Sydney-SE Qld trip

hi all
i took a few days to drive my old car up to Qld, taking back roads and stopping off at a few spots i'd read about on birding-aus. alas time (and daylight) was a bit short for intensive birding but it pleasing on the way up to see so much water around after the recent drenching which bodes well for a bumper spring season. 
   
an early highlight was a 1st year dark morph brown falcon and a light phase sitting side by side on a dead tree by the blacktown-richmond rd.
at the richmond wetlands by the treatment plant there were aust shovelers, royal spoonbills, hardheads, aust grebes, grey teals, black-winged stilts and black-fronted dottrerels.
pitt town lagoon has come up quite a bit after the recent rains. there were maybe 100+ aust shovelers, black swans with cygnets, hardheads, pac black ducks, aust grebes, a great egret and white-necked heron. nearby there were red-rumped parrots, i flushed an unidentified cuckoo of the pallid/brush variety and crested shrike-tits in a thicket.
on powerlines in gloucester's main street there were white-headed pigeons (a nice change from rock doves) and eastern rosellas. 50-100 cattle egrets roosting on the southern edge of town was a pretty sight at dusk.
along the bucketts way and pacific highway there were quite a few brown falcons, kestrels and black-shouldered kites.   
at old bar near taree, an eastern curlew, bar-tailed godwits, a white reef heron, pied oystercatchers and gull-billed and crested terns. alas no fairy terns but possibly the wrong time of year. 
at crowdy head, a pair of white-bellied cuckoo-shrikes by the road opposite the NP entrance.
SE Qld: on monday at apex lake, gatton, hundreds of plumed whistling ducks, a few little egrets among the usual suspects. the next day (weds) yielded four cotton pygmy geese. also a little friarbird and blue-faced honeyeaters nearby. the presence of feral geese at this busy nature reserve was a shame.
despite the lockyer valley looking greener, atkinson's dam was a sorry sight, reduced to a puddle. nonetheless i had a great view of another dark morph brown falcon sitting on a bank below the dam wall. also flushed three brown quails and saw a couple of golden cisticolas, wood ducks and a whistling kite.
On a much fuller lake dyer near laidley, there was a raft of 40-odd aust grebes and a few hardheads clumping together at the sound of a whistling kite. 
in brisbane it was pleasing to watch blue-faced HEs successfully defend their turf (a young grevillea) against attack from noisy miners in the front yard of our old house in ascot.
thanks to the ever reliable alan morris and penny in gloucester for their help. her local guide is a great resource. sadly i decided to spare my car further punishment and turned back at the foot of gloucester tops. the river was running fast but crossable (all six times) and the roads were quite good despite the recent rains.
if only i could've taken a couple of weeks and a 4WD.
regards
shane b
vaucluse