Following on from the Gold Coast visit our next trip to Australia was in September and was to Brisbane for a Skin Surgery workshop. Fortunately the venue was just over the road from the Brisbane City Botanic Gardens so it was easy to get up early for a couple of hours of exploring before each day began. The longer days also gave some opportunity for photography after the day’s work was complete. 

The riverside Brisbane City Botanic Gardens are the original Brisbane botanic gardens with significant historical, cultural and natural value. Gardens were established in 1828 to provide food for the penal colony and officially opened as a botanic garden in 1855. Work was done to determine the suitability of plants from other countries for growth in subtropical Queensland. This included the introduction of plants we now consider typical of Queensland such as pineapples, mangoes, sugar cane and ginger.

As usual my main interest was the birds so I usually got hung up at the ponds near the entrance gate. Pacific Black Duck, Hardhead Duck, Dusky Moorhen and a good collection of Australian White Ibis offered a continual parade of subjects punctuated by occasional Grey-headed Flying Foxes, Channel-billed Cuckoo, and the ubiquitous Noisy Miners. Non avian subjects included Water Dragons and Damsel Flies. The subject variety could have occupied me all day but the harshening light and heat pushed me indoors in time for the daily workshop sessions.

All photos with the Nikon D500 and Nikon 300mm f4PF lens. I had taken the 1.4x teleconverter too but soon removed it as the 300mm gave plenty of reach on the DX sensor body for urban wildlife.