Myall Park Botanic Gardens, Glenmorgan, Qld

Slow camping in the peace and quiet of the bush.

Female Rufous Whistler — A female Rufous Whistler cautiously approaches the water at Myall Park. Photographed from the bird hide.

Just outside the tiny hamlet of Glenmorgan, we found peace and quiet and a feel of what the bush must have been like ‘back in the day.’ Back in the day before mass land-clearing and cotton and those enormous boom sprayers that sway through dull grey prairies of awesome, alien, industrial agribusiness emptiness.

Myall Park is a bush camp where you can park your rig / tent / swag and savour the flavours of some amazing upland landscapes, live quietly for a while, side by side with some intriguing flora and fauna.

Myall park is, literally, a refuge for semi-arid plant species from all over Australia. It is also a refuge for the local flora and the fauna that reside in the large swathes of original vegetation that have been allowed to remain there.

Feral pests are kept out by the stout fence that encloses the park, while local bird species are attracted by a permanent source of water, supplied by pump from a dam. Park volunteers have constructed a hide, from which visitors can quietly observe the daily comings and goings of Honeyeaters and Whistlers and a host of other species, along with the occasional snake.

Male Rufous Whistler – photo taken from the hide at Myall Park.

Sitting quietly in the hide on a Sunday morning we were able to see and photograph many of the smaller species that are usually so difficult to see and identify as they flit through the scrub. From our hiding place we could watch as they as they carefully monitored the area for danger, before moving closer and closer to the water where they would drink and bathe.

In these precious moments, the sound of the camera shutter felt like an intrusion. The urge to capture and catalog a distraction from the more serious business of simply seeing, being, feeling the presence of these tiny birds as they refreshed themselves in an anxious baptism, washing away the thirsty dust, before diving back toward the safety of the bush.

Outside, we had spotted a raptor, keen-eyed predator of these smaller birds. I mis-identified this as a Black Falcon (er, it was a falcon, and it was black), until more knowledgeable folks assured me that it was a ‘black morph’ Brown Falcon. Black or brown, it was still exciting to see…

Brown Falcon – ‘Black Morph’ edition. This is a cropped, long shot at the far end of the RF100-400mm lens range.

In the glorious week that we camped at Myall park, we had time to wander the trails that criss-cross the ridge, and spend time enjoying liquid blue skies.

Sometimes, it’s enough just to be still and let the mind wonder – Myall Park is just such a place. No need to rush around, ticking checklists in some bucket-list race.

Let the bush embrace you and slowly share its secrets. Listen for the Brolgas in the distance. Hear the eerie screeches of the Bush Curlews in the night. Touch the sensuously smooth bark of the endangered Chinchilla White Gums.