What's On Tablelands July 2018 | Page 11

QA & with Paul Curtis Photographer, Author and Adventurer P aul Curtis is a regular contributor to the What's On magazine so we asked him for his thoughts and memories of the Tablelands. Did you grow up on the Tablelands? My parents visited the Tablelands during the 1960s and my Dad—being a bit of a photographer—would return with pictures of places that were so different to suburban Brisbane where I spent my childhood. I think these pastel coloured and exotic pictures must have sown the seed for later exploration and ultimately led to me holidaying and eventually moving to North Queensland in 1984. reasonable navigation skills you can find places that are rarely or never visited—quite frankly they are spectacular. What is your most memorable wildlife encounter? Any wildlife encounter is a memorable wildlife encounter! I never guarantee these encounters on my tours, but it's always a thrill to stumble across platypus, cassowaries and tree kangaroos. A few years ago I was driving along the highway in the open grassy country at Evelyn Central and a tree kangaroo just ambled casually across the road. You can't plan for that! Any stand out trips or mishaps? More mishaps than I care to own up to. Generally my stand out trips combine some adventure with photography and leads to memorable journeys. Going to new places and not knowing what you will find always builds excitement with some trepidation. A recent four day ca