Tasmania- Flight problems getting there, Melaleuca (Flight tips) and Eaglehawk
Neck Pelagic November 28-30th 2008
I just had a pleasant long weekend in Tasmania which included a morning
(Friday) in Melbourne when JetStar cancelled my onward flight on Thursday
evening.
Friday am. Made the best of a bad job (my initial irritation turned into
opportunity and then delight) as I decided to go and see the male Australian
Painted Snipe at Edithvale. Great views of this bird for a few hours as well as
Aus. Spotted & Spotless Crakes and Buff-banded Rail. I then drove back to the
airport.
Friday pm. Travelled over to Hobart and looked, without success, in poor
weather for Blue-winged Parrots and Satin Flycatchers. Picked up many of the
endemics which I’ve seen before.
Saturday am. Excellent views of Satin Flycatchers – 5+ in the Meehan Range near
Cambridge. Take Belbins Rd off the Tasman Highway and then walk up the wooded
gulley.
http://maps.google.com.au/maps?hl=en&ie=UTF8&ll=42.843846,147.415581&spn=0.018691,0.045319&z=15
I then got the call from Par Avion cancelling my flight to Melaleuca due to the
bad weather, which they said was predicted to get much worse. The low cloud was
the problem. Pleased with my lifer, I was bitterly disappointed that I couldn’t
get to Melaleuca. Being local and looking at the improving weather around me, I
went down to Cambridge Airfield only to see Par Avion loading up a flight to
Melaleuca. Despite having booked the trip 4 months in advance, it was clear I
had been bumped off the flight. I challenged them on this and they said the
weather was no good for scenic flights, only for bush walkers and the flights
were full. I was very unimpressed – I wasn’t only going for the scenery!
I was then told by one of their passengers – try Tas Air. I did just that and
they fitted me in on a flight an hour later! The moral of the story – 1) Don’t
give up on things like this and don’t believe what you’re told by Par Avion.
The flight cost me $8 more on Tas Air ($298) – but at least they took me there.
The other thing which annoyed me was they didn’t have the courtesy to tell me
about Tas Air and that I had alternatives – even though I stressed this was my
only chance to get there on this trip. I also met 2 people at Melaleuca who
were on the flight I was going on that was ‘cancelled’, and neither were bush
walkers. MY TIP USE TAS AIR!
The flight down was fantastic – flying between the mountain tops and clouds.
The flight back was even better as the cloud had lifted. The weather in SW
Tasmania was great and not at all what I’d been led to believe. I spent 4 hours
in the Melaleuca area seeing at least 10 Orange-bellied Parrots (4 unringed) as
well as Striated Fieldwrens, Beautiful Firetails and Dusky Robins.
Sunday – all day on the Eaglehawk Neck Pelagic. I’m sure a full report will
come out in due course. I was delighted to see 2 of my target species – 2
White-headed Petrels and 2 Mottled Petrels, both out at the shelf or beyond. It
wasn’t a classic pelagic with endless birds but we did also see Cambell and
Black-browed, Shy, Wandering (Gibson’s?), Southern and Northern Giant Petrels,
Great-winged Petrel, 1 Brown Skua, 1 Arctic Jagaer, a few Fairy Prions. Nothing
could take away my delight at seeing 2 new Pterodromas on a single trip!
On the trip, Mike Double had told me about some Blue-winged Parrots in Kingston
he’d seen a week or 2 ago. So, when we got to shore at 3.30pm, I drove back to
Hobart and on to a packed Kingston Sports arena. I had a look round – as usual
no Blue-winged Parrots. I started falling asleep watching a game of boys
cricket when I heard a distinctive jingle and glimpsed a small parrot flying
over. The field opposite the main sports centre had a lot of flowing / seeding
plants amongst the low grass. During the evening I found up to 7 Blue-winged
Parrots feeding here quietly and using the local fences when disturbed by local
kids and dogs!
I was hoping for 3 lifers on the trip and got 6 which is great. I was back in
the office in Brisbane at 9.30am on Monday morning!Rob Morris Brisbane,
Australia
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