Lake Nuga Nuga

We discovered on a map a tiny National Park - Nuga Nuga - bordering a lake of recent origin and with fairly difficult access. We hoped that we might have the place to ourselves and be able to camp somewhere different from all our previous sites this trip. Well there were only a couple of others spread out over a large area so we were virtually alone, and we found a nice little position right on the shore and facing the setting sun. Nuga Nuga is the biggest natural lake in Queensland. It is believed to be only about 160 years old and is thought to have been formed after a series of floods, the last one of which washed in silt which lines the base of the now lake. Throughout its shallow extent dead trees rise from the water making perfect roosts for many water birds. And this is a bird watcher's paradise. There are thousands of water birds: pelicans, terns, large pied cormorants, little pied cormorants, little black cormorants, white herons, grey herons, black swans, moorhens, magpie geese, spoonbills, and many flighty ducks that didn't come close enough for us to get a good look. Turtles rested on tree trunks in the water fighting for space with the bigger birds. Cormorants nested in the bare trees and babies in the nest shrieked at their parents for food.

The lake is eerie, especially at sunset when the trunks become black silhouettes against the orange sky. The camera and I had a field day. Not only was there fantastic wildlife to stalk and capture, the sky was magnificent to photograph. I tried out some astronomical photographs in the moonless night but I'm still very much in the learning and experimental stage there… Unfortunately there was quite a wind which made the tripod shake and shiver - not recommended for sharp star pics.

After all the moving on every day for the last two months, this was the perfect place to have a rest and stay a day longer doing very little besides walking around the lake and stoking the fire for dinner.