Hi John and others,
The sump of my wife's little 2WD Astra will attest to the condition of Duck
Creek Rd. In September I put a hole in it trying to get down there, and had to
call up a tow truck from Canungra to come and get me. The tow truck wouldn't go
down Duck Creek Rd, but luckily I was not far down the road when I hit trouble,
so was able to get back to the main road for the truck to pick me up. It was
8:30am when I hit the rock, and 5pm by the time I got back down to Canungra in
the tow truck - it turned into quite an expensive exercise. The tow truck
driver said there was no way he would go down Duck Creek Rd to get anyone, and
no other towing company would go down there either. Certainly if you got stuck
in a rental car down there you would be on your own and the expenses could get
quite nasty. To be fair though (and my wife was very unforgiving on this point)
I missed the bump in the road which caused it because I was distracted by a
Noisy Pitta flying across in front of me!
As Chris pointed out, Red-browed Treecreeper is the main species you would go
down there for, and it is also good for Buff-rumped Thornbill and White-naped
Honeyeater. It would be a reasonable walk to get to the section where they are
(about 2.5km I think), but if you have the time very achievable, and the road
is good for birding anyway. I often stop to bird the first few hundred metres
of Duck Creek Rd down to the first clearing on the left anyway. You can get all
the same rainforest species you get at the top and it is less hectic, with
rarely anyone else there. From the first clearing on the left the view is
spectacular and I have picked up Little Eagle here a few times.
Spotted Quail-Thrush has become increasingly difficult to find along Duck Creek
Rd, and if this were a target species I would definitely have a back up plan.
If you still want to look for it though you can also find it at Luke's Bluff.
This road is between Duck Creek Rd and O'Reilly's and goes off in the same
direction as Duck Creek Rd. It is marked private, but if you ask permission up
at O'Reilly's I have never had any problems getting down there. It is also a
good spot for Koala.
Cheers and good birding!
Nick Leseberg
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