There was no other explanation. The little known Palms National Forest had to have roots in ancient bygone times when land and sea had dimensions unknown. 

     This oasis in the Australian bush consisted of a palm vine forest, resplendent with masses of piccabeen palms, tree ferns,and cycads, strangler figs, and ancient bunya pines.  The 20 acre wonder of nature set in a spring-fed gully is an unexpected delight and was the perfect destination for the Pony Club’s Christmas break-up party...  

      The children rode their ponies along the back roads from the Showground arena to the National Park, a new experience for many of the group. On arrival, the animals were unsaddled and tethered, and we settled with our rugs and enjoyed the picnic lunch. The adults were talking among themselves as the children moved away to make their own fun. I turned sharply as the curdling scream caught in the breeze, then another... and another. I looked with alarm – the other mothers were smiling.  This was my first time at The Palms National Park.  The children were risking life and limb swinging on the vines, swishing though the air, dangling from the trees with generous walloping Tarzan screams – boys and girls, small and large, every single child, having the time of their lives until they were exhausted or perhaps it was me who was exhausted. I need not have worried.  There was not a single injury.  As light faded, it was time to saddle up for the ride back to the Showgrounds with the reloading, both animals and children and then homeward bound – truck first followed by Mum and the boys along the dune-type sandy one-lane road – winding up to our cattle property where we dwelled on the tableland top of the hills all blissfully tired but happy. 

     I included this lovely wonder of nature in the third novel of my Trilogy, The Tan People, bringing it to life as a lover’s retreat in the wilds of the Australian Bush, set in the hinterland of the fictional town of Boonaroo in central Queensland (generally speaking, the Roma area in central Queensland).

www.colouredsandstrilogy.com.au/