in the wild I’m beginning to wonder. They were gnarled and stunted when growing in the rocky creek bed (where we would often see bottlebrushes) but very substantial trees on the edge of the rainforest.
We had a little rain while we were camping at the falls but the clouds hanging around us made up for any discomfort by providing some dramatic views of the falls and the gorge downstream.
This rainbow, however, was produced purely by the falls themselves and a ray of sunshine.
