Visual Guide to Petersons Creek Walk.
This should give you a simple visual guide to the track with accompanying written suggestions.
If you have not yet picked up a map of the Walk, it is available at the end of this guide.
The Car Park
Most people tend to treat the Car Park as a utility area and of no interest or relevance to the Creek Walk.
If you enjoy birds, either before of after your walk take a good look around the Car Park and adjoining Paddocks. You will frequently see Bush-Stone-curlews under the trees around the park, near the bamboo clumps or near the Nick’s Pizzeria. The paddock often has numerous water birds according to season including Magpie Geese, Plumed Whistling-ducks, Pacific Black Ducks, Ibis, Swamphens, Masked Lapwing and Stone-curlews.
Platypus Viewing Platform
Walk along to the Platypus Viewing Platform and spend a few minutes looking through one of the windows. Platypus are often seen here. Also Ducks, Freshwater Snakes, Turtles.
Highway Bridge
Head across the pedestrian walkway pausing in the centre to look down at the creek.
Platypus may often be spotted here and juvenile Eastern Water Dragons and Eastern Water Skinks sunbake on the rocks under the bridge.
Start of Walk
The Walk curves to the left where there is a map and information about the Creek Restoration Project. A few metres on are a flight of rough stone steps leading down under the bridge span.
The Walk under the bridge is muddy and slippery in wet weather and slopes towards the Creek
If concerned by this, if you have a child’s pushchair or have a disability or walking aid consider the Alternate Access .
Alternate Access
Return to walkway and continue to end of the Safety Barrier. Cross with care to the end of the Barrier on the other side of the highway. There is a flat walk behind the Barrier which connects to the main Walk on the other side of the bridge
Continue Under Bridge
Use the steps and continue to the centre overlooking a large pool.
Platypus are often seen here although the reduced light makes photography difficult.
Ahead of you is a slope leading up towards the trees. To the right the creek narrows and there is a Platypus Burrow on the far bank so Platypus are often seen here.
There is a lower level here which gives a closer view if you wish.
At the top of the slope is a large block of wood which serves as a seat. A few metres beyond is an Information Board and the walk merges with the Alternate Access.
Green Ringtail Possums are often seen in the tree opposite the Board and a variety of small birds frequent the trees .
Dowlings Corridor and The Narrows
The following section, Dowlings Corridor, is named after a local farming family who own the land. The Alternate Entry joins the Walk here.
The Creek here is called The Narrows for obvious reasons. Platypus are frequent and easily observed. Small birds are often busy in the bushes. Turkeys and Orange-footed Scrubfowl can be seen and Ringtail Possums sometimes roost in the tall trees.
The Narrows
Walk on to the bench, in front of which is an alternative lower level route giving a better view of Platypus which are often seen. Tree Kangaroos and Brushtail Possums have been seen in this area but will be high in the canopy over the path. Small birds including Kingfishers and Pale-yellow Robin may be seen.
Follow the path as it curves to the left and leads to a Foot Bridge over a small stream and an angle in the fence with large braced fence posts.
Beyond the stream Possums occasionally roost in the trees
The Foot Bridge
Picnic Peninsula
The creek now widens into Stringers Stretch, named after a former resident who flew 30 missions as an RAF Bomber Pilot in WW 2. It is a good spot for Platypus and Saw-shelled Turtles roost on logs. The Path then widens and you have the option of continuing close to the creek or walking straight across the base of the Peninsula to the Picnic Table.
If you elect to walk close to the creek down Stringers Stretch you will arrive at the apex of the Peninsula and then proceed up the downstream side. Platypus continue to be seen in this area and Pacific Black Ducks are sometimes on the water. When the trees at the tip are in bloom you will see numerous Honeyeaters and in January metallic green Christmas Beetles are common. Cicadas usually the Red Roarer will be heard calling and sometimes seen on tree trunks.
The Overhanging Bushes
Arriving at the Picnic table, observe the Walk which exits close to the fence beyond the table. The first of the Overhanging Bushes is the small tree or bush which has trunks on both sides of the path and you walk underneath the canopy. There are five bushes in a row and in any of them you may see Green Ringtail Possums roosting in the canopy. You will need to stand under each bush in turn and have a good look up and peer around.
Go to the large tree past the First Bush and you will be able to see Bushes 2 and 3 (2 is really just a branch). Possums like to roost on the limbs of River Oak Trees ( a Casuarina with string like leaves) where they pass through the canopy of a bush with larger leaves and providing more cover.
At Bush 3 there is a bend in the Walk and from there you will see past Bushes 4 and 5 to Platy’s Pool.
Platy’s Pool
At Platy’s Pool where Platypus are often seen you have the option of taking the lower path if the grass is not too long. Interesting insects frequent the grasses and Turtles and Snakes are sometimes seen on the far bank.
Otherwise continue along the path looking at the trees to your right which sometimes conceal Possums and Cuckoo-shrikes.
The path curves to the right where wooden sleepers cross a boggy area and you will then be able to see the base of Log Jam Peninsula.
Log Jam Peninsula
Pass a small table, good for reading or doing homework, and you will see a huge Camphor Laurel tree where I have a seen a Tree Kangaroo on 3 occasions.
Pass to the right of the tree and continue to the tip of the peninsula where there is a Log Jam. This is frequently used by sun bathing Turtles and less often by Water Dragons. Platypus are often seen on either side of the Peninsula but best viewed on the narrower downstream side.
The path becomes narrower leaving the Peninsula and in the bushes to the right Honeyeaters are often observed. There is an alternative path along the edge of the creek through the bushes which is quite a good place to see Platypus.
The walk continues across a grassy bank. There is a mistletoe clump in the pushes to the right where a Brushtail Possum sometimes roosts and Green Ringtails are seen more often in the River Oak Tree or the bushy tree next to it. Also good for Christmas Beetles and Cicadas in season.
Flood Tide Island
Flood Tide Island is a small low lying piece of land which is normally separated from the walk by a marshy area but becomes a temporary island after heavy rain. it is just behind the trees to the right in the picture. It is not particularly remarkable except as a habitat for small birds and frogs. On one occasion at 11 a.m. I photographed a Barking Owl in one of these small trees.
Platypus Bend
The path then widens again to another grassy area where new trees have been planted before passing a group of larger trees and arriving at Platypus Bend. A Carpet Snake ( python ) was resident in one of the bigger tree for a couple of weeks last year.
All of this area is good Platypus habitat. Pacific Black Ducks and an occasional Cormorant or Darter are seen here. There have been a few sightings of a Rakali or Australian Water Rat. Orange- footed Scrubfowl are sometimes seen on the far bank.
The Walk continues on to Snodgrass’s Pool named after a longtime resident of the village. The Lillipilli Trees along the bank attract many Honeyeaters and Christmas Beetles when in bloom.
Snodgrass’s Pool
A short informal path runs towards the clump of trees between the new plantings and the pile of old sticks and logs. This is a very regular site for spotting Green Ringtail Possums and I have also seen two Lumholtz’s Tree-kangaroos sharing the trees with two possums.
Another more substantial path is on the left a few metres farther along the Walk. Take a quick look up here for Eastern Water Dragons on either side and Possums in the tree to the left at the top of the path. This is shown below.
Continue on past several piles of volcanic rocks on the left side of the Walk where Eastern Water Dragons are frequently seen. You will then see a third path on the left illustrated below with trees on the right which frequently play host to a Green Ringtail Possum.
Memorial Bench
Beyond this side path is a bench erected in memory of Doreen Child a longtime local resident. The bench is a good spot for sighting Platypus, Turtles and Water Skinks.
On the opposite side of the path is a horseshoe of rock and this is the most common area for seeing the Eastern Water Dragon. A large male more that half a metre long can often be seen displaying himself on one of the prominent skyline rocks.
The Other Side
From the Bench the Walk goes uphill until it splits into two. The Left fork passes another Picnic Table on the right before arriving at the grassed area known as The Other Side. There is a roofed Picnic Shelter and Possums often roost in the trees which hang over it.
The main Walk turns right and curves through a group of trees where again possums are sometimes seen. It continues past another access to The Other Side before reaching the supports of Lloyd Abell’s Suspension Bridge. Lloyd is a former Member of the Volunteers who largely funded the construction of the Bridge.
Lloyd’s Suspension Bridge
The trees on the right side of the bridge are a commons site to see Tree Kangaroos. Stop in the middle of the bridge and check out the trees forming the horizon on the left bank. I have seen up to three Tree Roos here simultaneously and single animals in almost all of the bushes between there and the bridge. Looking to the creek on the right side you will see the Stepping Stones which were the first Creek Crossing
Allumbah Pocket
Cross the bridge to the Yungaburra side of the Creek which is known as Allumbah Pocket, Allumbah was the original name for Yungaburra and the site of the ford and original bridge . Look to your left towards the Shelter and Picnic Table. The Tree on your left is another Green Ringtail roost as is the tree on the bend immediately beyond the shelter.
On the right side you will notice a branch path leading to a shed. This is a utility area and the path is also used by locals. Follow the main path round the bend. You then have the choice of continuing on a short distance to the road or turning left to continue a much longer walk past Frawley’s Pool and eventually to Mulgrave Road which will bring you back to the roundabout at the Catholic Church. This guide does not cover beyond this point.
As you continue up to the road be sure to check the tree on the left side for Possums and Tree Roos. I saw a Tree Kangaroo on the ground here in early February 2020
Bunya Street is a cul-de-sac but with a path through to the Car Park between the Medical Centre and Quincan Cafe and across the Highway from your Start Point.
Walk up Penda Street to a roundabout near the Roman Catholic Church. From here turn right for a short walk to the Foodworks Store, Shops, Hotel, Cafes, Restaurants, B&Bs, Motels and Yungaburra Visitor Information Centre.
Map of Petersons Creek Walk
