INTRODUCTION:
A short hop north of Toowoomba is the lovely Ravensbourne National Park, good for a short wander if you're in the area and lacking the crowds that congregate at Crows Nest National Park up the road.
You can tell the woodlands took a beating from the tree felling goon squad back in the day however there are tall eucalypts, loads of piccabeen palms, strutting red faced bush turkeys and the iconic call of the eastern whipbird to enjoy as you hop shallow streams and follow paths past vertical rock faces.
I spent 3 hours poking around the trails on the map below. I think it works about to around 9 or 10 kilometres altogether.
Easy grade, take water. Walks start from the Blackbean day use area.
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| Map sourced from parksqld |
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| Map sourced from Google maps. |
GETTING TO BLACKBEAN DAY USE AREA:
Head for the tiny locality of Hampton and turn onto Esk Hampton Road for 14km.
Hampton is 30km from Toowoomba and 140km from Brisbane.
The day use area has decent toilet facilities, car parking for around 20 vehicles and the trail starts beyond the picnic tables.
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| I nearly trod on a couple of these chonky monitor lizards during the walk. |
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| Buaraba Creek. |
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| Gympie, a stinging plant with toxic prickly leaves that reportedly has victims in a rather nasty way if contact is made. This was right on trail. |
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| Giant stinging tree, another variety of the Gympie; don't wipe your arse with one of these leaves. |
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| Lantana, the scourge of South East Queensland. Kinda like what blackberry is to New South Wales and Tasmania; spiky, hardy, introduced and takes over all before it. |
