THE LAKESIDE GARDENS

Another vital part of the resort. Native flora has been extensively used in creating over 10 acres of landscaped gardens around the lake foreshore.

They include over 1500 Australian plant species and cultivars and a few rare exotics. Many are identified with name plates for the botanically inclined.

The accommodation and other facilities are located within the eastern part of the gardens.

Visiting red necked wallabies are so accustomed to human company they are often encountered sitting on cabin doorsteps. A small fauna reserve has also been incorporated into the garden design.

Gable roofed picnic tables provide secluded corners for reading or relaxing.

Callistemon cv "Endeavour"

Cassia javanica

The gardens are home to an incredibly diverse range of bird species. The bottlebrushes and grevilleas attract thousands of native birds. There is an almost continuous supply of nectar for lorikeets, honeyeaters, friarbirds and other nectar eaters.

Further afield in the untouched rainforests on Bakers Creek Station is found the rich and distinctive avian life of this type of ecosystem - Regent bower birds, scrub turkeys and different fruit eating pigeons to name a few. In the higher reaches of the lake much of the shoreline is vegetated with reed beds providing an ideal habitat for over 16 resident species of waterfowl and many seasonal visitors.

With birds of the wetlands, the rainforest, the grasslands and the sclerophyll forest Bakers Creek is simply a birdwatchers paradise.

Acacia binervia

Alloxylon flameum