Palms National Park, QLD  (pictures)

On our way back to Toowoomba, we stopped by a little known National Park, The Palms, just north of Cooyar.  When we got there, I wondered where all the palms were.  They were there alright, down a path through the Eucalyptus in a spring-fed swamp.  There was only a shy wallaby there to greet us.  The palms were thick with fronds and little red nuts and other litter covering the ground.  Wooden walkways led us across the swamp to a path with a giant Rose Eucalyptus, and a midden built up by brush turkeys.   Apparently the males care for the eggs that are then incubated in the heat from the compost.  We were examining the huge bean pods from a Black Bean tree when we noticed some movement in the treetops.  It turned out to be what Larry Geno called fruit bats but, may be a type of mammal called flying fox.  They are large and have some golden fur.  There were probably hundreds of them because we saw them everywhere we looked.  When our necks were tired from looking up, we noticed a kookaburra on a branch right over the path, only a few feet away.  It was not concerned with us or the flash of the camera.  Definitely a great side trip!