Hello all,
because of the size of the report, something went wrong and only part of it
was sent to birding-aus, but here's the rest of it.
Pieter van der Luit
July 21st
We have to be in the marina at 8.30 AM. Here I see the only Osprey of the
trip, a bird I try to see on every continent, successfully sofar. Our boat
is slow but the trip to Fraser Island isn't too far. There are about 40
people for 2 buses, so not crowded at all. The first two hours of the trip
on the island are terrible, long roads with trees on each side, just 10
centimetres from the windows. The tourguide is an excellent driver, but a
terrible guide. He told us there are 24 species of shorebirds in the world
(!),
but the most shocking "fact" he told us was that 75% of all the world's
migratory birds passed Fraser Island every year. That's why I had been
seeing so many European birds here......
After the lunchbreak it became much better though. We drove onto the beach,
a registered highway, visited the Maheno Shipwreck and swam in Eli Creek. At
the end of the tour there were two Cessna planes waiting and for 50 Dollars
you could fly over the island for 20 minutes. The plane took off from the
beach, an experience in itself, and the pilot scanned for whales, finding 3
Humpback Whales and a Dugong! After landing on the beach again, we were
taken to the boat where a female Dingo was looking for food left by
fishermen.
July 22nd
Whales! We leave Hervey Bay Marina at 8.30 AM on the Spirit of Hervey Bay.
Because it's not the right time for whales, they give the guarantee that if
you fail to see any whales you can come the next day, until you've seen
them. The trip should take about 75 minutes one way, but after 50 minutes we
see the first pod of Humpback Whales. The boat stops, but the whales don't,
they actually come to the boat the do some "humanwatching". We spend a lot
of time in the bay finding about 10 pods, but the best is still to come. On
the way back the captain suddenly stops the boat and three immature whales
come closer, and closer and closer until they are just 2! meters away from
us. They turn, showing their white bellies, flap their pectoral fins and
just won't go away. For both Sandra and me this is the highlight of our
holiday, even better than the Cassowary and Plains Wanderer. The feeling you
get from standing 2 meters from a whale can not be described, it has to be
experienced.
July 23rd
A fellow Dutch birder told us about the dolphins in Tin Can Bay, so we are
at the harbour there at 7.30AM. The female Indo-pacific Humpback Dolphin,
Scarry, was accidentally caught by fisherman in 1951. She was badly injured,
so the fishermen fed her until she recovered. Since that day, over 50 years
ago, she has been coming to Tin Can Bay to be handfed by tourists. Until a
few years ago you could swim with her, but today that is not allowed any
more.
Still, Indo-pacific Humpback Dolphins are very rare in the world and not
often seen, so this is a unique opportunity. You have to stand in line,
disinfect your hands and buy your fish and then you can go into the water to
feed her. She comes straight up to you, touches you with her beak, takes the
fish and swims away. Wonderful.
We leave the harbour for the long drive to Lamington. Lamington is very
badly signposted and our map isn't detailed enough, so it takes us some time
to find the place. It should be a wonderful place, but it isn't. On the one
hand the surroundings are beautiful, the birds plentiful and there is a
canopywalk, but on the other hand the canopywalk, as is the rest of the
park, is spoilt by screaming children, parents etc. The place is perfect for
adding species to my handlist: King Parrot, Eastern Rosella and Brush
Turkey. Lifers are Logrunner, Wonga Pigeon and Green Catbird. The campsite
has dozens of Red-legged Pademelons. I take some good pictures here and we
go to bed early
July 24th
Outside O'Reilly's a birdwalk starts at 6.45 AM. We are not welcome on
the birdwalk, because we're at the campsite. However, we know the walk
starts with feeding of birds, so we wait for that. The guide comes out and
immediately dozens of Regent and Satin Bowerbirds appear, knowing they are
going to be fed. The guide seems to be very annoyed by us just standing
there and prefers to show birds to overpaying non-birders. The way the guide
and his birdwalkgroup acted towards us was by far the worst experience we
had in 6 weeks time in Australia! I would advise everybody against going
here, but the birds..... There are so many good birds here and they are so
easy to see. I added Regent Bowerbird on my life- and handlist here.(They
love oranges.) We have about two hours left before we have to leave
Lamington, so we take a walk to a lookout point, trying for Albert's
Lyrebird.
It isn't long before we hear one, but as we learned near Melbourne, seeing
one
can be a different matter. After searching for 10 minutes I find one. He's
displaying, mimicking Riflebird, Catbird, Rosella, a bushfire and finally an
automatic machine-gun.(On the way out of Lamington we see there is an
firingrange adjacent to it.) What a wonderful sounds. We don't have much
time left, because we have to drive 900 kilometers to The Entrance today,
whereI have an appointment the next morning.
July 25th
I am picked up at 8.15 AM by Alan Morris, who is going to take me out
birding today. We start at Brisbane Waters National Park where we meet
several members of the local birdinggroup. Brisbane Waters is a good place
to look for Regent Honeyeater. It takes some time, but eventually we do find
the honeyeater. Next stop is another part of the park, Somersby Falls, a
good place for Origma, which we don't find. This turns out to be the only
miss of the day, because the rest of the day yields an impressive list:
Swift Parrot, Sooty Oystercatcher, Double-banded Plover, White-fronted Tern,
Fluttering Shearwater and Fairy Prion. Alan has invited us to have diner at
his house.His wife made a delicious Australian special: Lamb with
Mintsauce, delicious! This is the only home-made meal we had during our
entire 8 week trip, making it even more special.
July 26th
We try again at Somersby Falls for the Origma, but once again we fail.
Tomorrow
is my pelagic in Wollongong, 100 kilometres south of Sydney, so this is a
easy day for us. We take a campsite in Heathcote, basic but very close to
the railwaystation. This way we've got plenty of time to explore Sydney. We
get out of the train at Circular Quay, close to the Harbour Bridge as well
as the Opera House. A lot of people asked us if we were going to climb the
Harbour Bridge when they heard we were going to Sydney. We decide to try it,
but finding the entrance to the climb proves to be almost impossible.
Finally we climb one of the pylons of the bridge to ask where to go for the
climb, but when they tell us it will be $180 a person, we feel the sight
from the pylon is good enough for us. The Opera House we visit only briefly,
because I want to take sunset pictures from the other side of the harbour.
In the evening we use one of the many internetcafes near King's Cross to
keep in touch with the homefront arriving back at the campsite a bit too
late.
July 27th
The pelagic leaves at 7.00 AM, but we are at the harbour way too early. I
leave Sandra on the shore and we leave the harbour on a very slow boat.
It isn't too long before the albatrosses start appearing, Yellow-nosed and
Black-browed. At least, that's what I call them, but the Australians are
way ahead of the Europeans in splitting albatrosses, so they turn out to be
Indian Yellow-nosed and Common Black-browed as well as Campbell
Island Albatrosses. I see my first Wandering Albatross (Gibsons) and
Providence Petrel. Other birds like Cape Petrel and Antarctic Giant Petrel
I had already seen before in South Africa.
The trip doesn't yield too many lifers, but is does yield two new birds for
my handlist: Campbell Island Albatross and Indian Yellow-nosed Albatross.
The crew catch the birds to ring them and take measurements, probably the
only way for me to add them to my lifelist. On the way back we see a Fairy
Penguin, just before entering the harbour.
July 28th
Our last birding destination in Australia is Barren Grounds. We take a short
walk and see 4 Eastern Bristlebirds. On the way back to the coast we see 6
Superb Lyrebirds crossing the roads, making this a good ending to 6 weeks
birding in Australia.
The rest of the day we spend in Sydney again, doing much the same things we
did earlier, adding only the terrific aquarium.
July 29th
Flight to Los Angeles, USA
July 29th (again)
Drive from LA to Yuma, Arizona.
July 30th
In the morning we visit Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument on the Mexican
border, arriving in Ramsey Canyon in the dark.
July 31st
Ramsey Canyon in Arizona is famous for its hummingbirds. Just sitting for 20
minutes near the feeders produces 9 species!
On the road into the canyon I see: Elegant Trogon, Strickland's Woodpecker,
Wild Turkey, Black-headed Grosbeak and Coatimundi.
August 1st
With a very early start into the canyon I can add some more birds to my
list: Mexican Jay, Berylline Hummingbird, Hepatic Tanager and Scaled Quail.
I meet two Americans who are staying at the same hotel who shock me by
telling they saw a Black Bear just 5 minutes ago. I would trade in a few
birds for a bearsighting, but the animal is gone. A bit sad I return to the
hotel when the Americans start waving to me: they found the bear again(more
accurately: the bear found them again).YES, a Black Bear, a young animal,
probably a year old, standing 15 meters away from us. Now comes the hard
part, telling Sandra she missed a bear. Fortunately she is not sad but happy
for me.
August 2nd
Departing for the Grand Canyon, arriving there just in time to see the
sunset (no match for Ayer's Rock though)
August 3rd
Morning in the Grand Canyon, leaving for fabulous Las Vegas in the
afternoon. Las Vegas is the other end of the spectrum compared to our stay
in Australia, but enjoyable all the same. We loose all the money we took to
the casinos, but we expected that, so no dramas there.
August 4th
We go up the 320 meter high Stratosphere Tower, where there is a
rollercoaster ride on top! Exciting, but not scary.
In the afternoon we arrive in Death Valley, the second hottest place on
earth. The thermometer reaches 48° Celsius when we're there!
August 5th
Flight from LA to Washington.
August 6th
Arrival in Amsterdam, a completely different world again from outback
Australia.
This has been our longest vacation ever, but we can't wait to repeat it and
come back to Australia!
For any information about this trip or for any remarks please mail to:
Pieter van der Luit
Junostraat 34
2402 BH
Alphen aan den Rijn
The Netherlands
© PRL 2002
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