Crows Nest National Park, QLD. Part 2.

For more details and booking information for the campground please refer to our blog Crows Nest National Park, QLD, Part 1:

http://nationalparkodyssey.blogspot.com.au/2014/10/crows-nest-national-park-qld-part-1.html

Around the Campground

Lace monitors are frequent visitors to the campground and surrounding trees. Every time one appeared the birds would start up a commotion and dive bomb them in an effort to drive them away. Australian Brush-turkeys were active in the campground and will get into your gear if you aren't vigilant. In the afternoon Common Bronzewings could be seen foraging on the ground. Just after dark, very placid Brushtail possums wandered around the campsite.

Lace Monitor Varanus varius

Australian Brush-turkey

Common Bronzewing

Brushtail Possum

Walks

We have walked the tracks at Crows Nest National Park several times at different times of the day on our two camping trips there.

Crows Nest Falls via Kauyoo Loop (including The Cascades, Kauyoo Pool and Bottlebrush Pool) is a 2.7 km, Class 3, return, loop. The short side trips to Kauyoo Pool and Bottlebrush Pool are Class 4.

At The Cascades it is possible to cross Crows Nest Creek but take care when rock hopping. On our last visit we found a couple of tourists from Europe who had crossed the creek and got lost searching for a track on the other side. We were able to direct them back to the main walk but it just goes to show how easy it is to get lost and that signs can be confusing especially for people with different language backgrounds.  The good news for us was that they had flushed out a Brush-tailed rock-wallaby Petrogale penicillata, which are vulnerable to extinction in Queensland. We were able to quietly observe it grazing for a while.

The Cascades

Brush-tailed Rock-wallaby Petrogale penicllata

Brush-tailed Rock-wallaby

Kauyoo Pool has sandy edges and is usually good for shallow swimming. We saw this Brush-tailed rock-wallaby eating in the bushes near Kauyoo Pool.

Brush-tailed Rock-wallaby with Joey

Bottlebrush Pool is also a popular place for swimming.

After Bottlebrush Pool you can choose to do a loop back to the starting point, or continue on to Crows Nest Falls and do the loop back, or continue all the way to Koonin Lookout which adds about another kilometre to the return walk. 

From Crows Nest Falls Lookout you can observe the falls which drop 20 m to a waterhole surrounded by granite cliffs. Last time we were here it was only three months after heavy rains and the falls were closed due to fallen rocks. However, on our recent trip, Crows Nest Creek was under stress from the drought and in some areas the creek was stagnant.This is another good place to see Brush-tailed rock-wallabies. We have seen them in the early morning making their way from here down the steep rock faces. We have observed them stop and audibly tap their long feet on the rocks to test if the cliffs are stable before they continued their descent.

Crows Nest Falls, only a trickle in 2014

Koonin Lookout is an attractive area of large granite boulders. There is a constructed lookout with views over the deep gorge, The Valley of the Diamonds, and out over the hills and forests of Ravensbourne. Locals refer to the gorge as The Valley Of Diamonds because at times the sunlight glints of the granite.

Valley of Diamonds, viewed from Koonin Lookout

On our return walk we walked right up to a pair of King Parrots feeding on bushes on the side of the track.

Australian King Parrot, female

Australian King Parrot, male

Applegum Walk is 6 km from the national park, in Crows Nest, and we highly recommend it. We have written more extensively about this walk in the link at the start of this blog.

Applegum Walk, beside Crows Nest Creek

Speckled Warbler, Applegum Walk