2023 in photos — David Taylor - Master Jeweller

23rd December 2023

The year started with my two boys doing the Bump Track with me all the way into Mowbray Falls. I had one of my best days being with them in the bush

My boys walking the Bump track, January 2023.

LOL I doubt they will ever do it again but I am grateful that they put up with me and things I like to do for the day.

Little Mulgrave falls, 10th January 2023.

The beginning of January was very wet and the water raged down Millstream. I have not photographed Little Millstream very much despite having visited the area hundreds of times now.

This year I have travelled much less to the Tablelands than I have in past years. For the latter part of the year I have not visited it at all. Things changed in a lot of ways during 2023.

The Pig’s Pond, Barron Gorge early February 2023.

In January my friend Petr died after an accident paddling Behana Gorge. Petr was a religious kayaker of Barron Gorge and with him no longer there I just stopped going down to the river. My time in Barron Gorge was spent this year almost exclusively on the hillside.

Water flowing over the path into Nandroya Falls, mid February 2023.

On one of my few visits to the Tablelands this year I did the walk into Nandroya Falls. We were still experiencing a lot of rain and part of the path in had turned into a small waterfall.

On the way to Nandroya Falls that day I stopped in at Serendipity Falls. A branch that the previous year was spoiling my photos there was now a feature.

Early March and I made a special trip up the Tablelands just to spend the day in Silver Valley. There was still a lot of rain about and the water was flowing strongly through the valley.

Early March and there was still a lot of water on the hillside of Barron Gorge. The months of rain had well and truly altered the landscape. Dead fall everywhere, landslides and large boulders now very unstable. This one rolled over as I climbed over it up the hillside. It was time to be very careful n the Gorge.

Whilst still experiencing rain in March there were signs that things were starting to dry up. The periods of sunny weather were starting to become more frequent. Rainbow Falls once again had a rainbow.

Petr’s memorial service in Barron Gorge, early April 2023.

April saw a wonderful memorial service for my friend Petr in Barron Gorge. His ashes were given to the river and one more time he made his way down to Lake Placid.

I know the spot where Petr had the accident in Bahana Gorge that claimed his life. I have photographed it quite a few times over the years. One of the photos in this post from 2021 is of this spot. In May I decided to spend some time there.

When Petr passed through here the water would have been 10 to 15 feet higher than it is above. If you look closely you can see where they have cut away some of the deadfall with a chain saw during his rescue or after.

The middle of the year I decided to see what was happening in the swamps. I discovered that a couple of Black Swans had produced 5 cygnets and for the next month I dropped by a few times to get photos and observe them as I had previously done for some other cygnets.

While I was there I finally managed to get some good photos of Green Pygmy Geese. I have been trying to get close to these birds for quite a few years now.

The middle of the year I really struggled to take any landscape photos that I liked. For a period it became all about the birds. The Brolgas were returning and I got my first good photos of a Noisy Friarbird.

I tried hard during the middle of the year to find my mojo for landscape photos but in the end I gave up and decided to just enjoy my walks.

Normally in July I would be judging the photography competition at the Cairns Show. This year however my daughter was getting married. The day was one of the best of my life.

Unable to a do the judging this year I advised them it was time for someone else to have a go from here on. Photos are so subjective and I am not really into competitions ……so why should I be judging one?

Following my daughters wedding my sister came to visit. Whilst showing her Hastie`s Swamp I got to see something very rare and even better got photos of it. Plumed whistling Ducks usually look a lot browner than the above bird. This is indeed a very rare leucistic variant. Unlike an albino bird a leucistic still retains some of its normal colour spectrum.

From July to August I took very few photos. It was not until late August that I started venturing out again with my camera and by that time Carins was very hot. It was snake season.

Dead Falls, Barron Gorge, September 2023.

For months now my only outings were trips up the hillside of Barron Gorge. It was no longer about the photos but just being outside.

Rainbow Falls, Barron Gorge, late September.

By late September most of my trips into Barron Gorge were straight to Rainbow Falls to swim at it’s base. It was now very, very hot.

Come October and it was time to visit somewhere other than Barron Gorge. It was now even hotter than September so I spent a day swimming at this spot in Behana Gorge. Wonderful time and I remember thinking at the time that we must be in for a very big wet this year with all this heat. Little did I know what would occur in late December.

In November I really needed a change of scenery. I decided to act on a long held plan to explore the Chillagoe area some more. It was very hot out there and during my visits there was usually smoke in the sky from bushfires which made for some beautiful sunsets.

For a few weekends in November I roamed the caves of Chillagoe and Mungana on my own in bliss. Soon however work would mean I could no longer get away. 2024 will be the year that I continue to explore this area and the way up to Cooktown.

Not able to get away in he latter months of 2023 and still struggling with landscape photos I decided to take more macro photos in Barron Gorge. It was fun to be once again exploring the insect world.

After the extended long period of rainless hot weather the water above the bridge in Barron Gorge was very low. That would all change in just a few weeks on a scale I do not think any of us expected.