INTRODUCTION
>From June 14th until August 5th we (Pieter and Sandra van der Luit) went on
a trip through Australia. Although strictly it was not a birding trip
(Sandra is no birdwatcher), most of our time was spent looking for birds and
mammals.
This resulted in 361 species of birds and several species of mammals,
amphibians and reptiles.
GENERAL INFO
FLIGHT
We booked a flight with United Airlines from Amsterdam to Melbourne, via
Chicago and San Francisco.
On the way back we flew from Sydney to Amsterdam, via Los Angeles and
Washington costing about 860 Euros a person (about 1480 Australian Dollars).
CAR
In Australia a Britz Campervan was rented, a Toyota Hitop with airco.
In the Chicago we rented a Pontiac Sunbird from Alamo.
In Los Angeles we were able to rent a Isuzu 4wd for the same price as a
small vehicle, again from Alamo. This proved
to be very convenient on some of our birding routes....
ACCOMODATION
In the USA we spent all our nights in hotels, prices ranging from US$35 to
US$ 121!(60 AUS$ to 210 AUS$)
In Australia we spent nearly all our nights in the campervan, except for one
night at Casuary house and one night at Eungella.
On the one hand the campervan was much more comfortable to sleep in than we
expected, on the other hand, after six weeks in the campervan you definitely
want to sleep in a real bed again....
Most of our nights were spent on a campground, prices ranging from AUS$8 to
AUS$ 39 in Sydney. Most campsites charged about AUS$ 20. A few nights were
spent on driveways of fellow birders and a few nights we stayed at the
parkingareas along the highways.
FOOD
Although our campervan was fitted with a small stove, we ate out most of the
time, because of the fact that the pans that came with the campervan had not
been cleaned by Britz and were VERY dirty. After a few weeks we were able to
change the pans at a Britz depot so we could cook again.
Eating out in Australia is very cheap to Dutch standards; for the both of us
we typically spent about AUS$ 30, including drinks.
Even in the smallest towns, there were plenty of restaurants, Chinese,
Italian, Greek etc. The Australian pubmeals simply were terrific!
SAFETY
Safety was not really an issue. In the outback all the people we met were
very friendly and helpful. In the cities we felt comfortable, Sydney
feeling like Amsterdam, only warmer. The only problem we encountered was in
Cairns where our campervan was broken into while we were on a reeftrip. Most
of our cash, my mobile phone, some jewellery and my Leatherman tool were
stolen.
Unbelievably they did look through my camerabag, but didn't take it! So my
camera, my lenses and my filmroll with the Plains-Wanderer I still have. The
police officer helping us was unbelievably nice and helpful, something
Dutch policemen can learn from.
ANNOYANCES
The only annoyance we encountered during our six week trip was the enourmous
amount of dead kangaroos along the roads. I understand there are a LOT of
kangaroos, but the fact that people don't care whether they hit a kangaroo
or not, other than the damage this causes to there car is not good. People
driving at night in the outback simply rely on their roobar and don't even
take the trouble to brake for crossing kangaroos. Again, I know this will
not affect the kangaroopopulation, but the litteraly thousands of dead
kangaroos in the outback are not a pretty sight.
LANGUAGE
English is spoken throughout Australia. We had quite a few
conversations in Dutch, because we met a lot of Dutch immigrants.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We want to thank the following persons who have helped in preparing this
trip and/or during the trip:
Steve Clark, Michael Norris, Joy Tansey, Chriss Ross, Laurie Knight, Dorothy
Window, Jo Wieneke, Patricia Maher, Eduard Sangster and Rob Goldbach.
I especially want to thank Justin Jansen, for providing heaps of information
before we left.
Also my special thanks go to all the people who showed me around their local
patches: Shirley Cameron in Werribee, Glen Crothers in Badger Creek, Niven
McCrie in Darwin (52 lifers after having been in the country for over two
weeks already!), Ron Stannard and Andrew Iles in Kingfisher Park and Carol
Iles at Mt Lewis.
Robert, Rhonda and James Stevinson(Deniliquin), Peter and Natascha
Waanders(Waikerie) and Alan and Anne
Morris and Neal(The Entrance) not only showed me around, they proved to be
good hosts to me and my wife as well.
ITINERARY
June 14th
We left Amsterdam early in the morning and arrived in Chicago 3pm. Our aim
was to get out of Chicago as quickly as possible, but this took us over 3
hours. When we finally did manage to get out of the city, we drove to
Michigan. Spent the night in Reed city.
June 15th
After a short night's rest we got up and left for Mio, the place where you
can find the very rare Kirtlands Warbler.
During the night it started to rain, continuing throughout most of the
day. Finding the Warbler proved to be very difficult, because of the rain
and because of the fact I do not use tapes to lure the birds. I finally
found it late in the afternoon.
June 16th
We had to leave Mio very early in the morning in order to catch our flight
in Chicago. The 500+ mile drive went a lot quicker than coming from Chicago.
In the afternoon we took a flight to San Francisco, where we changed planes
to Melbourne.
June 18th
After arriving in Melbourne we had to take a taxi to the Britz depot and the
driver decided to take the scenic route, so it took a lot of time getting
there, which we regretted later that afternoon. The campervan looked very
small to us, but proved to be OK. Our first appointment was in Werribee,
where we were going to meet Shirley Cameron, who was going to take us to the
sewage farm.(Our first hours in a "new" country are usually spent in the
vicinity of a sewage farm or rubbish tip, as you will understand.) Shirley
drove us to the site and showed us around. Because of all the time lost
picking up the car we only had about three hours there, but Shirley managed
to point out 51 lifers to me, including some real goodies: Cape Barren Goose
and every duck species(excluding the whistling ducks) we were going to see
in Australia. Spent the night in Melbourne.
June 19th
We were picked up early in the morning by a local birder, Glen Crothers, who
volunteered to show us Superb Lyrebird. We went to Healesville and spent the
morning birding. Hearing the Lyrebird was easy, but seeing it was a
completely different matter. Only when, finally, we gave up one came running
across the road on the way to our car. As with Shirley yesterday, Glenn's
picknick basket had to be emptied, which of course caused no problems to us.
After being dropped off at the campsite, we drove to Deniliquin. At least
that's what we tried to do. The Melbourne tollway system proved to be
unbeatable, so we decided to take the tollway. But where to pay the toll? A
long telephone call was needed to pay; a toll booth would have been much
easier.
On the way to Deniliquin, where we had an appointment with Robert
Stevinson to go on a spotlighting tour to see the Plains Wanderer, we saw
our first Kangaroo. Out of nowhere it decided to cross the road less
than two meters from our windshield.
I barely missed it. The spotlighting trip was a success. The Plains Wanderer
was found within 10 minutes and other difficult to see birds followed: Tawny
Frogmouth, Owlet Nightjar, Inland Dotterel and Stubble Quail.
Robert invited us to spend the night at his driveway, which we gladly
accepted.
June 20th
After a home-made breakfast we say goodbye to Robert and Rhonda and leave
their property. After about one kilometre I spot a small bird crouching
across theroad. It must be a Stubble Quail, so I stop the car to take a
few pictures of it. There is hardly any vegetation, but still I can't find
the bird.
Suddenly I see it blinking its eye, just two meters away from me. One
problem: this is not a Stubble Quail, this is a female PLAINS WANDERER!!! I
immediately realise how incredibly lucky I am, and gesticulate to Sandra to
bring me my camera not wanting to loose sight of the bird. I take over 30
pictures of the bird making a 360º circle around it, photographing
every angle. (Until today, September 10th, I have not been able to find any
other daylight pictures of a Plains Wanderer, if you know of any please mail
me.)
We leave Deniliquin in the direction of the Great Ocean Road, where we
expect to arrive early in the afternoon. When we finally arrive in Geelong
late at night we had our first insights in the huge size of Australia,
almost 200 times the size of the Netherlands!
June 21st
We start our drive on the Great Ocean Road early. Our first stop is Point
Addis, trying for Rufous Bristlebird. During the day we stop at
numerous sites, but fail to see it every single time. My wife is very fond
of old castles( there aren't any) and waterfalls, so we go to Lorne falls.
Beautiful! It's difficult for us to believe we're not in Borneo or Ecuador
if we look at the lush vegetation. We continue along the Great Ocean Road to
the 12 Apostles. Again a beautiful site, even though it storms and rains
incessantly. Next stop is Lord Arch Gorge. As I turn onto the parkingarea I
see 4! Rufous Bristlebirds being fed by Japanese tourists. In our Lonely
Planet guide it says that at 12 apostles there is a small penguin colony, so
we decide to give it a try. The wind is so strong by now, we have to hang on
to each other, not to be blown away. There are no signs saying where the
penguins come ashore, so I take a good look around and decide on one area to
focus on. Just when we want to leave, having waited for almost an hour, they
come ashore, not, as I expected, one by one, but just one group, shuffling
to their burrows. We continue to Warnambool to spend the night.
June 22nd
Warnambool is one of the whalewatching-capitals of Australia. We go directly
to the whalewatching-point, hoping to see the mother and calf Southern Right
Whale that have been seen here. We miss them at first, but after having done
some shopping we return and find them just behind the surf. A great sight.
>From here we want to reach Waikerie in South Australia, but along the way we
realise we're not going to make it today. Instead we decide to visit Bool
Lagoon, to do some birdwatching. Big disappointment: Bool Lagoon is
completely dry and there aren't any birds at all. We find a campground in
Bordertown.
June 23rd
We leave Bordertown in the dark. As it is beginning to get lighter, I again
barely miss a kangaroo and we decide there and then not to drive in the dark
again (it soon proved impossible not to). In Waikerie we have an appointment
with a Dutch birder, Peter Waanders.
The ladies stay at home and the guys go out birding. Peter is a very good
guide and is able to show me a lot of good birds: Chestnut Quailthrush,
Southern Whiteface, Purple-crowned Lorikeet. I am starting to feel really
ill, so we get to bed early.
June 24th
Starting today, we have a few days where we have nothing to do but drive.
Peter gives us a site for Regent Parrot along the way, which we quickly
find. The next stop is the Port Augusta botanical garden, but no birds here,
probably because of the time of the day and my being ill. We reach Woomera
in the evening and take a campsite there. By now I am completely unable to
speak, so we develop our own signlanguage. Last bird of the day is a
wantbird: Zebrafinch.
June 25th
On our way to Ayers Rock, we pass through Coober Pedy and soon realise we
want to spend a bit more time here. We find a campsite where you can camp
underground in an old opalmine, a strange experience. The town itself has a
peculiar atmosphere. Birdwise this area is almost empty, only a lot of
Black Kites and a few Little Corellas.
In the evening we act like tourists and take a minetour.
June 26th
Today we want to reach Ayers Rock, now officially called Uluru. A long drive
and we arrive about one hour before sunset. First we go to Yulara, the only
campground in the area. Even this time of year there are a lot of tourists,
we secure the last official space at the campground. We go into the park to
the sunset viewing area, because Sandra wants to see the sunset. I come
along, only to see the most beautiful sunset I've ever seen. I'm not really
into sunsets, but this one really is beautiful!
Back at the campground we take a swing at Australias national sport:
Barbecueing. Hard to believe, but Sandra and I have never barbecued before,
but a nice man from Adelaide tells us how to do it. Practise makes perfect,
so our food still looks horrible, but tastes great.
June 27th
Early in the morning we leave the campsite and want to go into the park, but
we end up in a trafficjam. This is caused by the police looking for drunk
drivers, in the middle of nowhere in the middle of the night. The
trafficjam takes us too long to reach the sunrise viewingarea, so we stop at
the sunsetarea, this time almost having the place to ourselves. We don't
want to climb the rock, instead we take a ranger guided tour at the base.
Birdlife is very scarce, Gray-headed Honeyeater and Black-breasted Buzzard
are the only new birds today.
On to the Olga's. We take a walk between two of the rocks and looking up you
realise how big these rocks are. Huge.
We watch another sunset at Uluru and go to bed early.
June 28th
We leave Yulara early, again realising how big Australia is. The distance
between Uluru and Alice Springs is 450 km, while on the map it looks like
one is a suburb of the other.
Today we want to go birding in the West MacDonnel Ranges, but when we get
to Alice Springs, I am too ill to continue, so we look for a doctor. The
appointment can be made late in the afternoon, so after sleeping a bit in
the campervan, we go into town. Alice Springs is a very lovely and friendly
town. Very small, only about 25.000 people living there, but everything you
need is in town. One of Sandra's brothers told me he wanted to have a
didgeridoo, so we start shopping, but only two shops later we buy one
ourselves. The doctor tells me what's wrong with me and casually tells me I
will not be able to speak for 10 to 14 days!!
June 29th
We catch up with our lost day in the West MacDonnel Ranges, starting at
first light at Simpson's Gap.
The Dusky Grasswrens are easily located, but we miss the Agile Rock
Wallabies. Next stop is Ellery Creek Big Hole, a lovely place, but no
special birds here, but we do see the wallabies. Ormiston Gorge is our final
destination. It is supposed to be a good site for several species, such as
Spinifex Pigeon and Western Bowerbird, but I can't find either of them.
During our lunch, I suddenly see why I haven't been able to find the
pigeons: I was looking too far away, they are sunbathing right at our feet!
Other birds include the bowerbird and White-browed Babbler.
Early to bed again, a long day tomorrow.
June 30th
We had been planning to travel to Tennant Creek today, but because we arrive
at Devil's Marbles, just south of Tennant Creek by 11.30 AM, we decide to
win a day in our schedule.
Devil's Marbles was a great place, although we can't understand why people
want to spray grafitti all over the rocks.
Someone told us the night before about the Mataranka hotspring, so we drive
on, hoping to get to Mataranka that evening. Of course the final hour has to
be driven in darkness, again (but for the last time) barely missing a
Wallaby. The Mataranka campsite was terrible, but the hotspring...
We were alone in the hotspring, in the dark, surrounded by palms, looking at
the stars, only to be disturbed by a Wallaby. That's paradise.
July 1st
We leave Mataranka early, trying to get to Chinaman Creek at dawn. Chinaman
Creek is supposed to be a good site for both Hooded Parrot and Gouldian
Finch. We arrive at the site together with an American couple. We see 4
female Hooded Parrots, but no finches. The Americans tell us about Katherine
Gorge, so we phone there to make reservations for the 11 o' clock tour. This
leaves us with quite some time to go birding, which is very productive. Two
Friarbirds, Red-winged Parrot, White-gaped Honeyeater to name a few. The
gorgetour is fabulous and we eat our first Barramundi ever, also very good.
We spend the night in Darwin.
July 2nd
I am picked up very early by a local birder, Niven McCrie. We go to Lee
point, waiting for the sun to come up. The first four birds of the day in
chronological order: Nankeen Nightheron, Great-billed heron, Azure
Kingfisher and Chestnut Rail! Impressive to start a day this way. Especially
the rail, which was out in the open, just across the water for 15 minutes,
until we decided we had to go. Niven is writing a book on finding birds in
Kakadu, Darwin and the Top End and we end up testing it. Most of the birds
in the Top End I haven't seen yet, so I am perfect for testing it, seeing
how many birds we can find in a day.
We see most of the Darwin goodies: Mangrove Robin, Mangrove Gerygone,
Mangrove Fantail, Rainbow Pitta, Pacific Baza, Great Knot, Mongolian Plover,
Rufous Owl, Green Figbird and the Paperbark subspecies of Restless
Flycatcher. At the end of the day we conclude his forthcoming book stood
the test gloriously: 60 species of birds not yet seen in Australia by me, of
which 52 are lifers! Remember I had been in Australia already for over two
weeks at that time.Unbelievable.
July 3rd
Kakadu day! We first go to Fogg dam, which is disappointing, although I do
see White-browed Crake. In Kakadu Park itself we visit the Mamukala
wetland first. Because of all the birds I saw yesterday with Niven, there
aren't too many lifers left here, but the place is unforgettable. A very
good birdhide, lots of water and, more importantly, lots of birds: Magpie
geese, Plumed Whistling Ducks, Green Pygmy Geese, Glossy Ibis, White-bellied
Seaeagle and Jabiru, one of my favourite birds.
On the way from the hide to Ubirr we again are extremely lucky. First a Red
Goshawk flies down to catch something and a bit later we see a Dingo
crossing the road. The rockpaintings at Ubirr are good, but not exceptional.
We spend the night at the Merl campground.
July 4th
A short day, just visiting the Bowali Visitor Centre and Nourlangie Rock.
The lightning man at Nourlangie is absolutely the best rockpainting we have
ever seen. Just seeing this is worth the trip. Birding is pretty good with
White-lined honeyeater, Black-tailed Treecreeper and Sandstone Shrikethrush.
We continue to Cooinda to do some more birding, but instead I end up
sleeping all afternoon, still not feeling well. At night we hear a Barking
Owl calling close by and when I find it some more people come to look at it,
including a German couple. The woman thinks there's a dog in the tree, but
when I finally convince her it's an owl, she asks:" So the owl ate the dog?"
July 5th
We start the day with the yellow water rivercruise. This takes about two
hours and is supposed to be very good for salties. We see and photograph a
lot of birds very closeby because they are so used to people, but the
salties only show themselves in the last 5 minutes of the tour. We leave
Kakadu and go to Katherine, looking for the hotspring. When we finally find
it, we can not believe our eyes. There are about 8 people in the warm, fast
flowing water. In Europe we build these things, put a wall around it, charge
10 dollars admission and call it "tropical paradise".
Because we just can't get enough of hotsprings we move on to Mataranka
again. This time during daytime, which means we have to share the pool with
35 others, but still our visit is very enjoyable. Since we have to be in
Cairns in three days (a very long drive from here) we leave Mataranka again
end spend the night at the Daly Waters roadhouse, swapping travelstories
with other travellers, including the usual Dutch immigrants who spend the
winter in the north.
July 6th
We leave the roadhouse at 6 AM, still dark of course. Luckily a roadtrain
leaves together with us, so we can drive behind it, not having to worry
about killing kangaroos. This is going to be a long day, we're going to get
as far east as possible. Birdwise some nice ones: Pied Honeyeater, Crimson
Chat and our first Budgerigars. When we cross the Queensland border the
road quickly deteriorates, finally ending in a one way highway. Our
campervan doesn't come too high on the priority list, after roadtrains,
buses
and for some reason 4WD's, just a bit higher than bicycles. At one point we
have to wait to let yet another roadtrain pass and as we move on an
Australian Bustard crosses the road. The only one we will see, just because
we had to wait for the roadtrain.
When it gets dark we slow down and are overtaken by the same
roadtrain we trailed behind this morning! It stops at Mt. Isa and so do we.
July 7th
Again a long day, with just one new bird: Pale-headed Rosella. Along the way
we talk (well, Sandra talks and I whisper) to two people who are doing the
same route we are, just in the opposite direction and by bicycle! They are
very thirsty and gladly accept something to drink. They figured it would
take them about a year to circle Australia by bike. We spend the night in
Charter's Towers.
July 8th
Because we made good progress the last three days we can afford to spend
some time in Mission Beach, looking for the Cassowary, before we have to be
in Cairns.
As soon as you enter the Mission Beach area you see dozens of signs warning
you to be careful because of the Cassowaries. We find a good spot of
rainforest and immediately locate Noisy Pitta. After a quick walk we go to
the informationcenter asking about good spots. The people there can't tell
us anymore than that there are Cassowaries in the area(no news there), but
they can't tell us where, so we decide to take one of the forestwalks.
The walk is really beatiful and we see a lot of Cassowary droppings, but not
the bird itself. Because we have to go back this way in a week again, we
will try again next week.
In Cairns we go to the Esplanade, but we don't see too many interesting
birds.
July 9th
The reason we have to be in Cairns is that we booked a divingcourse here.
We're picked up in the morning and go to a classroom where we get theory all
morning. At noon the medical test awaits. I go in first, no problem, but
Sandra doesn't pass. Problem. We had been looking forward to this very much,
but now we have to do something completely different. Big bummer. We thought
this would take us 5 days, so now we have 4 days left in the Cairns area.
Obviously we were too disappointed to go birding, no new birds.
July 10th
Instead of our divingcourse we take a daytrip to the reef, looking for
seaturtles, seasnakes and birds.
We were able to find an organisation which goes to Michaelmas Cay, a seabird
colony. The trip takes about three hours. On the island we bird a bit
finding Black and Brown Noddy, Sooty Tern, Silver Gull, Crested Tern and
Brown Boobies. After that I put the binoculars aside and start snorkelling.
Wonderful! Very good visibility, lots of fish, but no turtles. Our second
stop is Hastings Reef, where we have 70 minutes to go snorkelling. It's like
swimming in your own National Geographic documentary, fish of all sizes and
colours everywhere. On the way back we realise that although we did put a
lot of tanninglotion on our bodies, we forgot to put it on the back of our
legs, which our exposed to the sun while snorkelling, so we got a nasty
sunburn. When we returned to the parkingarea we had a very unpleasant
surprise: our car had been broken into.
Apparently someone entered the car, closed the curtains and spent the day
looking for cash and jewellery. They went through every single closet,
pocket,
bag etc. They didn't take my photobag with my camera(which is replaceable)
nor my Plains-Wanderer film(which absolutely isn't), nor did they take the
videocamera. Sad ending to an otherwise great day.
July 11th
A tourist day. We booked a tour to Kuranda, up by train, down by skyrail.
The trip up is nice, but not special. The town of Kuranda is very touristic,
but
in a nice way. The way down by skyrail is a must, even for birders. You get
a birdseye view of the rainforest, so you can get good views of species
living high up. We saw Topknot Pigeon, Cicadabird, and Yellow-breasted
Boatbill. Back at the campsite I added Yellow-bellied Sunbird.
July 12th
We start our day with a visit to the beautiful Cairns botanical gardens.
Today we want to end in Port Douglas, so we have a lot of time to spend here
and at our next stop: the bungee jump centre. I had never done this before
and wanted to try it. To make a long story short: DON'T! It is very scary
and didn't give me the thrill I expected. On the way to Port Douglas I tried
the Beach Thickknee, but I failed.
July 13th
Kingfisher Park is our destination today, so on the way I try again for the
Beach Thickknee. I stop at Yulle point, walk north on the beach along the
mangroves for about 2.5 kilometres, but when the tide gets higher I have to
return, without seeing it. About 100 meters from the car it suddenly
appears, making my long morningwalk superfluous. Kingfisher Park is situated
in Julatten and easily found. We go to the reception and immediately see
lifers: Macleays Honeyeater, Red-browed Finches and Gray-headed Robin. The
owner, Ron Stannard and the two resident guides, Carol and Andrew make us
feel at home right away. Never, anywhere in the world, did we experience a
holiday-feeling like this, we really felt at home. At night we take the
spotlighting tour, where we see Lesser Sooty Owl, about 10 Barn Owls, and,
most important, the Platypus. Not a perfect sighting, but still good enough.
I arrange a tour with Carol to Mount Lewis the next morning.
July 14th
Carol and I leave at 7.00 AM for Mount Lewis. Carol told me:"it's quality,
not quantity we're going for" and she was right. We start with Chowchilla
and Double-eyed Figparrot and further up the mountain we see a lot of
goodies: Atherton Scrubwren, Golden Bowerbird, Bowers Shrikethrush,
Victoria's Riflebird, Super Fruitdove, Wompoo Pigeon, Spotted Catbird,
Fernwren and Golden Whistler. What a trip! Back at Kingfisher Park Andrew
tells me where to look for Papuan frogmouth in the orchard, big birds, two
adults and one young.In the afternoon we go to Daintree, for the rivercruise
the next morning.
July 15th
Chris Dahlbergs Rivercruise leaves at 6.30 AM. There are 8 people on the
boat, 4 of which we already met at Kingfisher Park. It's a small world when
you're birding. There's only one request (by me): Little Kingfisher. It
takes a frustrating amount of time to find one, but once we found one, we
kept on seeing them, at least 4 different birds that day. The other animal
this trip is good for is Saltwater Crocodile, again long before we found it,
but after that easy to see.
We return to Kingfisher Park, adding Pale-yellow Robin and Buff-banded Rail
to the list.
July 16th
Ron Stannard, the owner of Kingfisher Park, arranged for us to stay at
Cassowary House in Kuranda, to try for the Cassowary. On the way to Kuranda
we bird a bit, finding Cotton Pygmy Goose. We have to do some shopping along
the way, but when we pass the supermarket we decide to take the next one.
The next supermarket is not to be found, so we drive straight to Cassowary
House. On arrival we're welcomed by the lady of the house who shows us
around, telling us that sightings aren't guaranteed. "This is your room,
this is the
garden, this is the veranda, oh there's your Cassowary".
We are able to take pictures of the bird which disappears after 15 minutes
never to be seen again. Imagine we would have stopped for groceries! The
Cassowary is incredible! What a bird, instantly my favourite bird of all
times, big and beautiful! We spend the rest of the day sleeping (in a real
bed again), reading and birding on the veranda. Birds seen from the veranda:
Red-necked Crake, Spotted Catbird, displaying Victorias Riflebird and
Macleays Honeyeater.
July 17th
We leave Cassowary House at 8.00 AM, leaving for the Atherton Tablelands.
Targetspecies for the day is Sarus Crane. Our first stop at Hasties Swamp
is unsuccessful, but there are hundreds of Magpie Geese and thousands of
Plumed Whistling Ducks. About 2 kilometres from Hasties Swamp Sandra
spots two cranes, much easier to distinguish from Brolgas than I expected.
The next stop is Crater National Park. We take a walk to the crater, a
strange sight. Back at the parkingarea I want to eat an orange, but as soon
as I start peeling it, I am being attacked by a Lewins Honeyeater. Out of
nowhere it appears, flies to my hand and starts eating from the orange.
This is probably the best way to see the colour of its iris....
We leave for Townsville, but along the way we take a small detour to Millaa
Millaa Falls. This is an unexpected bonus. Not the biggest waterfall I've
seen, but certainly the most beautiful one!
July 18th
The destination for today is Eungella National Park, the best place to see
Platypus. We arrive at noon, but the campsite has filled up already, so we
have to take (the last!) room at the hotel next door. The Eungella
Honeyeater has proven to be very difficult the last weeks, but the Platypus
is so easy. Just stand on the bridge and it swims by! We try for the
honeyeater at Chelmans Road but fail. Again we are told by a local
birdwatcher they have been very difficult lately. At night we take a
spotlighting tour, but other than a Brushtail Possum, it's a bit
disappointing.
July 19th
In the morning we join the morningwalk, again looking for Eungella
Honeyeater, again failing. Well, you have to leave some birds to come back
for. After a long drive we sleep in Benaraby.
July 20th
We leave for Hervey Bay, arriving there at noon. We shop around to find a
good tour to Fraser Island as well as a whalewatching-tour with guaranteed
sightings. The Fraser Island tour is easy to find, the whalewatching-tour
isn't. Only the fourth company we call goes out this week so we book with
them. Little Wattlebird is the only lifer of the day, although I am able to
add Pacific Black Duck, Purple Swamphen and Dusky Moorhen to my handlist,
because they are used to being fed by campers.
List Owner Note: The rest of the report disappeared but I've been able to
forward this much.
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