Neurum Creek is one of two vehicle-accessible government campsites in D’Aguilar National Park. This time last year E and I stayed at the other one — Archer Camp — which is also a beautiful spot with numbered sites. On that trip we were assaulted by the loudest cicada choruses I’ve ever heard and this trip we had another awesome cicada encounter of a different kind — more about that in a moment.
From Brisbane, we went through Samford and Dayboro towards Woodford along Mount Mee Road, turning off onto Sellin Road before Mount Mee. We stopped off for lunch at the site of the old timber mill — The Gantry. The last leg into camp is 6kms of pretty good dirt road.
(you can click on any of these galleries to see a larger slideshow)
As usual, first priority was to get the billy over some heat for a cuppa. E was in charge of fire lighting and did a top-notch job first go. It’s a good idea to get kids ‘playing with fire’ — they learn a lot about the beauty, power and danger of fire just by watching and interacting with it in a safe way. It’s also good fun. This time we had our first go at damper — we made the dough in the morning before leaving and just plonked it over the fire. It was pretty good. But damper is heavy-duty stuff and we could have easily got away with one half the size.
Then it was time for a quick scout around to see what we could see. There’s one short walk on the far side of the creek, but the highlight is the creek itself. The waterhole is not huge and not deep enough for ‘swimming’ but it’s very cool and refreshing on a hot day. It butts right up against a rock face with a few underwater ledges — perfect for cooling off some drinks. The only critters we encountered in the waterhole were thousands of water bugs, thousands of tiny fish (which like to nibble at your toes if you stand still long enough) and one big black leech (unfed).
We again decided to forego the tent and just sleep under the cool tarp. We had no drama with mozzies and, although we saw a bunch of march flies, we didn’t get bitten. About three hours after I reassured E that we were unlikely to get any rain that night, we were surrounded by a quite impressive thunder storm which, somehow, E managed to sleep through. Luckily it was all crash and bang with very little rain and no wind — so we stayed cool and dry all night.
In the morning we played some footy, cleaned up a ditch which some feral-bogan-idiot-wankers had used as a rubbish tip (E actually suggested the cleanup), and ‘rescued’ a cool looking bladder cicada from the creek. If you look close, you can see it’s looking happy for our help (but that wasn’t our awesome cicada encounter — more about that in a moment).
E says : At Neurum Creek Dad and I went for walks and to a good waterfall. At the water hole dad and I jumped off a cliff and into the water! I saw a lace moniter, it was a metre long. At the camp site Dad saw a cicada hatching out of its shell. I wish I could go back again.
E’s drawing of Rocky Hole
2km further along from the campsite is the awesome Rocky Hole. Last time we were here, Rocky Hole was a bit manky and not great for swimming, but this time it was very cool (in both senses of the term). After seeing a few other people jumping off the rocks, E decided he wanted to have a go too. This is a very risky practice. The water wasn’t all that clear, so there was no certainty at all that it was completely free from submerged danger. But after watching much bigger people repeatedly jump in and around the same spot I decided the risk was acceptably low. Some will say I was silly to be so cautious, and others will say I was crazy to risk the welfare of my son. But this is the nature of life, any worthwhile experiences involve some kind of risk. The sense of joy and power that E got from this simple pleasure was well worth the calculated risk.
For the first couple of jumps I was standing on a (quite visible) submerged boulder a couple of metres from the splash zone. Later, when I jumped myself, I found that my skinny six-foot body still didn’t touch bottom. Lesson 10 — when jumping from a high point into a waterhole, always hold your nose to prevent the in-rushing water from washing your brains out through your ears.
And here’s an animation (click to view) :
Now for our awesome cicada encounter …
Adult cicadas are beautiful, amazing and LOUD creatures. Eggs are laid in slits made by the mother in tree bark. After a couple of months the nymphs hatch and drop to the ground. They dig down and live off the sap of the tree roots — for years! They moult several times underground before finally emerging for the final moult and transformation into a winged adult — then they live for only another few weeks. So, cicadas live most of their lives underground, which is just as well because the nymph stage is not nearly as attractive as the adult.
Usually the final transformation occurs at night but WE got the chance to photograph one transforming from a nymph into an adult during the day! Lesson 11 — if you’re even remotely interested in half-decent photography, get yourself a tripod. If only I’d had a tripod …
Not to worry, the results are still fantastic. I thought the emerged adult would simply pump up its wings and take off to complete the metamorphosis somewhere safe. But this thing stayed put for hours and hours. Changing gradually from that pink and green monstrosity to the fully developed adult. I particularly love the changed from 12:47 to 2:29pm.
Judging by the fine white hairs and the dark spots near the tips of the wings, I’d say this is a floury baker cicada :
I chose Neurum Creek because it has numbered sites (16 in total, we chose site 11) and I was dreading a packed-out campsite, but the school holiday camping extravaganza must be delayed til after christmas. There were only two other campsites occupied on our first night, and one other on our second night — peace.
Signs and the website suggest that this is 4WD territory only but unless there are really heavy rains, or it’s been a long time between gradings, there’s no real problem getting a 2WD in. The trip takes less than two hours from Brisbane’s western suburbs.
The site has clean flushing toilets and hand basins (cold water only). Plus a whole bunch of taps (boil before drinking). Open fires are permitted in the fire rings only.
This is a beautiful, secluded, heavily vegetated camping area. Not really suited to big groups who like to spread out a lot, but perfect for us. We’ll definitely be back. And best of all … after our awesome experience #05, K wants to come with us next time.
click to view Neurum Creek Camp map
click to view full D’Aguilar National Park map
camping around brisbane 