Tim the Yowie Man: Namadgi's natural wonders

On October 3, it will be 30 years since Namadgi National Park was gazetted. o celebrate, over the next three weeks I will be sharing my "Namadgi Top 30". This week, I feature my top 10 natural wonders - some are easily accessible but others you may have to add to your bucket list. Enjoy, discover and explore the ACT's only national park.

1. Ginini Falls: Though Gibraltar Falls (Corin Dam Road) are known to many, there are several other waterfalls in Namadgi, including hard-to-get-to Cotter and Stockyard Creek Falls. However, the highest in the ACT are the spectacular Ginini Falls, which drains part of the internationally significant (recognised under the RAMSAR Convention) Ginini Flats sphagnum wetland. The falls, which tumble 140 metres, are located off track, in a remote part of the park. So they are best visited with a local bushwalking club. Alternatively, if you happen to be flying the Canberra-Melbourne route after a big rain event, look down. Depending on the exact flight path, you might catch a glimpse of the falls in all their glory.

2. Bimberi Peak: Rising 1911 metres above sea level (only 317 metres lower than Mt Kosciuszko), Bimberi is the ACT's peak. From the top, it's a stupendous 360-degree panorama to the north and east over the wild heart of Namadgi, and south and west into the rugged realms Kosciuszko National Park. Surrounding its granite-domed peak is the Bimberi Wilderness, which spills over the border into NSW and contains some of the most undisturbed ecosystems in the Australian Alps. The wilderness area is deliberately kept trackless and without signs so a trek up Bimberi Peak is only for seasoned bushwalkers. For the less adventurous, you can view Bimberi from the Corin Dam wall - Bimberi is the rounded hill looming large above the far end of the water.

3. Mothaclypse: For thousands of years, spring in the Australian Alps has been heralded by the arrival of millions of migration bogong moths (Agrotis infusa). These brown, nutty-flavoured moths spend the hot summer months aestivating (a state of animal dormancy, similar to hibernation) in the dark narrow rock crevices of our highest peaks, including Mt Gingera in Namadgi. If you want to check it out for yourself, Mt Gingera is a day-long return walk (about 14km) from the gate at the end of the Mt Franklin Road. Alternatively, you can access the mountain via the track leading up Stockyard Spur, which starts at Corin Dam.

4. Winter wonderland: If you enjoy the snow but the thrill of downhill skiing and the buzz of apres skiing resort-style isn't your bent, then it's hard to beat exploring with great white 'never-never' of the Namadgi after a winter blizzard. You can cross-country ski or snowshoe all day, and the only other footprints you'll see are those of echidnas, wombats and kangaroos. You'll have to pinch yourself that a city of over 350,000 is just over the hill.

5. Split rock: As its name implies, this is a giant slab of granite split in two, and is wedged in the centre of the park in an area known as Cotter Rocks. The fissure rises 15-20 metres above you and there's just enough room to spread your arms. Indiana Jones, eat your heart out! Split Rock is accessed via a long day walk that starts in the Orroral Valley and is best described in Graham Barrow's book Namadgi and Tidbinbilla Classics: Tough Bushwalks in Canberra's High Country (Dagraja Press, 2000) or on John Evans' knock-out Walkabout blog, www.johnevans.id.au.

6. Dwarfed snow gum: One of the most photographed trees in the park is the twisted snow gum, which clings precariously to the rocky top of Mt Gingera. Photographs indicate that over the past 30 years it has grown very little, which isn't surprising given its exposure to the blizzards which can lash this peak at any time of the year.

7. Brindy beauty: Since its chance discovery in 1992, every flowering season a merry band of naturalists wielding magnifying glasses descend on a tiny one-hectare patch of forest in northern part of the park to search on hands and knees for the Brindabella Midge Orchid (Corunastylis ectopa) orchid. The reddish-purple flowering orchid is found here, and nowhere else on the planet. Several searches in adjacent areas have failed to turn up any further localities and its exact location is kept secret to minimise erosion and weed incursions, both of which are threats to the species survival.

8. Froggy domain: Once common in many of the wetlands of Namadgi, there are estimated to be less than 100 northern corroboree frogs (Pseudophryne pengilleyi) remaining in the wild. Although the bushfires which ravaged the park in 2003 did these black and yellow thumbnail-sized frogs no favours by razing much of their alpine bog habitat, their significant decline from much healthier numbers a little over a decade ago is predominantly attributable to the spread of an introduced pathogen, amphibian chytrid fungus which has caused the extinction of other frogs around the world.

9. Colourful carpets: Every spring the higher parts of Namadgi are transformed into a kaleidoscope of colour. Up high, the sub-alpine meadows are carpeted in yellow and orange pea species and the white and yellow daisies, while the red grevilleas and the purple flax lilies colour the woodlands and heathlands. Namadgi is also the best spot to find the ACT floral emblem, the Royal Bluebell (Wahlenbergia gloriosa), which only grows in high in mountain bogs and wet banks.

10. Fantastic fens: There are more than 400 wetlands in Namadgi, including bogs and fens. A fen is a wetland where sedge plants grow close together, leaving no areas of open water and Nursery Swamp is regarded as one of the outstanding fens of its type on the Australian mainland. The is a walking track (8.5 kilometres return) to the swamp from Orroral Rd. Note, the first two kilometres is steep. Allow four hours. Keep an eye out here for the Latham's snipe, which migrates annually from its breeding grounds in Japan. And listen out for a mysterious guttural sound which several readers, including Judith Deland, have recently heard emanating from the swamp. Maybe it's the fabled Namadgi bunyip?

Did You Know? Namadgi has more than 160 kilometres of marked walking tracks for bushwalkers.

Namadgi visitor centre: Located just to the south of Tharwa on Naas Road. Ph: 62072900. To celebrate the park's 30th anniversary, an exhibition of park memorabilia including photographs will be on show from 3 October to the end of November.

The book: Explore our only national park vicariously through the coffee table-style book Namadgi: a National Park for the National Capital, published in 2011 by the National Parks Association of the ACT, a community group which played a pivotal role in the creation of the park. Available at the Namadgi Visitor Centre. RRP: $25

Contact Tim: Email: timtheyowieman@bigpond.com or Twitter: @TimYowie or write to me c/o The Canberra Times, 9 Pirie St, Fyshwick. A selection of past columns is available at: A selection of past columns is available at canberratimes.com.au/act-news/by/tim-the-yowie-man.

Cryptic clue: What were old tennis racquets made from?

Degree of difficulty: Medium to hard

Last week: Congratulations to Gareth Walker of Giralang, who was the first to correctly identify last week's photo, taken by Nicholas Mortimer as the ANU Apiculture Society's beehives located on the corner of Dickson and Daley Roads on campus. According to Nicholas, the society's Founding President, "the society is a student led initiative focused on bees and beekeeping and provides practical opportunities for students to learn about bees and the challenges they face". Gareth just beat several other readers to the prize, including Kate Howarth of Wee Jasper, who muses: "I don't think that fence is going to keep the bees in."

How to enter: Email your guess along with your name and address to timtheyowieman@bigpond.com. The first email sent after 10am, Saturday, September 20. The correct answer wins a double pass to Dendy cinemas.