This is an easy walk showcasing massive bunya pines, beautiful palm section and lovely mixed forest with a variety of large eucs. Very pretty and good for small children. Its only a 500m circuit. This is a nice morning out when combined with a cruise around the Yandina markets on a Saturday.
Hello from me 🙂
We are your tour guides 🙂
A faery’s house!
I’m gonna take a step outside, see what’s shakin’ in the real world 🙂
Violas mean faeries live here 🙂
Hope you have a lovely weekend xx
The Atrax circuit is a fantastic walk for families with small children. It is only 750 m long with level, wide paths, timber bridges and stone steps. It is accessed via the Manorina Carpark on the right hand side of Mt Nebo Road, 22 kilometres from the Brisbane Forest Park Information Centre (only 30 kilometres from the Brisbane CBD).
This track leads through beautiful wet eucalypt forest. The tall, mixed forest offers a diversity of tree species providing dappled light to the rich understorey below. The path winds through little pockets of “fern forests”, past “mossy boats”, trickling creeks, small ponds, through the middle of a burnt out tree, underneath wonderful tree canopies with large epiphytic orchids (Dendrobium speciosum), little palm groves, secret little patches of terrestrial orchids, vines and grassy patches.
This is a quality walk with plenty of Nature engagement opportunities. Allowing little people to take their time, run back, run forward, pick up rocks, turn over leaves, balance on fallen logs, play peek-a-boo, make leaf umbrellas, float leaf boats down the creeks, stand in the water, feel the different barks, look up at the sky, walk the brick entrance and jump up the path will have everyone’s heart singing.
There are no facilities apart from a car park, so we teamed this walk up with a picnic at the Jolly’s Lookout picnic area (a couple of minutes in the car back towards the city). The vistas are good out past Lake Samsonvale and beyond. There are toilets and bbq areas (no wood collection from the forest), and one large undercover area at the lookout.
Inormation on D’Aguilar National Park can be found at http://www.nprsr.qld.gov.au/parks/daguilar/about.html
What a lovely morning out on a glorious winter’s day. A family member brought home a leech from this walk so maybe tuck the little peoples’ pants into their socks just to be safe.
Welcome to the Whistling Kite Collective’s Great Places to Visit series. This is where I review bushwalks and natural areas. Enjoy!
The Chermside Hills Reserve is a great natural area of Brisbane. This beautiful area is only 12 kilometres north of the CBD. Honestly, residents of this city are just so lucky to have such wonderful habitat places on their doorstep.
This important bushland area provides a critical habitat link between the mountains and the coast (known as the Mountains to Mangroves Corridor). The Downfall Creek Environment Centre (open Monday to Friday at 815 Rode Rod, Chermside West) is a good starting and finishing point, as the site also offers a resource centre, track maps, indoor aquariums, activity sheets, touch and feel tables, water, timber playground, undercover bbqs and picnic tables and open grassed areas). The side of the Environment Centre wall is a painted mural of native animals in their habitats. My toddler loves this mural.
This Eucalyptus forest offers a variety of bikeways and walking tracks. The Xanthorrhoea and Banksia Track Loop bushwalk is a good distance for small children (about 1.2 kilometres and also suitable for prams as it is bitumen). Â There is a good diversity of vegetation structure and floristics supporting abundant wildlife to engage the whole family.
Sensory play provided by this forest  include large logs, a timber bridge, small branches, crunchy understorey, rough grass trees, smooth eucalypt trunks and branches, shimmering tree sap from the iron barks, colourful leaves, glistening spiders’ webs and birds’ nests.
In autumn and winter the Banksias are in flower. These large, golden “candlesticks” are full of nectar. Little fingers and tongues retrieved the nectar from these flowers. “Very yummy nectar mummy!” We managed to leave some behind for the sugar gliders! This was a highlight of the walk through the Banksia track section
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The Xanthorrhoea track runs along the southern section of a small gully where we have seen swamp wallabies on a few occasions. “If we pat him, he might jump away”.  There are also plenty of bush turkeys, lizards and other birds in the area.
This area provides a good half day out when combined with a picnic or bbq lunch afterwards at the Environment Centre grounds. You can build your own adventure in this forest as several tracks can be linked for larger walks. Track maps are available online (http://www.brisbane.qld.gov.au/documents/environment/bushlandandwaterways_chermside_hills_reserves_track_map.pdf) or from the Environment Centre Monday to Friday.
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Toohey Forest is just a few minutes’ drive south of Brisbane city and easily accessible via public transport. There are picnic tables, toilets and shady car parks.
The 780 m Sandstone Track is a relatively flat, easy walk with few steps, suitable for toddlers. The path is fine gravel. It comprises a couple of lookouts and a small loop section.
The beautiful dry woodland habitat provides a good mix of fallen timber for climbing and balancing acts. Exposed bush rocks prove great for jumping.
The vegetation offers various tactile stimulation opportunities with a variety of tree and shrub species, raspy leaves, colourful wild flowers, crunchy ground cover. Many common bird species can be spotted on the walk, as well as small spiders and insects.
The lookouts are not fenced so we held hands in these areas. We did this walk in Autumn and it was quite dry, however this walk would be especially lovely in Spring when more flowers are in bloom.
A great walk for the family and the length is perfect for little people. My toddler loved balancing on logs, climbing the rocks, finding friendly spiders in holes, bird watching and crunching through the dry understorey! This walk makes a nice morning out when combined with a picnic lunch and snacks on-the-go.
Whistling Kite Collective 