Monday, September 22, 2008

Witches Falls National Park

This is Queensland's oldest national park, having been declared in 1908. It is situated on Mt Tamborine, to the south of Brisbane. Mt Tamborine is just west of the Gold Coast, and over recent years has developed its own tourist persona for those people who prefer mountains to beaches.

As part of photographing the wedding of some friends, I stayed on Mt Tamborine for a few nights and had the opportunity to explore the park. The park has views west to the Great Dividing Range, and the sunset at the end of the afternoon was sublime:


During the day in the park, the sunlight filters through tall trees to provide dappled light on the rainforest floor:




As well as trees and other rainforest vegetation, there are an enormous number of large boulders in this park. It looks like giants played marbles there back in the dreamtime:

As you can see, the boulders have become covered with liken over thousands of years. Sometimes they are taken over completely by the root system of trees, showing how hardy these rainforest specimens are:

Naturally, the rainforest is home to many birds and animals The song of the whipbird and the peacock are never too far away, and even the ravens get a look in: