Having lunch in Behana
7th April 2024
An extremely large tree trunk pushed down the creek by the Jasper floods.
Last week when I visited Behana Gorge I discovered that my favourite tree there had been destroyed by the flooding after Jasper. I decided to venture back in the following weekend to explore more of the changes that have occurred.
As I walked along the creek I found some new very large pieces of deadfall like the one above.
The sun trying to poke through the clouds.
When I arrived on Sunday the sun was trying to poke its way through the clouds. This day would be one of sunshine, clouds and rain as I was walking along and in the river.
A very lush and wet creek bank.
The water level has fallen a little since last week but many of the side creeks are still flowing strongly into the main stream of water. The Gorge was looking very beautiful when the rain turned to sunshine.
Plant life doing it’s thing.
With so much rain there is new growth in the rainforest everywhere. I am easily distracted so I stopped many times to look closely at anything that I found of interest.
Submerged tracks again…..when will the rain stop?
Many of the tracks that I normally walk in were this week as they were last week….. still flooded. The walking in this water kept me nice and cool and I love walking in the creek as well when it is shallow enough.
Easily distracted by things I think are pretty.
It was not long before once again I was captivated by something else. This tree wet from the rain had a pattern on it that I loved. I wanted to see if I could take a photo that captured its beauty.
Intimate photos are something I would like to do well one day.
These intimate type of photos I am not very good at and as per usual I am not thrilled with this image. That said the tree was stunning…..take my word for it :)
Destination one of two.
I had two destinations today and this was the first one. There was some damage on the opposite side of the creek from deadfall but most of this section has remained unchanged if not improved from Jasper’s efforts.
The rain come down big time, time for lunch.
Rain started bucketing down shortly after I arrived so I crawled under a rock and had some lunch. As per usual I had my camera handy to see who would drop by.
A spider having lunch.
I would not eat alone on this day. A spider nearby enjoyed a dragonfly for lunch whilst I ate my noodles.
Right between the eyes.
The spider appears to suck the insides of the dragonfly out from right between its eyes. Pretty cool to watch.
The late and great Petr paddling the Rooster’s Tail, Barron Gorge, November 2022.
During the wet of early 2023 Behana Gorge was flooding and my friend Petr and other members of the white water community were paddling down it. Sadly Petr sustained injuries on Behana creek in early 2023 that took his life. My second destination today was to walk the side creek that took his life.
Previous Blog post : Petr's last trip down Barron
In the first photo above we are looking downstream of the side creek that Petr was pushed down accidentally diverting him away from the main water flow. This side creek now has very little to no water flowing down it.
The second photo shows some of the large drift wood lodged in the trees giving you an idea of how much water was passing down there when Petr was forced to paddle down it.
Azure Kingfisher, Behana Gorge, November 2021.
I have walked up and down this side creek many times over the years as it is a favourite place for Azure and Little Kingfishers to feed out of the shallow ponds and surrounding vegetation…..and I like to photograph pretty birds. Amazing how the Azure Kingfisher only has three toes!
One of many piles of drift wood.
As I make my way down the creek I come across large piles of driftwood reminding me of the more recent floods that followed cyclone Jasper.
Another distraction.
As I walked the side creek towards the location of Petr’s accident I saw one Little Kingfisher but failed to get any photos. As I was trying this little fella decided to sit down on a rock next to me so I took a photos of him….as you do.
Plants will seemingly grow anywhere in a rainforest.
Back on the move again I started to admired the plants growing high up in the trees. It was not long after I took this photo that the skies opened up again and I decided to make my way back to the car. I would visit Petr’s spot on another day.
A mobile phone in the creek bed.
I do not find a lot of rubbish in Behana but on the way out on this day I found a well and truly water damaged mobile phone in the creek bed. I placed it in my bag to dispose of properly once I was home. Time to get out of the rain.