Neurum Creek Camping Area, D'Aguilar National Park, QLD.

Neurum Creek Camping Area

The first thing we saw on arrival at our campsite in Neurum Creek Camping Area was a Sacred Kingfisher chasing a Lace Monitor.

Sacred Kingfisher at Neurum Creek Camping Area

There were Russet-tailed Thrushes wandering about the shady areas near the amenities.

Russet-tailed Thrush

There is a short walking track from the campground to Neurum Creek. While walking along the creek we saw a Red-bellied Black Snake foraging in the leaf litter.

Neurum Creek, showing the dry area we walked along on the right.

Red-bellied Black Snake

Lophostemon Walk: Class 3, 750 m circuit.
After a short rock crossing over Neurum Creek this is an easy and pleasant walk. I guessed that Lophostemon would be a type of tree and on returning home I looked it up and found out it is a genus of evergreen tree in the myrtle family.

Lophostemon Walk

Typical site at Neurum Creek Camping Area with parking space and fire place.

Details for Neurum Creek Camping Area, D'Aguilar National Park:
Where:  Enter the national park by Sellin Road. From The Gantry day use area the road is classified as 4WD to the campground. However, when we were there, the section of road between the Gantry and the campground was in excellent condition and a number of cars used it. We drove to the campground from Archer Camping Area which is a 4WD road and has some more challenging sections.
Camp sites: Tent camping only. 13 numbered and defined dirt sites.  Maximum 6 people per site and only 1 car per site. Bollards between vehicle and tent. Near Neurum Creek.
Booking and Fees: Normal National Parks QLD fees. $6.30 per adult. Online and phone booking only. No phone reception at the campground.
Facilities: Individual car parks, fire pits BYO wood, flush toilets, some sites have taps, treat water before use. No bins. No phone reception at campground. We had Telstra reception at the Gantry picnic area.
Prohibited: pets, generators, collecting wood.
What's good: shallow creek popular with families.

Mount Mee Forest Trail Drive, D'Aguilar National Park, QLD: Mount Mee section.

The Mount Mee Forest Trail follows a loop through the northern section of D'Aguilar National Park. The road is unsealed and listed as Easy 4WD. There are plenty of things to do along the way for an enjoyable days outing or you can extend the trip by tent camping in either Archer Camping Area or Neurum Creek Camping Area. For the 4WD enthusiast there are also tracks listed as Moderate and Difficult in the park. A PDF map of the trail can be found here .

Rocky Hole
It is a short walk to Rocky Hole Lookout from the car park and from there only a few stairs down to this inviting swimming hole.

Rocky Hole

Orange Threadtail at Rocky Hole.

Mill Rainforest Walk, Class 3, 1.4 km circuit.
We particularly enjoyed the Mill Rainforest Walk. Magnificent strangler figs and epiphytes abound.

Strangler Fig

Footbridge along the Mill Rainforest Walk.

There are more catbirds here than we have encountered anywhere else. While we often hear catbirds on our travels, seeing them is another matter, but here we saw several. Getting a good photo of one is always a challenge though. Another highlight was watching a male Paradise Riflebird as he searched for insects.

Green Catbird

Paradise Riflebird, male.

Falls Lookout, Class 2,1 km return to the lookout.
A short walk to a lookout overlooking the northern side of D'Aguilar Range and Neurum Valley. The walk continues down to Bulls Falls.

The view from Falls Lookout

The Gantry Day Use Area

The Gantry

The Gantry Day Use Area is accessible by 2WD via Sellin Road. It is a large grassy area with toilets, picnic tables, gas BBQ's and wood BBQ's (BYO wood). Two walks start opposite the entry to the Gantry car park.

The Gantry Day Use Area

Somerset Trail, Class 4, 13 km circuit.
We had a quick peek along the trail and decided to come back for this walk at a cooler time of year.

Piccabeen Walk, Class 2, 1 km circuit.
This is a very pleasant walk. The entire path is either bitumen or boardwalk, making it just perfect for wheelchairs or families with strollers.

Resting area on the Piccabeen Walk.

Broadwater Day Use Area
The Broadwater is a small day use area close to Archer Campground. There is access to Neurum Creek, a small toilet block and a few shady picnic tables. 

Broadwater Day Use Area

Swimming hole at the Broadwater Day Use Area, Nuerum Creek

Spectacled Monarch at Broadwater Day Use Area

There are two campgrounds in the Mount Mee section of D'Aguilar National Park: Archer Camping Area and Neurum Creek Camping Area which I will cover in separate blogs.

Wildlife List for Mount Mee section of D'Aguilar National Park:
Lace Monitor, Elf Skink, Bar-sided Skink, unidentified skink, Cane Toad, Yellow-faced Whip Snake, Red-bellied Black Snake, Black-striped Wallaby, Red-necked Pademelon, Red-legged Pademelon.
Insects:  Razor Grinder Cicada.
Butterflies & Moths: Monarch, Meadow Argus, Yellow Albatross, Orchard Swallowtail, Clearwing Swallowtail, Small Grass-yellow, Blue Triangle, Blue Tiger, (Unidentified dark brown) Skipper, Varied Eggfly, Leafwing, White-banded Plane, Common Crow, Orange-spotted Moth, Heliotrope Moth.
Dragonflies & Damselflies: Scarlet Percher, Blue Skimmer. Orange Threadtail.
Birds: Satin Bowerbird, Australian Brush Turkey, Green Catbird, Sulphur-crested Cockatoo, Fan-tailed Cuckoo, Pied Currawong, Torresian Crow, Pacific Black Duck, Brown Cuckoo-Dove, Emerald Dove, Spangled Drongo, Rufous Fantail, Red-browed Finch, Tawny Frogmouth, Wompoo Fruit-Dove, Rose-crowned Fruit-Dove, Brown Gerygone, Lewin's Honeyeater, Yellow-faced Honeyeater, Azure Kingfisher, Sacred Kingfisher, Forrest Kingfisher, Common Koel, Rainbow Lorikeet, Spectacled Monarch, Olive-backed Oriole, Australian King Parrot, Wonga Pigeon, Eastern Yellow Robin, Yellow-throated Scrubwren, Large-billed Scrubwren, Brown Thornbill, Russet-tailed Thrush, Eastern Whipbird, Golden Whistler.

Archer Camping Area, D'Aguilar National Park, QLD.

Archer Camping Area, in the northern end of D'Aguilar National Park, is a grassy, tent only, campground less than two hours drive north of Brisbane.

Archer Camping Area

Each campsite has a numbered car park and a fire ring.

Laughing Kookaburra in Archer Camping Area.

The campground is near Neurum Creek and has access to the water. Swimming here is popular with families.

Neurum Creek at Archer Camping Area.

As well as a few turtles, we saw a particularly light coloured Yellow-faced Whip Snake going for a swim when there was nobody else around. 

Yellow-faced Whip Snake.

Take extra care to secure your food and rubbish as Lace Monitors and Brush Turkeys were constantly foraging in the campground. 

Lace Monitor

Red-necked pademelons are found around the campground; especially early morning and during the evening.

Red-necked Pademelon

A pair of Tawny Frogmouths were easily visible during the day. Olive-backed Orioles and Kookaburras also frequent the campground.

A pair of Tawny Frogmouths.

Olive-backed Oriole

On our January visit, there were a huge variety of butterflies about. We saw Monarchs, Meadow Argus, Yellow Albatross, Orchard Swallowtails, Clearwing Swallowtails, Small Grass-yellows, Blue Triangles, Blue Tigers, Varied Eggfly, Leafwings, White-banded Planes and Common Crows; as well as a few Skippers, Blues and Yellows that we were not quick enough to ID. Orange-spotted and Heliotrope Moths were also present.

Leafwing. Closed and open.

At the causeway between the campground and Broadwater Day Use Area, Yellow Albatross and Blue Triangles were puddling. There were a large number of White-banded Planes, also known as Common Planes, flying about the campground in their distinctive gliding patterns.

Yellow Albatross puddling and a White-banded Plane.

The shells of Razor Grinder Cicadas were a common site and around dusk the waves of sound created by these aptly named cicadas was excruciatingly loud.

Razor Grinder Cicada

Details for Archer Camping Area, D'Aguilar National Park:
Where: Just north of Woodford, take Neurum Road, turn left into Stanton Road, right into Rasmussen Road and continue past Neurum Creek Bush Retreat. The campground is signposted shortly after entering D'Aguilar National Park. Or enter the national park by Sellin Road and drive north via 4WD road to the campground.
Access: 2WD if entering via Rasmussen Road. Very low clearance might be a problem closer to the campground.
Camp sites: Tent camping only. Open grassy area with 9 numbered sites. Maximum 6 people per site and only 1 car per site. Bollards between vehicle and tent. Near Neurum Creek.
Booking and Fees: Normal National Parks QLD fees. $6.30 per adult. Online and phone booking only. No phone reception at the campground.
Facilities: Individual car parks, fire pits BYO wood, flush toilets, limited tank water. 1 shower cubicle without plumbing; BYO shower and water. No bins. No phone reception at campground. We had Telstra reception at the Gantry picnic area and on a small section of the 4WD road south of the campground.
Prohibited: pets, generators, collecting wood.