Mt Kiangarow Track and Barker Creek Circuit, Bunya Mountains National Park, QLD.

View from the summit of Mt Kiangarow.

Our favourite short walk at Bunya Mountains National Park is the Mt Kiangarow Track. At only 2.3 km return it is well worth doing at any time of day. It is also one of those special places that has great light at both sunrise and sunset.

Scarlet Honeyeater on the Mt Kiangarow Track

The Grass Trees were in flower.

Barker Creek Circuit: 10 km circuit from Dandabah Car Park and Picnic Area.

As we were camping At Burton's Well Campground we drove to Dandabah early in the morning and parked at the picnic area. There is always plenty of wildlife around the picnic area and it is a delightful place to spend some time. Facilities include tables, toilets, information boards and a cafe. The Bunya Bunya Circuit 500 m Class 3, the Scenic Circuit 4 km Class 3 and the Barker Creek Circuit 10 km Class 3, can all be accessed from the Dandabah car park.

Some Dandabah Picnic Area Wildlife:

Male and Female Australian King Parrot.

Guardian of the walking track entry.

This Superb Fairy-wren landed on the window ledge of our car.

Satin Bowerbird, male.

The walk takes a pleasant path through cool, lush rainforest with a bracken understory.

Barker Creek Circuit.

We walked in a clockwise direction to Paradise Falls. The falls were barely flowing due to the dry weather. It is also possible to do a much shorter walk to the falls from the Paradise car park on Bunya Mountains Road.

We saw a Bassian Thrush and Rufous Fantails beside the track. Topknot Pigeons were feeding high in the tree canopy.

Bassian Thrush

Rufous Fantail

Topknot Pigeon

A native King Orchid caught the sun in a dark patch of rainforest.

King Orchid

As we made our way along Barker Creek we kept our eye out for the huge tadpoles of the Great Barred-frog.

Great Barred-frog tadpole in Barker Creek.

Little Falls was also a shadow of its usual self due to the prolonged dry weather. 

Little Falls

We choose to extend the walk by going to Barker Creek Lookout via the informative Tree Identification Walk. The track emerges from the shade of the rainforest into the open and passes across balds. At Big Falls Lookout there were no falls to be seen.

Big Falls appears to have dried up.

While the lookout isn't particularly stunning the tree identification signage is excellent and made the extra walking worth while.

Barker Creek Lookout.

We returned to the main Barker Creek Circuit and continued on in a clockwise direction through a section of eucalypt forest before reentering the rainforest and returning to the Dandabah Picnic Area.

Burtons Well Camping Area, Bunya Mountains National Park, QLD.

Burtons Well Camping Area. Our tent is in front of a huge Grass Tree.

It's no secret, we love the Burtons Well Camping Area at Bunya Mountains National Park. We have camped there many times and are particularly keen to camp there when the Grass Trees are in flower. Flowering time varies but it usually occurs sometime around September. The nectar attracts a wide variety of wildlife, from possums through to butterflies. Just be aware that the Burtons Well Camping Area is restricted to tents.

Booking tags are provided but there is no self-registration.

Wood pile, donkey shower with shower cubicles and toilet block.

There are hybrid toilets and a Donkey Shower in the campground and a dedicated disability campsite.

Disability campsite.

One of the things we love about Burtons Well is the awesome sunrises. There are also excellent sunrise and sunset views from the nearby Mt Kiangarow walk.

Sunrise view from our tent.

We got our timing right this trip and the Grass Trees were in flower which makes for some relaxing campground photography.

Satin Bowerbirds

Macleay's Swallowtail

Paradise Riflebirds

The male Paradise Riflebird kept his distance.

Eastern Spinebill and Crimson Rosella

Wildlife: Northern Brown Bandicoot, Eastern Grey Kangaroo, Red-legged Pademelon, Red-necked Pademelon, Pretty Face (Whiptail) Wallaby, Swamp Wallaby.
Butterflies: Purple Moonbeam, Large Grass Yellow, Macleay's Swallowtail.
Bird List: Satin Bowerbird, Regent Bowerbird, Australian Brush Turkey, Green Catbird, Sulphur-crested Cockatoo, Pied Currawong, Torresian Crow, Brown Cuckoo-Dove, Superb Fairy-wren, Frey Fantail, Rufous Fantail, Brown Gerygone, Lewin's Honeyeater, Scarlet Honeyeater, Laughing Kookaburra, Southern Boobook, Spotted Pardalote, Australian King Parrot, Topknot Pigeon, Wonga Pigeon, Paradise Riflebird, Eastern Yellow Robin, Crimson Rosella, White-browed Scrubwren, Yellow-throated Scrubwren, Grey Shrike-thrush, Eastern Spinebill, Brown Thornbill, Buff-rumped Thornbill, Bassian Thrush, Eastern Whipbird, Golden Whistler, Willie Wagtail.

Details for Burtons Well Camping Area:
Where: About 250 km north-west of Brisbane. Very steep access roads. Entry from Kumbia signed not suitable for caravans. Entry from Maidenwell signed not suitable for caravans. (I haven't driven in from the south so I'm unaware of the road conditions from that direction but please note access below). 4.2 km north-west of the information centre at Dandabah Camping Area.
Access: 2WD. Sealed roads. Steep roads into the Bunya Mountains. Please note that the Department of Transport and Main Roads advises that "all access roads are unsuitable for long and/or heavy vehicles".
Sites: 1 disability campsite. Large open grassy area for up to 30 people. Tents only. Vehicles in car park separated from tent area by bollards.
Bookings and Fees: Normal National Parks Queensland fees, $6.30 pp at time of writing. Maximum stay 14 nights. Book online or by phone 13 74 68.
Facilities: Hybrid toilets, tables, wood BBQs, wood pile, donkey shower (BYO bucket to take water to shower cubicle), 2 shower cubicles with canvas shower bags, taps (non-potable). We had Telstra phone reception at the campground but not throughout the park. Walks. No bins. 
Prohibitions: No pets. No generators. Don't collect wood from the park. No camping in the car park.
Caution: Check regularly for ticks. Tent only campground. No long and/or heavy vehicle access to the Bunya Mountains.
What's Special: Large Grass Trees. Lots of birds and wallabies.
Other Campgrounds in Bunya Mountain National Park: Dandabah: suitable for any rig that can drive into the mountains ie. not long and/or large. Westcott: tent only.

Bunya Mountains National Park, QLD. Part 5: Riflebird Park and Russell Park.

Riflebird Park and Russell Park are both just outside the boundary of the national park but we visited them while we were there.

Riflebird Park:
Riflebird Park is on Bunya Mountains Road, just east of the entrance to Bunya Avenue. We didn't see any Riflebirds but there were lots of White-browed Scrubwrens flitting around the undergrowth. The base of a Bunya tree looks a lot like the foot of an elephant. 

The "elephant foot" of a Bunya Tree

Russell Park and Fisher's Lookout:
Russell Park on Bunya Mountains Road is worth visiting when you are at Bunya Mountains National Park. There is a nice long area to pull off the road and park between Fisher’s Lookout and Mount Mowbellum.

Fisher's Lookout

View from Fisher's Lookout

The Russell Park Walking Tracks start just below the lookout. As this isn't a national park walk it doesn't have a class designation but we feel it falls somewhere between a Class 4 and a Class 5. There are quite a few steps and the track goes down and then up several times. Some fitness is required but we really enjoyed this walk. Distance: 5.55 km.

Trailhead

Fisher’s Lookout to Cunjevoi Falls, 1290 m.
From the trailhead the track descended fairly steeply through rainforest, then we went through a quaint turnstyle to the top of the falls. There wasn't much water flowing but it must have been clean because we noticed watercress growing in the creek.

Cunjevoy Falls to Little Mowbullan, 470 m. 

Here the landscape changed as we walked out of the forest, past balds and into dry open country dotted with huge prickly pear cacti and climbed up Little Mowbullan. We saw large numbers of Brown Cuckoo-Doves feeding on the berries of a soft plant.

View from Little Mowbullan

Little Mowbullan to Chute No. 3, 1550 m.

As we descended from Little Mowbullan back into the forest we startled some cattle.

Chute No. 3 to the Picnic Area on Bunya Mountains Road, 1520 m.
We took the sidetrack through dry forest to Chute No. 3 where the foresters used to send timber over the side of the mountain for a quick trip down.

                 There is a pleasant place to rest near the Chute with great views.

After a steady climb we arrived at the Picnic Area on Bunya Mountains Road. 

Picnic Area to Fisher’s Lookout, 720 m.
We walked uphill on the road until we returned to Fisher's Lookout in the late afternoon.