Parklands Conservation Park Nambour: Lemon Tree Circuit

Another crisp early morning at Parklands in Nambour. This time we started further down and parked the car at the end of the road. We didn't get far before we spotted our first bush in flower to photograph.I haven't been able to find this flower in any of my flower books, so if anybody out there can identify this I would be very pleased.

Continuing on we spotted a small flock of yellow tailed cockatoos on our right, making themselves heard before being seen by their loud screeches. Before long we turned off deeper into the forest, like last week it had rained the day before, so there were small droplets on all the flowers.

Melastoma Mel= black Stoma= mouth which is what you get when you eat the berries.

You may wonder how I know all this, well I recently won 2nd price in a photographic competition held here on the coast. I won a beautiful book by Stephanie Haslam on Noosa's Native plants, so now I can put a name to all those lovely flower photos I enjoy taking. Thank you Stephanie!

Flowers were out in full force, we spotted a flowering banana bush, blueberry ash, pale flax lily, lobelia gibbosa (now I'm showing off)

Lobelia Gibbosa

After about an hour we heard the classic chatter of a cockatoo to the right of the track in the casuarinas, but to our surprise it was not a yellow tailed but red tailed cockatoo happily munching on the seeds of the 

she- oak.

red tailed cockatoo

You can see his big powerful black beak and I think he/she has his eyes closed.

The walk took us through rainforest and over ridges with quite a few steep sections. 

After about 2 1/2 hours we returned to the car, it was getting hotter, so just as well. We had a great  coffee in a new little cafe in Yandina main street in I think what's called the Timber hut

Absolutely delish and very popular with the locals from the looks of it.

PARKLANDS NAMBOUR ROCKY CREEK CIRCUIT

Parklands Conservation Park just outside Nambour is one of the best kept secrets. Although well known among mountain bike riders, we do not encounter many bushwalkers in this park.
This is a pity because the tracks are beautiful and varied, leading past a range of landscapes, wooded ridges, rainforest gullies and creek crossings.
The Rocky Creek circuit is a worth while morning's walk, starting early, we arrived at the park entrance at 6.45.
The sun was streaming through the undergrowth, the air still had a chill to it, what a start to the day.

It had rained the night before, so everything was fresh and glistening. There are several well signed walks in this park and Rocky creek circuit is one of 4. The information board at the park's entrance gives a good explanation of the park's Flora and Fauna.
It took us about 1 1/2 hours to do the circuit, stopping off at the creek crossing for a break and a snack. All in all a great hike with a few steepish hills, but the hiking sticks we carried  helped keep us steady on foot.
Coffee in Nambour afterwards.