Sketches & Snapshots: Bribie Island National Park
“Life is not about waiting for the storm to pass. It’s about learning to dance in the rain.”
~ Vivian Greene
Bribie Island National Park is situated 65km north of Brisbane, Queensland, and is linked to the mainland via a bridge. The geography of the park is made up of sand dunes, heathland, paperbark wetlands, open forests, woodlands and freshwater creeks and lagoons.
It was a clear and sunny sky when we left Logan. But by the time we got to Bribie Island, it was a rather rainy and dreary March day. We decided to grab a coffee and wait for the rain to pass. The weather was quite unpredictable, but we caught a break in the rain, and so opted to go to a spot that wasn’t going to be a hike to get back to the car or shelter if there was a downpour.
The section we headed to was just behind Bribie Island Community Arts Centre. There was lots of parking and easy access to toilets, the art gallery and café. The small section we explored, consisted of Wallum Heathlands, paperbark wetlands, woodlands and freshwater creeks and lagoons.
The most exciting thing that really stood out during this short visit, was the discovery of a particular plant where the flower is normally pink/purple in colour. The flowers of the Grass Trigger Plant, Stylidium graminifolium, normally range from pink, mauve and purple colours. However, the Grass Trigger Plant we came across had white flowers. I thought I recognised the plant, but the colour really threw me.
Luckily I was able to confirm with co-author of Mangroves to Mountains, Glenn Leiper that the plant we had spotted and photographed was an unusual white flowered form of the trigger plant. Glenn advised that pink to purple flowering natives “have the capacity to every now and then produce white ‘sports'”. So even though our exploration was short, this discovery really made my day!
There were a couple of showers during our walk. However, we managed to explore about a kilometre of heathlands, before it started to rain and gradually get heavier, so we unfortunately had to head back and seek shelter.
I will definitely be heading back to explore Bribie Island NP more extensively. There is just so much to explore, and we only got to see a smidgeon of what’s on offer at Bribie Island National Park.
Have you been to Bribie Island National Park? If so, were you on the look out for wildflowers? I’d love to know!
Until next time, please enjoy…
…good things.
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