Border Ranges National Park

Visited: Very early spring

Recommendation: This is a stunning area with different forest environments. Walking tracks are well maintained and the wildlife is fabulous. Definitely worth a few days stay.

The Border Ranges National Park is a spectacular wilderness area located in the Northern Rivers region of New South Wales, Australia, near the border with Queensland. It is a key part of the Gondwana Rainforests of Australia World Heritage Area, protecting ancient and unique rainforest environments. The park sits on the rim of the huge, ancient, and eroded Tweed Volcano caldera, providing dramatic topography.

We particularly loved the subtropical, cool temperate and warm temperate rainforest, which are home to a diverse range of flora and fauna, including species like the Albert's Lyrebird. There is a scenic drive and lots of walking tracks ranging from short, easy strolls to longer day hikes through lush rainforest to creeks and waterfalls.

We had a short stop here at the Sheepstation Creek Campground, which given the name, had me picturing barns and animal sheds but the campsite was right in the middle of the forest. Having said that, the area was very well provisioned with flat sites, lots of information and good amenities. 

We arrived quite late in the afternoon and didn't have long to wait for dark before going out for the first time. We started on the Palm Forest Track down to the creek. It's still early in the season. The track is well-formed and runs through the rainforest. We stopped to look at the Red-necked Pademelons feeding on the campground grass, but they were very shy here and vanished quickly.

As we walked along the path, we were hoping to see or hear the Marbled Frogmouth. This location is the perfect environment for them. While we did hear a Boobook in the distance, and later on we heard an Owlet Nightjar calling, but nothing other than that.

There were lots of Brush Turkeys around, so there was a lot of noise from the bush, even at the late hour. At one point, we disturbed a bandicoot who jumped out of the undergrowth and bounced along the path ahead of us, squeaking like a dog's chew toy, which made us laugh quite a lot. Once we got to the stream, we were hoping to hear some frogs but it was quiet. However, as we started to look around, they began to pop up. First we found a Pearson's Tree Frog and then several more.

Pearson's Tree Frog (Litoria pearsoniana)

We also found some rather attractive Stick Insects feeding on a particular heart-shaped leaf plant. Interestingly, we didn't see them (or the plant) anywhere else. They were not there in the daytime but reappeared the next night. I'm not sure what the species is, but they were very cool to watch.

There were some interesting flora on our night walk. This attractive flower was host to some very small bugs. Research tells me that it is a native guava and the flowers are unusual in appearance as it is a primal species. The fungi is a type of Bracket Fungi, I think. We didn't see much of it but this collection of them was quite extensive.

The next morning, I sat on the table on my campsite and watched the surrounding forest. I didn't need to move anywhere as the birds just came by for several hours. The White-browed Scrubwren bounced around the gravel patch in a small group. This is the buff-breasted subspecies but doesn't look much different to me from any others I have seen! There were several Red-browed Firetails also exploring the area and I watched this bird preening most conveniently in the sunshine.

I was attracted to a tree that kept dropping fruit and seeds on to the top of the van. It was an Alexandra Palm (or something similar) in fruit. I watched as a Satin Bowerbird would sit underneath it and then jump to try to cling on. It took several attempts and the bird looked very clumsy. It stuffed down as many berries as it could until a Pied Currawong chased it away and then collected some itself.