Bunya Mountains picture perfect
BUNYA Mountains visitors can really immerse themselves in the healing powers of nature through a photographic workshop with internationally acclaimed portrait photographer John Elliott from May 13-15.
The workshop will equip participants with the skills to take photos, drawing inspiration from the textures, colours and shapes of the landscape.
The power of the great outdoors has long been valued as a means of enhancing health. Studies have shown contact with nature, plants, animals, landscapes and wilderness offers a range of benefits.
Bunya Mountains eco-tourism operator Sue Unwin agrees the connection is powerful.
“For more than 30 years, we have provided accommodation in private mountain chalets overlooking the 20,000 hectare Bunya Mountains National Park, which is 30 million years old and globally treasured as the world's largest and oldest stand of Bunya forest,” she said. “Around 35,000 people stay with us each year and most come back time and time again, saying they just want to experience and enjoy this unique natural environment.
“Most of our visitors come from urban areas throughout Queensland and say it's the ability to see, touch, hear, taste and smell this ancient forest that keeps them coming back to recharge their batteries.
“Seeing a joey take its first tentative steps from the protective embrace of its mother; touching wild king parrots and rosellas as they sit on your shoulder; smelling the freshness of the rain as it falls in the forest; and hearing the frogs and crickets in the creeks as you lay in bed at night ... this sensory feast of nature has a calming effect on our spirit.''
The Bunya Mountains is two-and-a-half hours west of Brisbane and is accessible by road via the Warrego, D'Aguilar and Brisbane Valley highways. More than 35 kilometres of all levels of walking tracks are available. The park is also home to hundreds of species of plants and animals, 30 of which are rare or endangered.
The Bunya Mountains Accommodation Centre offers self-contained accommodation in 85 private chalets to suit all budgets.
