Queens Park, Ipwich, QLD.

We had a little bit of time to spare in Ipswich so we visited Queens Park. We drove in at Burley Griffen Drive and found that there was plenty of parking even on a beautiful day at Sunday lunchtime. There is a toilet block and several picnic tables a short walk from the car park. We noticed a small zoo called the Nature Centre that looked popular with families but as time was short we opted for a walk through the Japanese landscape style Ipwich Nerima Gardens.

Large numbers of Eastern Water Dragons were sunning themselves in the gardens and several Buff-banded Rails were dashing about the undergrowth.

Turtles and ducks were enjoying the landscaped ponds and waterways.

This female Australian Wood Duck was showing part of the white and green panel that stands out during flight.

A beautiful Pale Triangle butterfly chose an ugly muddy patch to alight on but as they usually fly rapidly it gave me the opportunity to finally take a photo of one.

Pale Triangle Graphium eurypylus

Wooroi Day Use Area, Tewantin National Park, QLD.

The access to Wooroi Day Use Area is easy to miss. If approaching from Tewantin along the Noosa-Cooroy Road, drive past Beckmans Road until you see a bus shelter and turn left immediately. The access road ends in a car park and a large pleasant picnic area where there are tables and taps but no toilets. This area used to be State Forest but is now a National Park so dogs are not allowed. Several mixed use trails start from this area.

Palm Grove Walk
A Class 4, 1 km circuit walk through cabbage tree and piccabeen palms along Wooroi Creek. This is the only trail for walkers only.

Glider Trail

The Glider Trail is a 2.5 km (one way) walk and links up with some other trails in the park and bike trails throughout Tewantin. This is a wide trail that walkers share with mountain bike riders. We have always found the bike riders here to be a considerate and cheerful bunch. On this trip, one rider who is also an avid twitcher stopped to chat with us to see what birds we had seen in the park. We had a bit of a laugh because we had seen one Lewin's Honeyeater and heard a few Woompoo Doves. He told us that he often sees Varied Trillers at the start of the path. Later we saw a Spangled Drongo. Oh well, not every trip is an outstanding birding experience but you never know what's out there and just looking is half the fun. 

Lewin's Honeyeater and Spangled Drongo

There were plenty of butterflies about. Common Crows and Orchard Swallowtails were in good numbers. We noticed that this Orchard Swallowtail was a bit battered; you can clearly see through the hole in its wings to the greenery behind it.

Varied Sword-grass Brown Tisiphone abeona and Orchard Swallowtail Papilio aegeus

We observed this Lace Monitor rolling over and over in the dust. We haven't seen this behaviour before but we wondered if it was dislodging troublesome ants or perhaps it was just playing as juveniles of any species are inclined to do.