Natural Arch Archives - Australia by Red Nomad OZ https://www.redzaustralia.com/category/natural-arch/ go-see-do guide for adventurous travellers Thu, 06 May 2021 01:47:13 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://www.redzaustralia.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/cropped-Site-Icon-1-1-32x32.jpg Natural Arch Archives - Australia by Red Nomad OZ https://www.redzaustralia.com/category/natural-arch/ 32 32 Beauty at Natural Bridge! https://www.redzaustralia.com/2013/07/beauty-at-natural-bridge/ https://www.redzaustralia.com/2013/07/beauty-at-natural-bridge/#comments Wed, 10 Jul 2013 00:16:00 +0000 http://www.redzaustralia.com/wp/?p=36 NEW from RedzAustralia!

It’s the bird du jour around almost any given sub-tropical picnic area and car park, so it should have been easy to get a good shot.  However, my shots of Australian Brush-turkey in the dark depths of Natural Bridge*, part of Springbrook National Park’s lushly magnificent rainforest, all had something missing. Clarity. We’d driven up the impossibly steep Border Ranges from[...]

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Waterfall at Natural Bridge, Springbrook National Park, Queensland
Waterfall at Natural Bridge, Springbrook National Park, Queensland

It’s the bird du jour around almost any given sub-tropical picnic area and car park, so it should have been easy to get a good shot.  However, my shots of Australian Brush-turkey in the dark depths of Natural Bridge*, part of Springbrook National Park’s lushly magnificent rainforest, all had something missing.

Now you see it ... Australian Brush-turkey at Natural Bridge
Now you see it … Australian Brush-turkey at Natural Bridge

Clarity.

We’d driven up the impossibly steep Border Ranges from New South Wales across the Queensland Border, into Springbrook National Park.  There, we were under a rainforest canopy so dense the temperature drops several degrees and had been instantly transported into a twilight zone.
Rainforest Rocks, Natural Bridge, Springbrook National Park, Queensland
Rainforest Rocks, Natural Bridge, Springbrook National Park, Queensland
All very moody and atmospheric, but for the photographically challenged? Well, check out my turkey shots for yourself …
Rainforest Ferns
Rainforest Ferns

Although it was mid-afternoon this warm and sunny July day, the sun had already well and truly set at the bottom of the valley.

We’d descended the 1 km circuit trail, and a dank chill was rising from the rushing stream below.

Maybe we’d arrived too late. Or maybe the sun NEVER descended down this far …
In the gloom, the Brush-turkeys scuttled through the undergrowth like a pack of giant winged rats at the end of a hunger strike.
Personally, I blame the school holidays.
The conjunction of both Queensland AND New South Wales school holiday winter breaks had swollen the already high number of tourists. They were all gravitating to Natural Arch, a mere 4 km from the border shared by the two states.
Mossy Logs at Natural Bridge
Mossy Logs at Natural Bridge
The turkeys were as  opportunistic as anything I’ve seen in the birding world. Here they were, busily exploiting social media by willingly posing for countless photo shoots of ‘me feeding wild birds’!
These days, many turkeys have now adapted to all the worst elements of a Standard Australian Diet. Hunting and gathering has taken on a whole new meaning for them!
The Natural Bridge section of Springbrook National Park preserves a small sample of the rainforest native to this area.  It forms part of the 0.3% of Australian rainforest left after ‘civilisation’.
Rainforest Vines
Rainforest Vines
Wandering through this rare fragment of magnificent rainforest can be awe-inspiring.  That’s if you’re not dodging errant school holidaymakers, wannabe sporting superheroes defying the warning signs and running amok in the creek and losers getting in my way taking up all of the narrow track to the Arch.
I tried to take rainforest shots of the green mossy logs, streams running over rocks, trailing vines and epiphytic ferns.  Rainforest photography can be tricky, given low light, shadows, flitting shapes and the constant passage of other people.
Sometimes I failed, sometimes I lucked out!
Pilchard at Natural Bridge
Pilchard at Natural Bridge

Natural Bridge was formed by erosion and weathering by the full force of the creek flowing into the valley. It is actually a hole in the rock where water rushes into a grotto below.

Natural Bridge Waterfall
Natural Bridge Waterfall – and a sense of scale for SFlaGuy!
The resident glow worms weren’t lighting up the darkness of the cave yet.  However, the unearthly glow from the light above the hole through which the water fell created a splash of colour in the gloom.
The roar also drowned out the background noise for a rare moment of solitude.  Then we climbed back up the creek gorge to a vantage point overlooking the top of the arch, now well below us.  Back in the car park and in increasing darkness, we extricated our car with some difficulty.  The vehicles parked too close, backpackers preparing dinner and the rampaging turkeys on their never-ending quest for food all got in our way.
Natural Bridge from above, Springbrook National Park, Queensland
Natural Bridge from above, Springbrook National Park, Queensland

As we left the park, the otherworldly gloom of this abundant and spectacular rainforest reserve fell behind us.  We emerged onto the New South Wales road – aglow with bright, late-afternoon sunlight.

And not a Brush-turkey in sight!!
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* Natural Bridge is also known as ‘Natural Arch’

Creek at Natural Bridge through the Rainforest
Creek at Natural Bridge through the Rainforest

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