TOURS ATTRACTIONS GYMPIE

Brooyar State Forest features sandstone cliffs, hoop pine plantations and a mix of tall open eucalypt forest with spotted gums. Pockets of riparian rainforest fringe Glastonbury Creek. Take a scenic drive, stopping to enjoy views from Point Pure lookout (300 metre return walk) or a short stroll along an old logging road through rainforest. You can picnic at Glastonbury Creek, or set up your tent or caravan on the grassy camping area nearby. Relax and absorb the tranquillity. In summer, feast your eyes on the forest's colours: rich red and yellow flowers of black bean trees, and vivid orange flower spikes of silky oaks. You can camp with your dog overnight, but must keep it on a leash.

A triangular-shaped park with lawns, well-tended garden beds and shady trees creates the perfect spot for a picnic in Gympie, it's also a place where WWI soldiers are remembered. Gympie's Memorial Park was officially opened in April 1921, although the Prince of Wales (later King Edward VIII) visited eight months earlier when unveiling the Gympie and Widgee War Memorial Gates which lead into the green-space. The local council used the expertise of Brisbane's Parks Superintendent Harry Moore, also known for his landscape design of Yeronga's Memorial Park, Newstead Park, and New Farm Park. Local returned servicemen were employed for much of the ground works: gently curving gravelled pedestrian walkways radiating from a few entrance points and raised, dry-stone walled rockery beds with dramatic displays of flowering annuals, perennials and roses. Palms, pines, poinsettias and jacarandas were also planted for this living tribute to the 167 men who died at war. While intended as a soldiers' memorial, others are remembered within the park. The 1920 bandstand honours the memory of a much-respected bandmaster and a sandstone monument is dedicated to James Nash, the man credited with starting the Gympie gold rush. Glimpses of the park can be seen from Calton Hill.

Banyandah Alpacas welcomes local families and tourists to pet and feed the friendly alpacas between 10am and 4 pm on Wednesdays and weekends.. Bus/coach tours are welcome any day by prior arrangement. Hot water is provided for those tour groups wishing to bring their own refreshments, but Zesty Edibles at Gunabul Homestead, also in Power Road, provides lunches and teas in a tranquil setting if preferred. Dawn gives an interesting talk about alpacas to tour groups. The on-farm retail shop stocks a wide range of products fashioned from alpaca fleece as well as unprocesed alpaca fleece, both suri and huacaya, tops and yarn made from Banyandah's alpacas for discerning crafters. Banyandah Alpacas sells animals, breeding females, some with cria at foot, stud males, guardians, grasseaters and pets, all at competitive, realistic prices. Many of Banyandah's alpacas have been ribbon winners at shows. Twice yearly Dawn conducts Alpaca Management Days for potential alpaca owners and new owners to assist them in the management and healthcare of their alpacas. Educational days can be individually designed for school groups. Banyandah is a WWOOFer Host and welcomes WWOOFers from around the world to help with the management of the animals and the paddocks.

The British decreed that WWI soldiers of the Empire be buried where they fell, leading to a wave of memorials in Australia as communities, like those of Gympie and Widgee Shire, wrestled with their grief. The Prince of Wales-later King Edward VIII-unveiled the Gympie war memorial gates in 1920 in tribute to 167 local men who died. Their names are inscribed, along with those of two locals who died in the Boer War, on large sculpted sandstone pillars facing the street and supporting the ironwork gates. The gates were designed by a young Brisbane draftsman George Rae who won a design competition organised by the Queensland Institute of Architects on behalf of the Gympie and Widgee District Soldiers' Memorial Fund. AL Petrie and Son undertook the stonework. An unknown blacksmith produced the ironwork. The gates cost £800, raised through public subscription and input from the Gympie City Council. The gates, on a laneway between a shop and a hotel, beckon entry to a memorial park beyond on a former saw mill site. A second set of pillars mirroring the originals bear marble plaques with the leaded names of local men who served in WWII and Vietnam.

The Cooloola Coast is part of the Great Sandy Strait, which is an internationally important wetland. It is an area of tidal swamps and intertidal sand and mud flats. The vegetation includes beds of seagrass, mangrove forests and saltmarsh wetlands. The Great Sandy Strait supports 38 species of shorebirds including 18 migratory species. The area is also used by other threatened species such as turtles and dugongs. The Cooloola Coast is a perfect place for shorebirds. At low tide there are extensive sand banks where the birds can search for food and at high tide there are secluded places where they can roost and rest without disturbance.

Come stroll along the “Tin Can Bay Foreshore Birdwalk”, a Feature Site “Along the Bird Trails of Cooloola”

Tin Can Bay is known throughout Australia as one of the most charming villages on the SE Queensland coast; our Foreshore continuing to gather praise for it's wealth of natural beauty.
 
Located within Queensland’s Great Sandy Straits, it is also part of a Ramsar Wetland of international importance.
 
Whether bicycle riding, jogging, or just casually strolling, follow the signage along the 4 km stretch of the easily accessible “Tin Can Bay Foreshore Bird Walk”, you will soon discover that Tin Can Bay is home to a truly wonderful variety of birds.
 
With a list 143 species already sighted, our Foreshore is gaining a “reputation” as a great place to bird watch, providing a range of habitats for an excellent birding experience.
 
Visit our Website www.birdingcooloola.org.au for more information on the Diverse range of Habitats & Bird Species to be found in Cooloola.

Images:

Masked Lapwing (Acknowledgement to Amelia Nielsen - COOLOOLA NATURE)
Red-backed Fairy-wren (Male) (Acknowledgement to Amelia Nielsen - COOLOOLA NATURE)
Scaly-breasted Lorikeet (Acknowledgement to Amelia Nielsen - COOLOOLA NATURE)
Scarlet Honeyeater (Male) (Acknowledgement to Amelia Nielsen - COOLOOLA NATURE)
Striated Heron (Acknowledgement to Amelia Nielsen - COOLOOLA NATURE)
White-cheeked Honeyeater (Acknowledgement to Amelia Nielsen - COOLOOLA NATURE)
Bar-tailed Godwit (Acknowledgement to Amelia Nielsen - COOLOOLA NATURE)
Buff-banded Rail (Acknowledgement to Amelia Nielsen - COOLOOLA NATURE)
Dollarbird (Acknowledgement to Amelia Nielsen - COOLOOLA NATURE)
Eastern Curlew (Acknowledgement to Amelia Nielsen - COOLOOLA NATURE)
Eastern Yellow Robin (Acknowledgement to Amelia Nielsen - COOLOOLA NATURE)
Great Knot (Acknowledgement to Amelia Nielsen - COOLOOLA NATURE)