Walks and Wildlife at Peach Trees Camping Area, Jimna State Forest, QLD.

Three walks leave from Peach Trees Camping Area. 

Yabba Creek Circuit, 730 m, grade 2 walk:
This is a popular walk with families and nature lovers. As we made our way towards the suspension bridge on the Yabba Creek Circuit, a man carrying a camera with a very large lens overtook us and raced to get to the walk first. He told us that he was intent on getting a photo of an Eastern Whipbird and apparently he didn't want us ahead of him disturbing the birds! After a while he stopped on the path and was intently taking photos so we stopped a few meters back and waited for him to achieve his goal. While waiting, I spotted a male Regent Bowerbird and we managed to get some photos. 

Regent Bowerbird, male.

After a while, the birder came back to us and told us that he had been taking close up photos of an Eastern Yellow Robin sitting on it's nest. We were horrified because birds are easily stressed and have been known to abandon their nests if they feel uncomfortable. Of course we have learnt these things over time. If you are interested in learning more, Birdlife Australia has published an Ethical Birding Guidelines PDF that is helpful. It turns out that the birder didn't manage to get a photo of an Eastern Whipbird. After the incredulous look he gave us when we told him we had been taking photos of a Regent Bowerbird we didn't have the heart to tell him that we had in fact managed to get a couple of photos of an Eastern Whipbird as well.

Not the greatest photo of an Eastern Whipbird but relevant to the story.

We often encounter goannas sunning themselves on the path.

Lace Monitor (goanna)

Turtles and Little Pied Cormorant on Yabba Creek.

We have, in the past, viewed platypus in Yabba Creek from different places on the path. We didn't miss out altogether on this trip though because we saw them while walking the Eugenia Circuit.

Araucaria Circuit, 3.5 km, grade 3 walk.
An extension of the Yabba Creek Circuit which I have written about previously.

Eugenia Circuit, 2.4 km, grade 3 walk.
The first part of this walk climbs gradually to a lookout before descending again to the creek. The second half of the walk is mostly flat. We have walked this circuit many times over the years and there is always something interesting to see. This time, the highlight was seeing several active platypus moving about Yabba Creek.

I certainly wish I had the eyesight of this Grey Goshawk when viewing wildlife.

Grey Goshawk

I attached a full list of wildlife that we saw on this visit to the blog Peach Trees Camping Area.

Peach Trees Camping Area, Jimna State Forest, QLD.

Peach Trees Camping Area is a large grassy campground frequented by Eastern Grey Kangaroos.

Peach Trees Camping ARea

Eastern Grey Kangaroos relax around the campground.

Blue-faced Honeyeaters turn up quickly when they notice you preparing food. They can get quite vocal as they beg for food but it is best to ignore them. We went for a walk in the early evening and saw lots of bandicoots and pademelons near the creek.

Juvenile Blue-faced Honeyeater on the lookout for food.

Over the years we have seen quite a few changes at Peach Trees. The latest addition is a specifically designed wheelchair access campsite near the far amenities block.

Wheelchair Access Disability Campsite.

I have often wondered why the campground was named "Peach Trees". On this trip we saw several trees in blossom so I guess that explains it.

Peach Tree blossoms?

Entry to the suspension bridge over Yabba Creek at Peach Trees Camping Area.

Details for Peach Trees Camping Area, Jimna, QLD:
Where: about 142 km north-west of Brisbane. About 43 km north of Kilcoy. The directions on Google Maps are incorrect. From Kilcoy-Murgon Road take the sign posted turnoff between School Road and the Jimna Fire Tower.
Access: The last 3 km is unsealed. There is a concrete causeway, just before the campground, that can flood in wet weather.
Campground: Large grassy area suitable for tent camping beside your vehicle and all rigs. 1 designated wheelchair accessible campsite.
Bookings and Fees: National Parks Queensland provides limited WiFi at the campground which can be used to make bookings and to check the weather etc. It would be best to pre-book at busy times. Book online https://qpws.usedirect.com/qpws/ or by phone 13 74 68  Standard National Parks QLD fees. We paid $6.30 pp.
Facilities: There are three amenities blocks with flush toilets. Taps with non-potable water throughout the campground. Fire rings (BYO wood). Walks. QldParks-Wifi. We did not have Telstra phone reception. We have heard that there is some Optus reception but can't confirm. The Day Use Area has been removed and there are no longer any tables in the campground (with the exception of one disability access table which is in the designated wheelchair access campsite). 
Prohibitions: No pets. No generators.

Wildlife List:
Lace Monitors, Eastern Grey Kangaroos, Pademelons, Bandicoots, Antechinus, Freshwater Turtles, Platypus, Micro Bats. 
Butterflies: Scarlet Jezebel, Glasswing, Monarch, Orchard Swallowtail.
Bird List: Grey Goshawk, Satin Bowerbird, Regent Bowerbird, Australian Brush Turkey, Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo, Sulphur-crested Cockatoo, Little Pied Cormorant, Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike, Pied Currawong, Torresian Crow, Australian Wood Duck, Brown Cuckoo-Dove, Superb Fairy-wren, Grey Fantail, Rufous Fantail, Red-browed Finch, Noisy Friarbird, White-necked Heron, Blue-faced Honeyeater, Lewin's Honeyeater, New Holland Honeyeater, Laughing Kookaburra, Rainbow Lorikeet, Australian Magpie, Magpie-lark, Bell Miner, Noisy Miner, Australian King Parrot, Paradise Riflebird, Eastern-Yellow Robin, Pale-headed Rosella, White-browed Scrubwren, Little Shrike-thrush, Grey Shrike-thrush, Welcome Swallow, Brown Thornbill, Russet-tailed Thrush, Varied Triller, White-throated Treecreeper, Brown Quail, Eastern Whipbird, Golden Mangrove, Willie Wagtail, Dusky Woodswallow. Heard: Green Catbird, Southern Boobook, Tawny Frogmouth.

Peach Trees Camping Area, Jimna State Forest, QLD. February 2017

Peach Trees Camping Area in the late afternoon.

Due to breaking my ankle recently our planned road trip didn't go ahead at the start of this year. In February we did manage to slip away and spend a few days camping at the idyllic Peach Trees Camping Area in Jimna State Forest. Peach Trees is a large grassy campground with plenty of shade trees. Eastern Grey Kangaroos graze throughout the campground. Although this campground is a bit out of the way it is very popular and is well worth the detour from Kilcoy. If you are a 4WD enthusiast you would enjoy camping here then driving along Sunday Creek Road to Charlie Moreland Camping Area in Imbil State Forest and Booloumba Camping Area in Conondale National Park. I blogged about our trip to Peach Trees Campground in January 2016, however, there have been a few changes since our last visit which are worth noting.

Eastern Grey Kangaroos. Some children never seem to notice it is time to leave home!

The public pay phone has been removed and QLD Parks and Wildlife now provide free 24 hour Wi-Fi in the park. Mostly this is to insure that everyone can make bookings on arrival as there is no Telstra phone reception available, although I believe there is phone reception for other carriers. There are limitations to the Wi-Fi use but it is handy for checking the weather and receiving emails.

Wi-Fi near the amenities blocks.

The Day Use Area which used to be a fenced off area inside the campground has now been removed. This means there are now only a couple of tables left in the campground. On Saturday we had day trippers set up either side of us to enjoy a BBQ and explore the park with their children.

There used to be an elaborate wooden swimming platform overlooking the creek but it was severely damaged by flooding and the area was out of bounds for a long time. The remains of the old platform has now been removed and has been replaced with a simpler and hopefully hardier design. The water in Yabba Creek is black and may not appeal to everyone as a swimming spot.

New swimming platform on Yabba Creek, Peach Trees.

Little Pied Cormorant, Australian Wood Duck, male (top), female (bottom).

There is a small Platypus Viewing Platform on the way to the swinging bridge. I was going to say that in all the times we have camped here we have never seen a platypus but at last we did see one. We saw the platypus while walking on the Yabba Creek Circuit on the opposite side of Yabba Creek to the platform but it would have been visible from the viewing platform at the same time. By the time we raised our camera the platypus disappeared in a trail of bubbles.

Information sign at the Platypus Viewing Platform.

Periodically, Peach Trees gets overrun with Sulphur-crested Cockatoos and we found this to be the case on this trip with large numbers of these extremely raucous birds roosting in the park overnight and hanging around during the daytime. There are so many cockatoos that many trees are showing signs of damage from their constant gnawing. There are quite a few Bell Miners (Bell birds) around and they have also caused some damage to trees in the area.

Sulphur-crested Cockatoo.

Medium sized goannas patrol the campground. They don’t lead a peaceful life here as both the Brush Turkeys and the Sulphur-crested Cockatoos harass them as they lumber by.

Lace Monitor (Goanna)

We were woken several times during the night by a Brush-tailed Possum which was trying to gain access to our sturdy rubbish bin. On the following nights we didn’t bother to get up as the possum never managed to get into our closed plastic bin. On our last night we were sitting under the stars when we saw a couple of Northern Brown Bandicoot. There are often owls in the campground at night but I thought it prudent not to go looking for them on this trip as I don't want any setbacks in the healing of my ankle.

I mostly sat around the campsite with my feet up and I found there was plenty to observe without venturing far. Indeed, on several occasions the wildlife came to me. There are some nice walks leading from the campground which I covered in a previous blog.

Apparently this Eastern Grey Kangaroo believed the grass in front of my seat was better than the grass elsewhere.

There were quite a few butterflies in the campground; mostly Lesser Wanderers and Blue Tigers. My ankle meant I was too slow to take many butterfly photos. Strangely, I did manage to get a photo of a Blue Triangle; a butterfly that became my nemesis in the past as I struggled for a long time to photograph one.

Lesser Wanderer Danaus petilia and Blue Triangle Graphium sarpedon

We saw an unusual looking male Regent Bowerbird. I inquired about this bird on the excellent Facebook page Australian Bird Identification and the very knowledgeable Nikolas Haass confirmed that it is a four year old sub-adult male emerging from it's immature to adult plumage. Unfortunately, it was a fair distance away and our photos are not very good but it is the first time we have seen a Regent emerging into adult plumage so we would like to record it here.

4 year old male Regent Bowerbird

Male Regent Bowerbird

Here are a few of the birds we saw:

Australian Brush Turkey

Noisy Miner

Blue-faced Honeyeater

Sulphur-crested Cockatoo

Satin Bowerbird

Australian King Parrot

White-throated Treecreeper

Wildlife viewed on this trip: This list was impacted by my lack of mobility.

Eastern Grey Kangaroo, Red-legged Pademelon, Lace Monitor (goanna), Long-necked Turtle, Eastern Water Dragon, Brush-tailed Possum, Platypus, Northern Brown Bandicoot, Hare.

Butterflies: Orchard Swallowtail, Blue Triangle, Blue Tiger, Lesser Wanderer, Monarch, Common Crow. I saw several types of Whites, Yellows and Skippers but wasn’t able to get photos or get close enough to make positive ID’s. We also saw an impressive 5 to 6 cm moth on our van one night which had an orange body and fairly plain brown wings.

Bird List: Regent Bowerbird, Satin Bowerbird, Australian Brush Turkey, Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo, Sulphur-crested Cockatoo, Little Pied Cormorant, Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike, Pied Currawong, Torresian Crow, Australian Wood Duck, Brown Cuckoo-Dove, Red-browed Finch, Blue-faced Honeyeater, Lewin’s Honeyeater, White-napped Honeyeater, Azure Kingfisher, Laughing Kookaburra, Magpie, Magpie-lark, Bell Miner, Noisy Miner, Black-faced Monarch, Australian King Parrot, Eastern Yellow Robin, Crimson Rosella, Pale-headed Rosella, Eastern Spinebill, Welcome Swallow, Bassian Thrush, White-throated Treecreeper, Eastern Whipbird, Willie Wagtail, Tawny Grassbird, Australasian Figbird, Variegated Fairy-wren.

Details for Peach Trees Campground, Jimna State Forest, QLD.

Where: 45 km north of Kilcoy. 145 km north-west of Brisbane.

Access: The road from Kilcoy climbs steadily but is quite pleasant. The last 2 or 3 kilometers into the campground are unsealed and on this trip we found it a bit corrugated.

Sites: Large grass area. No defined sites. Suitable for all rig types.

Fees: Adults $6.15. Family rates are available. 

Bookings: There is free Wi-Fi available at the campground for making bookings. Book before arrival during busy times. QLD Parks and Wildlife.

Facilities: Flush toilets, non-drinking water taps, free Wi-Fi, walks, fire rings.

Prohibitions: No pets. No generators. No collecting wood. Some restrictions on smoking.

Peach Trees Camping Area, Jimna State Forest, QLD.

Peach Trees Camping Area.

Peach Trees is 43 km north of Kilcoy on a sealed road with the last 3 km a good unsealed section into the campground. The first thing you notice about Peach Trees is the number of kangaroos lazing about the grassy camping area. Pets are not permitted. There are four new amenities blocks with flushing toilets but no showers. Non-potable water taps and fire pits are scattered throughout the camp ground and there are also a few tables and wood-fired BBQ’s. There is Optus phone reception but no Telstra reception. Standard QLD National Park fees apply. Either pre-book before arriving or there is a public pay phone near the first amenities block. I must admit that I stood in front of the pay phone and realized that I have no idea how to use a pay phone or what coins it takes!

Pay Phone at Peach Trees Camping Area

The Day Use Area is a cordoned off section within the campground which has tables and BBQ’s.

Peach Trees Day Use Area.

We took care to set up in an area with good shade as the temperature was predicted to reach 36 C while we were there. We saw more birds in the first two hours at Peach Trees than we had for our whole stay at Benarkin State Forest. Our site overlooked the path on the other side of Yabba Creek and we were pleasantly surprised to see Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoos, Satin Bowerbirds and Bell Miners from our camp. Large numbers of Sulphur Crested Cockatoos were flying overhead.

Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoos

Bell Miner

There were less butterflies here than at Benarkin but they were mostly the same types: Wanderer, Lesser Wanderer, Glasswing, Common Crow, Evening Brown and Orchard Swallowtail.

Wanderer Danaus plexippus

There are three walking tracks leaving from the campground: Yabba Creek Circuit, Araucaria Circuit and Eugenia Circuit. We also liked to walk to the causeway just before the entrance to the camp ground. The first morning we walked them all in one continuous circuit and on the following days we just redid our favourite parts.

Causeway: The causeway proved a great spot to check out in the early morning or late afternoon. We regularly saw both Azure and Sacred Kingfishers fishing above the creek and there were lots of juvenile Eastern Water Dragons sunning themselves at the waters edge. We saw many small birds in the brush near the causeway.

Azure Kingfishers at the causeway.

Eugenia Circuit is a 2.5 km, Class 4 walk.

Starting near the entry to the camp ground this walk climbs steadily up a shale track to a lookout above Yabba Creek before descending again. The track crosses the creek, which was completely dry at this point, and returns alongside the creek before emerging on the other side of the causeway at the entrance to the campground. 

One of the many Sulphur-crested Cockatoos seen on the walk.

Red-browed Finch

We remember doing this walk after heavy flooding the last time we were here and there are still giant piles of debris perched high above the creek standing testimony to the awesome power of flooding.

Raft of debris left high above Yabba Creek.

The second time we did this walk we were thrilled to see the golden flash of a male Regent Bowerbird flying past us three times. We back tracked a bit and found him and a female sitting in a tree. On our way out the path was blocked by a Red-bellied Black but it quickly departed when it decided that staying still wasn't going to make us go away.

Red-bellied Black Snake.

Yabba Creek Circuit is a 700m, Class 3 walk. 
Yabba Creek Circuit is a pleasant easy walk with the added bonus of a small swing bridge at one end and a walk bridge at the other end. There are plenty of birds on the walk and we saw kangaroos using the path. We walked this circuit several times at different times of the day during our stay.

Swinging Bridge over Yabba Creek

Foot bridge over Yabba Creek

This very young Brush Turkey was seeking shelter up a tree which is typical behaviour for Brush Turkeys every evening. We also saw a Wonga Pigeon up a tree whereas previously we have always seen them on the ground.

Juvenile Australian Brush Turkey and Wonga Pigeon.

Black-faced Monarchs, Eastern Spinebills and Brown Cuckoo-Doves were easy to spot on the trail.

Black-faced Monarch

Brown Cuckoo-Doves

Araucaria Circuit is a 4.5 km, Class 3 walk.

This walk starts just over the swing bridge. At first it climbs through a dry eucalypt forest before entering a cool vine forest of young Hoop and Bunya Pine then returning via the eucalypt forest again.

Araucaria Circuit

Scarlet Honeyeater on the Araucaria Circuit

When we left Peachtrees Camping Area we stopped at the Jimna Fire tower for a quick look. 

Jimna Fire Tower

Bird List: 

Australian Brush Turkey, Australian Wood Duck, Nankeen Night Heron, Topknot Pigeon, Brown Cuckoo-Dove, Wonga Pigeon, Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo, Sulphur-crested Cockatoo, Rainbow Lorikeet, Australian King Parrot, Pale-headed Rosella, Fan-tailed Cuckoo, Pheasant Coucal, Tawny Frogmouth, Dollarbird, Azure Kingfisher, Sacred Kingfisher, Laughing Kookaburra, White-throated Treecreeper, Variegated Fairy-wren, White-browed Scrubwren, Yellow-throated Scrubwren, Brown Gerygone, Brown Thornbill, Noisy Friarbird, Blue-faced Honeyeater, Bell Miner, Noisy Miner, Lewin's Honeyeater, White-naped Honeyeater, New Holland Honeyeater, Eastern Spinebill, Scarlet Honeyeater, Eastern Whipbird, Eastern Yellow Robin, Grey Shrike-thrush, Golden Whistler, Grey Fantail, Rufous Fantail, Willie Wagtail, Leaden Flycatcher, Black-faced Monarch, Magpie-lark, Spangled Drongo, Olive-backed oriole, Australasian Figbird, Satin Bowerbird, Regent Bowerbird, Varied Triller, Grey Butcherbird, Australian Magpie, Pied Currawong, Torresian Crow, Welcome Swallow, Red-browed Finch, Silvereye, Bassian Thrush.