TM Natural History Association

2012-05-05 - Mt Maroon

Bushwalkers - News (Bushwalkers)

Sunday, 13 May 2012

Leader: Colin

Six of us (Linda, Julie, Steve, Phil, John & me), left the car park at the end of Cotswold Road next to the lagoon to walk the 3k to the Mt Maroon summit. The weather was perfect with very little breeze and warm and sunny.

The first part of the walk is up to a grassy ridge. This is rather steep (so we thought – there was much worse to come) and everyone's heart rates were up and all were puffing while we battled to get our breathing right for the rest of the hard climb. As the track leads into the wooded part of the mountain it becomes very steep and rocky. We had to continually remind ourselves that we were out for a fun day so took every opportunity for photo stops and to look back at the breathtaking views across the grasslands to the many other peaks in the area.

Read more: 2012-05-05 - Mt Maroon

2012 04 18 TMNHA BIRD WALK REPORT - Coombabah

Bird Group - News (Bird Group)

Wednesday, 09 May 2012

What a great roll-up for our Coombabah walk. The weather was looking good when we left the mountain and in less than an hour we arrived in the car park at Rain Tree Glen, off Pine Ridge Rd where we started our walk.  The walks around the track system here are level and you can do any or all of the tracks, depending on your time restraints, with ease. The track map which can be downloaded from the Gold Coast City Council website is easy to follow and each track is well marked. The birding was great right from the start. The calls of Spangled Drongo, Rufous Whistler, Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike, Grey and Rufous Fantails were heard throughout the wetlands.

Preview the full report.....

2012-04-14 - Upper Ballunjui Falls via Dave's Creek

Bushwalkers - News (Bushwalkers)

Tuesday, 17 April 2012

Leader: Julie

Five of us (John, Michele, Paul, Colin & me), left the Binna Burra car park to start along the Border Track to walk the 3.9k to the Dave’s Creek junction.  The weather was overcast with the occasional shower so very soon we all went for protection in one form or another (spray jackets and/or umbrellas).

The forest had an eerie feel to it as filtered sunlight broke its way through the rising mist.  Because of recent rains, the fungi was out in force and there was plenty of spectacular varieties to see.  As usual, leeches were a bother to everyone – lots of small annoying ones although with protection none of us suffered the ignominy of providing a good meal for them.

Read more: 2012-04-14 - Upper Ballunjui Falls via Dave's Creek

2012 04 04 TMNHA BIRD WALK REPORT - Mt TAMBORINE

Bird Group - News (Bird Group)

Sunday, 15 April 2012

What a lovely day for a Bird Walk; sun shining, a blue sky with fluffy white cumulus clouds and no sign of rain. We had a wonderful attendance of 17 including two UK visitors.  
Our local walk today was on private property on a north-west-west shelf of the mountain. We all negotiated the road down to Jim & Ros's property, which opened up onto a beautiful green shelf with lots of wonderful trees, westerly views and many magnificent staghorns.   We walked north west across the property, down an original old road onto the mountain (circa. 1846) which Jim had mowed for our comfort, to avoid the local grass ticks. Birdlife was very quiet with only some very small birds - Weebils, Thornbills and Pardalotes in the very tops of the trees, trying to gather some of the coming warmth of the sunlight. As we moved along the track, members side-stepped the venomous Jumper ants genus Myrmecia nigrocincta as there were many nests.

Read more in the pdf report

2012 03 24 TMNHA BIRD WALK REPORT - PORT of BRISBANE

Bird Group - News (Bird Group)

Sunday, 15 April 2012

March and April are the months when migratory birds leave the Southern Hemisphere and travel to the Arctic and Siberian areas of the Northern Hemisphere. They arrive when the snow and ice are melting and vast numbers of insects are hatching enabling the birds to mate and breed in preparation for the return journey in August, with their offspring following up to a month later. How sad it is that so many of the resting and feeding places on these routes are vanishing as these areas are drained and “developed”. The latest figures for the Eastern Asian Australian flyover have declined by 20-70% over recent years.
How fortunate we are to have on our doorstep at the Port of Brisbane, an area where we can still see so many of these incredible waders. And that is why on Saturday at 6am Jeff, Marg, Toby and I met up and were soon on our way to the Port of Brisbane.

Read more in the pdf report

2012 03 21 TMNHA Bird Walk Report - Wyaralong Dam

Bird Group - News (Bird Group)

Friday, 06 April 2012

Julie's timing was for once spot-on and we got to the dam car park at 6.45 a.m as planned. The weather was very kind to us; warm and mostly sunny but with a cool breeze from time to time and a few clouds to give us some relief from the sun. We first scanned the open country close to the car park, walking slowly down the service road where we saw Superb Blue and Redback Wrens, Little Corellas, Pale Headed Rosellas, Bar Shouldered Doves, Cisticolas,  Tawny Grassbirds and a few other old friends.

Preview the full report.....

2012-03-24 - Mt Tamborine Mystery Walk

Bushwalkers - News (Bushwalkers)

Thursday, 29 March 2012

Leader: John

Twelve of us left the Beacon Road lookout and walked down the half km drive to Jim Inglis’ house.  Helen presented Jim with a bottle of wine on behalf of the Bushwalkers, because he was about to lead us for a walk on his beautiful 150 acre (60 hectare) property, situated on a broad ledge overlooking the beautiful valley west of Mt Tamborine.

First we walked along an historic path (used by the early cedar loggers), past an interesting hexagonal rock formation formed by intense volcanic activity, when highly fluid molten basalt cooled rapidly, contracting and splitting into hexagonal shapes. Horizontal contraction and fracturing occurred in a similar way to drying mud, with the cracks propagating down as the mass cooled, leaving pillar like structures.  Land slips and tremors have seen some of these pillars fall over as we saw.  

Read more: 2012-03-24 - Mt Tamborine Mystery Walk

2012-03-07 TMNHA Nature Walk Report - Geissmann St & Knoll

NHA General - TM Nature Walks

Wednesday, 14 March 2012

The rain cleared overnight and we woke to sunshine and a cool breeze, eager to see how many birds and other creatures would be out and about in such delightful weather.  The group this month consisted of Marg and Jeff, Julie, Susan,  and David.  Thanks to Susan's efforts we were allowed to enter an area of private land behind Geissmann Oval which offers a mixed habitat of rainforest, eucalypt woodland and open, grassy paddocks. View PDF Version with the Preview Link or When in Blog View Use the Read More Link to read here. Click on images to see larger pop-up (not available in PDF).

Read more: 2012-03-07 TMNHA Nature Walk Report - Geissmann St & Knoll

2012-03-10 - Larapinta Falls

Bushwalkers - News (Bushwalkers)

Sunday, 11 March 2012

Leader - Colin

Ten intrepid bushwalkers started on the adventure to Larapinta Falls on a beautiful sunny day.

Julie, Linda & Colin met along the Beaudesert Nerang Road, Helen Grahame, Phil, Lori and Paul met at the VIC, while Michele and Christine met at Beechmont before all made their way to Beaudesert for the final drive to the end of Christmas Creek road for the commencement of the walk to Westray’s Grave and then on to Larapinta Falls.

The first part of the walk involved getting across Christmas Creek from the eastern side as the track up to Westray’s Grave is on the western side.  There is a huge log crossing the creek and a few of us used this route while the rest forged the creek downriver of the log as best they could. 

Read more: 2012-03-10 - Larapinta Falls

2012 02 15 TMNHA Bird Walk Report - Springbrook

Bird Group - News (Bird Group)

Monday, 05 March 2012

What a super day at Springbrook, our first full-day walk for 2012.  Twelve eager members participated and the weather was just beautiful until mid-afternoon.  Although only 47 bird species were recorded for the day, we saw a variety of other wildlife and interesting flora.

Preview the full report.....

2012-02-11 - Purlingbrook Falls et al

Bushwalkers - News (Bushwalkers)

Wednesday, 15 February 2012

Leader - Paul

Nine Club members (Paul, John, Peter & Sara, Sue, Colin, Julie, Joy, Elizabeth) were pleased to welcome and share the day with two new walkers (Craig & Lori).

On arrival at Gwongorella Car Park the walkers set off for Purlingbrook lookout.  Arriving at the top of the falls, we found Park Rangers had closed part of the Circuit due to landslides. We took the Western track which includes steps down to the base of Purlingbrook Falls then continued on to the Tanninaba Falls. The Falls were spectacular after the heavy rain of the last two weeks. The weather was on our side and this made for a great walk.

Read more: 2012-02-11 - Purlingbrook Falls et al