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Quagi Beach camp is surrounded by Stokes National Park, which is liberally vegetated with the magnificent showy banksia (Banksia speciosa). There are tracks that take you through kilometres of vegetation that is dominated by this plant, which grows to more than seven metres in height. Our camp site was surrounded by these show off plants, which in turn created a most birdiferous site: the little wattlebird and New Holland honeyeaters competed for flowers and perch space and demanded campers’ attention with their raucous and persistent calls. Far quieter and inconspicuous in their banksia business were the tiny silver eyes and completely invisible, or possibly not even present, are the honey possums that love the banksias and other flowers of Stokes. The photos show some of the stages of the showy banksia’s flowering: the soft rusty-coloured furriness of the flower bud, the curvaceousness of the flower as it matures, a further increase in size as the flower becomes open for feeding business and the almost scary face of the banksia nut. You can’t deny that it’s a showy native!