North Queensland Wildscapes Phototours with Paul Curtis in Kuranda, Queensland | Tour agent

North Queensland Wildscapes Phototours with Paul Curtis

Locality: Kuranda, Queensland

Phone: +61 408 835 160

Address: 8 Kauri Close 4881 Kuranda, QLD, Australia

Website: http://www.nqwildscapes.com

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25.01.2022 Photoyarn 54 Dad’s Snips A few years ago I did some bushwalking around Brisbane with my brother and nephews and borrowed a pair of garden snips from my Dad in case the going got rough. Somehow they stayed in my backpack and got transported back to Cairns. Subsequently these snips have been all over the Wet Tropics and got me through some fairly dire overgrown trails. I prefer snips to flaying around with a machete as in the humid tropics you can spend a lot of energy and swea...t with a machete and often you don’t have enough room to swing one anyway. All these destinations shown would have been much more difficult without the venerable snips and the shots of me were mostly taken by fellow photo traveller Steven Nowakowski. So where have these snips travelled over the years? Some pretty remarkable places I have to say so I have started taking shots with them in it so I can record the Journey of the Snips. Images mostly taken in the last few weeks. See more

16.01.2022 Photoyarn 56 A Hinchinbrook Journey Many folks take many individual journeys on Hinchinbrook Is. All walks of life having their walk of a lifetime. I have probably been over to the island 7 or 8 times and each journey is different and memorable. I recently returned with my brother Michael and this time with his 2 sons Max and Josh so this was almost a family holiday. Rather than do the full 30 km Thorsborne Trail we settled for what I consider the good value for effort nort...hern part of the island namely Little Ramsay and Nina Bays. In late September both still had good freshwater available and we had time to thoroughly appreciate these areas as we watched many other walkers completely pass us by for the well-known Zoe Bay and falls. I always believe you need a minimum of 5 to 7 nights to appreciate the Thorsborne Trail and as we didn’t have the time and couldn’t get the ever-popular permits at this busy time of year we settled for the northern beaches and bays. We scored the best weather. Almost too good as while the still conditions provided us with sublime scenery it also encouraged all the various biting insects with ideal conditions to do what they do best. A lot of time was spent in the water! See more

16.01.2022 Station Stays Part 4 Goshen and Emu Creek Time ran out for me to re-visit these great locations but I had great memories and good photos of earlier trips so phone calls had to be made to check on details. Goshen sits on the Herbert River that like the Mitchell runs year round. Campsites dot a number of kilometres of the river down to the spectacular Herbert Falls and gorge. No camping at the falls but it’s a short drive from most campsites. Closed during the wet season due to... boggy roads. Emu Creek west of Dimbulah and a little further west of Boonmoo is another seasonal stream that’s best to visit during and just after the wet season. It’s a beautiful stream of sandy banks, smooth granite slabs and deep pools. Emu Creek Holiday Park offers campsites and cabins. Next time you plan a camping excursion consider these locations. Not much money is involved and it helps the station owners balance out their income when their main sources of income fluctuates with the seasons. And you can usually be guaranteed a private stretch of north Queensland paradise. All the places are available to visit on my tours on fully catered overnight stays. See more

15.01.2022 Photoyarn 52 Tripod! What Tripod? For the photographers out there. So recently I found myself with 2 fellow photographers in a magical, rarely visited and remote forest. In fact it was named by a good friend of mine Paul’s Kauris. A flattering name which I’m hoping might stick. As you do when a bunch of photographers have a slightly limited subject area to photograph we were looking over each others shoulders to see what other eyes were seeing and not trying to walk in to a... shot. So looking for some inspiration I put my tripod down, attached my fish-eye lens and cranked up the in-camera stabilizer and iso and walked around. My task I set myself was no more than 3 shots per subject and see what I could get in about 20 minutes. Many of the results shown here were consecutive shots and I found the whole exercise very liberating not being constrained by a tripod. In fact I do find tripods killers of creativity but you just can’t leave them at home. Quite happy with the sharpness of my little Olympus lens and the results which might be hard to see in these small jpegs. Fish-eyes can be so much fun if you are okay with a bit (or a lot) of distortion. See more

13.01.2022 Photoyarn 53 Avenues of green and gold. One of my new favourite pastimes is walking along meandering rainforest streams. Where there are no tracks, creeks are the main way of accessing remote wildernesses. For me it’s all about what’s around the corner. First you pick a stream on a map or Google Earth that traverses some trackless high altitude wilderness where there is little or no drop in altitude. Almost a guarantee for easy and picturesque walking and almost guaranteed ...to find un-photographed scenery. To me these streams are the very epitome of the Wet Tropics. A minor requirement is that you have to be prepared to get a little bit wet. Not a big ask on a hot day as you pass by dozens of clear, deep pools. I have spent some time over the last few months discovering and exploring these avenues of fern and golden sand. I’d just like you to imagine for a moment shuffling quietly down one of these streams, cool water and sand between your toes. The constant sound of crystal clear water tumbling over mossy rocks and through gardens of ferns. The calls of whip bird, rifle bird, cat bird and king parrots echoing from the treetops. Here’s what I saw and I hope through these images you can imagine my experiences. See more

12.01.2022 Photoyarn 57 Below Blencoe Most who go waterfall chasing know that there are some basic viewpoint issues. Often the top of a waterfall offers great views but not of the waterfall. Views from the bottom can be problematic if it is not a vertical drop as you only see the bottom part of the waterfall. So in many cases you are left with a couple of options if you want a great shot of the waterfall get a drone or climb a nearby ridge with a good view of the falls. Blencoe Fa...lls covers the best of all opportunities. A great view from the top, a great view of the falls from the eastern and western ramparts and a great view from below, if you can get there! Before you ask there is no track just a very steep descent down the western ridge. Quite hazardous with loose rocks, and not much other than prickly vines to hang on to. I took me multiple trips to eventually find the one and only way down. Not really possible to rock hop upstream from below without considerable rock climbing skills either. Here are a bunch of Blencoe scenes from all angles and various trips. See more

12.01.2022 Photoyarn 51 Underfalls I am always looking for a theme to go searching through my library for images that may not get let out much or are worthy of an excuse for more exposure. One I have been ruminating on until I had enough good images was the theme of Underfalls. You know, those rare places where water has scoured out a nice cavern behind a lovely waterfall where a normal requirement is for a verticle drop. Being a bit of a waterfall fetishist I eventually collected enough locations to put something together. Here are my underfalls. Unfortunately most of these are off my tour agenda for a number of reasons and all but one a rather difficult to get to.

10.01.2022 Station Stays Pt 2 Hurricane Station I’ve driven past the turn-off to Hurricane Station many times so this was my opportunity to expand my knowledge. I was very cordially received by the owners who provided me with details of their campsites and slotted me in to a very nice spot. After filling in all the covid forms I settled in to The Crossing campsite. Like Boonmoo I arrived just before the school hols so I had a good section of the river to myself. The river is the mi...ghty Mitchell River that has a good year long flow of clear water. A comfortable white sand bank and the murmuring of nearby rapids ensured I had a very good nights sleep. The next morning I checked out most of the campsites on the property for my article and future personal reference. There are over 15 sites all with your own section of river. Do I have favourites? Of course and you’ll find them in the next edition of the What’s On magazine or contact me directly. Unlike Boonmoo, Hurricane has good water all year round but obviously closed during those periods of heavy rain when the river bursts its banks. See more

07.01.2022 Photoyarn 58 The Small Stuff Recently I returned from a short trip to Hinchinbrook Is (see Photoyarn 56 below). On the island everywhere you look there is magnificent scenery stunning beaches and spectacular mountains. It’s not too hard to point your camera somewhere and get images of tropical scenery that will be the envy of friends back home. So last week I found myself surrounded be different scenery that to some might be considered boring. No spectacular vistas or bea...utiful waterfalls and in fact no water to be seen at all. But it’s places like these that get your creative photographic juices flowing and imagination working overtime to capture the beauty that is really almost everywhere. It helped to be in one of my favourite places locally known as Top Nettle. Situated in high country west of Ravenshoe the weather was pleasant with a nice south-easterly keeping things cool to cold when everywhere else was hot. It’s a botanical wonderland year round but on this trip the all the grass trees were flowering so this became a feature hard to avoid, even though my photo library has no shortage of grass trees. Here’s what I found when I went looking for the smaller things. See more

07.01.2022 Photoyarn 55 - Station Stays Pt 1 - Boonmoo I’m often looking for inspiration for a photo journey or article/short story. I have been contributing to a local magazine called What to Do and Where to Go, around the Atherton Tablelands. One day a series of images popped up on facebook from someone who recently visited Boonmoo Station west of Mareeba and published some wonderful images. This got me thinking about the cattle stations around the north that have been opening to camp...ers and tourists. So I resolved to put some words and pictures together on some of those stations I thought worthy of a trip. My first destination was Boonmoo. September is a dry month and their greatest asset Eureka Creek was dry. As I said to the owner I have a good imagination. She recommended I spend the night at Kingfisher Dam that had plenty of water and was a good choice. Birdlife was amazing. As it was just before school holidays I had the place to myself. Not far from my camp there was a grassy plain dotted with termite mounds. I have to say, standing in this wide open space at dusk and into the evening with a light breeze rustling the grass as the light fades and stars come out was a nice experience. The next morning I scrambled up a hilltop in the dark to get a sunrise overview and then explored up the dry Eureka Creek and saw lots of potential for the next wet season and another possible destination for my tour guests. See more

06.01.2022 Some more words and pictures from me on things to do and see around the north

05.01.2022 Station Stays Pt 3 Woodleigh I had known about Woodleigh for some time with many friends telling me of great experiences staying there. So, again I thought it about time to check it out myself. It sits alongside the Millstream where the Wild River enters. Stately gums line the banks of The Millstream which was wide and deep where I camped. Great for canoes and inflatables. The normally lush grass had dried off but was still great to camp on not dusty and rocky. Another mo...onless night so again I wandered the grassy paddocks until late that evening looking for astro-inspiration. Fellow travellers will know I have a thing called camping bedtime. When camping out I try not to go to bed before 9pm so I don’t wake up too early. Fortunately I can readily amuse myself on a clear night. The owners of Woodleigh run a very neat operation and have all sorts of options for your stay including cabins and powered and many unpowered sites along the banks of both streams. They have a very informative website - https://www.woodleighstation.com.au/camping.html See more

04.01.2022 This Saturday the Yungaburra Markets are on along with the annual Yungaburra Book Fair. This is where local authors get together and sell their wares direct to the public. Steven Nowakowski and I will be there signing our publications and available to chat about all sorts of stuff. So, if you are out and about around the Tablelands this Saturday drop in to the Community Hall near the markets- we would love to see you.