Down Under, by Land, Sea and Air

[Zubbie15]

Half day rainforest tour

The next morning, we had booked a half-day (morning) tour with Odyssey Bound tours (http://www.portdouglashalfdaytours.com.au/). This was supposed to be the day where we did the night spotlighting, and we did want a little down time to relax and explore Port Douglas, so the half-day nature of this tour fit our needs well. We got lucky this morning, as there had been another couple booked on the tour but they had canceled the previous day, so this ended up being a private tour. Our guide was Bill, although he informed us that two of them ran the tours, and both introduced themselves as “Bill” so that online reviews would be consistent; he claimed to be the real Bill, but who knows. As we were the only ones on the tour, he asked us if we had any specific requests for what to do – we mentioned an interest in the mammals of the area, but weren’t too picky. He said he had some ideas, so we set off.

In contrast to our previous rainforest tour, in this case we ascended the mountains to the west of Port Douglas, rather than staying along the coast. This led us through some farmland, where we saw a variety of macropods, including Eastern Grey Kangaroos and Whiptail (or Pretty-Faced) Wallabies. Unfortunately, they weren’t particularly cooperative for photography, so no pictures. Our ultimate destination was Red Hill, a preserve that is exclusively used for these tours as well as (if I remember right) some research.

Following a drive along a fairly rough track, we got out of the vehicle and began to walk along one of the trails. It was nice, and relaxing, to be just the three of us walking through rainforest, with the only sounds being the bush and the occasional airplane overheard.

At one point, we reached a tree that Bob claimed was the largest known tree in the Daintree Rainforest. I’m not sure if that’s true, but it definitely was an impressive specimen (I didn't bring my ultra-wide angle lens this day, so couldn't attempt to get the whole tree in the frame).

There was a lot of signs (half-eaten food and droppings) of Tree Kangaroos here, so we spent a while scanning the canopy, but with no luck. Continuing along, we quite soon after could hear a Cassowary traveling through the undergrowth, but again it never came into sight for us, unfortunately. There were, similarly, a lot of signs of Cassowaries, including a very fresh poop, most likely from the one we had heard. While the reserve was primarily forested, the edges contained come more open areas - we didn't see anything here, but could see the trails made by the kangaroos and wallabies.

We really enjoyed our time at Red Hill, and from what Bill was saying on the day, and what I now gather from their website, they are now focusing the tour on this reserve. It would be interesting to return and see how that has changed things.

Because of our stated interest in mammals, Bill had a suggestion of a long route we could take back to Port Douglas, with the hope of seeing some different mammals. We headed away from the coast, and ended up along a dry station road. I remember this road was fairly significant in the history of the area, but can’t remember, or find online, the exact reason why. In any case, there was a reasonable amount of wildlife present, with several views of Kangaroos and Wallabies (mostly hopping away from us), and some interesting birdlife.

We stopped at a small waterway, which apparently offers a reasonable chance of viewing platypus. We didn’t have any luck with the platypus, but did manage to explore the shore and water for a period while hoping to spot the telltale ripples…

From here we continued along, ending up on the access road to Mount Lewis. We spotted a bandicoot quickly scurry across the road, but no luck for pictures.

Mount Lewis is a well-known area for birders, but we didn’t have the time to explore properly. Bill left us on the road at one point, and headed along a ways to set up for a tea break. We definitely enjoyed the flora and listening to the birds, in particular the Victoria's Riflebirds that were calling in the distance.

After tea, we made a quick stop where some fruiting trees had attracted some Red-legged pademelon’s. Unfortunately, in my excitement at having marsupials that weren’t running away from us, I didn’t notice that the camera had been switched to manual mode, so the pictures did not come out particularly well.

From here, we started to make our way back to Port Douglas. We stopped briefly, as we were coming down the mountains to the coast, at a scenic overlook, but didn’t linger long as a feral pig had recently been hit there, and its carcass smelled quite ripe.

We made our way back to Port Douglas around 1PM, and spent the afternoon relaxing, doing some souvenir shopping, and trying some Aussie pies from a well-known restaurant. The break helped us get over what lingered of our jetlag. One note about jetlag – we really didn’t feel it too badly coming to Australia, which I think was helped quite a bit by us spending so much of our days outside. I usually got a little sleepy around the middle of the afternoon for the first few days, but once I got up and moved around a little would be good until the night.

[Zubbie15]

Birding Tropical Queensland

Our next day was also spent on land, as I had booked an all-day private tour with Del Richards of Fine Feather Tours (

There were also a lot of Rainbow Bee-eaters in the area, but they weren't being very cooperative to allow us to get close for photographs.

There were also several Laughing Kookaburras in the area.

As well as many Helmeted Friarbirds.

We then slowly made our way out of town, stopping off at some lagoons on the outskirts where a variety of birds were sighted.

Intermediate Egrets

Masked Lapwing

Pacific Black Duck

Australian White Ibis

There was also a crocodile in these pools, which we managed to see. It was rather small, but still we didn't want to get too close.

[michael-ibk]

Great pics of the Kookaburra especially!

[Treepol]

@@Zubbie15 I'm enjoying your TR and am very grateful for the guide contact details that you have included.

 

We shared a boat trip on the Mossman River with Del and 2 of his clients, he seemed a very knowledgeable guy and kindly took the time to answer my questions when Murray was busy with the boat.

[Zubbie15]

Thanks @@michael-ibk, they were hanging out near the main pier and so were quite used to humans, allowing a reasonably close approach.

 

I appreciate the kind words @@Treepol, we definitely had a couple of times where Del helped other people out while on our day with him. I'm glad you appreciate the links, I've found that I really appreciate it when other people do the same in their reports so I thought I'd try to do the same.

[Zubbie15]

Continued...

As we left the ponds, we stopped for a quick view of a Bush stone-curlew, relaxing for the day.

Continuing out of town, we stopped along some farm roads, observing a variety of birds on the edges of the road. This included a small group of Magpie Geese.

There were also some Plumed Whistling Ducks eating near a waterhole. It was hard to get a good picture, as usually all but one had their head down eating.

We then headed up into the mountains, stopping at Del’s home to observe the birds at his feeder. There were several interesting species, including good views of this female Victoria's Riflebird.

We could hear the male in the area, but never got a good view. There were also several Silvereye's around the feeders.

We proceeded to walk in the forested area behind his house, which afforded us with a nice view in the spotting scope of a Wompoo Fruit-Dove, but it was hard to photograph at that distance, so I ended up mostly with a record shot.

We then headed toward Kingfisher Park Birdwatchers Lodge, which is a well-known birding location in the area. On our way, we came across this Wallaby, which I believe is a Whiptail.

We only made a quick stop at the main building and then checked out the nearby feeders, but were able to come across a couple of nice species. The darkness of the forest really challenged the high ISO capabilities of my Canon 7D, which is not known to be the best at the higher ranges.

Red-browed Firetail Finch

Macleay's Honeyeater

In the back of the lodge grounds, there was a fruiting fig tree, which attracted a fairly large flock of Double-eyed Fig-Parrots. We spent quite a while observing them and trying to get some decent pictures.

[michael-ibk]

Beautiful bird shots, especially like the Firetail Finch.

[Zubbie15]

Continuing along, it was really amazing the number of Honeyeaters we were able to locate.

Blue-faced Honeyeater

Noisy Friarbird

As well as Yellow-bellied Sunbird

By that time it was approaching lunch, so we stopped off in Julatten for a bite to eat. While eating, we were leafing through one of Del’s bird books, and he asked if there was any bird we specifically wanted to see. Since my wife is much less of a birder than I am, I allowed her to suggest something, in the hopes of keeping her enthusiastic for the rest of the day. She ended up choosing a red-back fairy-wren, an attractive bird with breeding males being black and red (there's an example in @@Treepol's current trip report). Del didn’t really respond to that one way or the other, so we continued along. The afternoon was spent in much drier conditions, and thus with a different assortment of birds.

Including this Blue-winged Kookaburra.

The scenery here was also quite different from in the morning.

From here, we continued along to a location known as Bustard Downs, predominantly to see if we could locate (you guessed it) a pair of Australian Bustards that live there. With the help of some other people, we were ultimately successful.

From here, we started to make our way back toward the coast. The roads in this region were really quiet!

[elefromoz]

@@Zubbie15, lovely photos, particularly the Bustards, I never knew…gotta get back up that way

[michael-ibk]

That Blue-Faced Honeyeater looks almost unreal ... what a beautiful bird.

[xelas]

One day I really need to digitalise our photos from the film days; about the only bird I remember from our Australia trip is kokkabura, and even this because of its name!

Great photos and such knowledge of birds!

[Earthian]

great photographs. clear, sharp and almost if they were posing for you. And the background of the honey eater is so lovely. Mai i ask the settings of your camera and the lens used?

@@Zubbie15

[Zubbie15]

Thanks @@Earthian. The photos were all taken, handheld, with a Canon 7D and 100-400mm lens (both original versions, not the newer updates). I definitely have a lot more that I wouldn't want to show off than I am willing to show here.

[Earthian]

@@Zubbie15

wow. that is some serious photography. You must consider entering some of them in the yourshot page of National Geographic

 

http://yourshot.nationalgeographic.com/

 

btw, is that ice on the beach at salisbury beach, MA? never seen ice on a beach.

[Tom Kellie]

~ @@Zubbie15

 

Your Mount Lewis and Red Hill botanical images are STUNNING!

Such clarity, with outstanding luminosity despite the limited light in forested areas.

Plant photos of such quality set a high bar — really fine!

Tom K.

[Zubbie15]

Thanks @@Earthian, I think you are too kind! Yes that's ice on the beach - I find that the beaches in the summer here are much too crowded, so we like to go to them in the winter where you get much greater opportunities for peace and solitude, as well as some interesting contrasts.

 

Thank you @@Tom Kellie, I appreciate your kind comments.

[Zubbie15]

Time to wrap this day up...

Australians apparently really enjoy to get in their (what I would call) motor homes and travel around the country – I believe their retirees who do this are known as grey nomads. We stopped at one caravan park, which not only offered a location to use the toilet, but contained a surprising number of parrot, and other bird, species.

Red-winged Parrot

Pied Butcherbird

Pale-headed Rosella (I think)

There was also a large flock of Galahs in the area, we particularly enjoyed watching what we assumed were a male and female grooming themselves.

They seemed to have an almost grown chick as well, which tried to get some attention for itself.

Returning back toward Port Douglas, we abruptly made a turn off the main road, along a gravel road that bordered some farmer’s fields. Inching slowly along, Del eventually told us that the Fairy-wrens my wife wanted to see are typically found in that area. Amazingly enough, within a couple of minutes we spotted a couple of males and several females.

Unfortunately, the males weren’t in their breeding plumage, so we didn’t see them as they were drawn in the bird book, but it was an impressive feat by Del to say the least.

We made one final stop to look for some new Honeyeaters at a blooming tree that was full of them.

Blue-faced Honeyeater in the setting sunlight

Our return to Port Douglas was a little before sunset, after a full day of twitching. Our total list was above 90 different species, which I thought was great. Not only that, but when Del heard that we didn’t have a bird book with us for the trip, he let us borrow one of his (which had a personal inscription from the authors in it), trusting us to mail it back to him at the end of our stay.

I’d highly recommend Del for anyone in the Port Douglas area who wanted to either get an overview of the birdlife, or who was searching for a particular species.

[SafariChick]

@@Zubbie15 I am not a birder, but your photos, especially in the last post, are so gorgeous that I am really in love with them!

[Zubbie15]

Thanks @@SafariChick - it's never too late to become a birder.

[Zubbie15]

Last day of snorkeling

For our third trip out to the reef, I decided to do something a little different. Therefore, I booked us with a relatively small (~75 passengers) boat that offered both snorkeling and introductory scuba diving, Poseidon. http://www.poseidon-cruises.com.au/ I was hoping, given the requirements of the divers for deeper water, that the type of reef visited would be a little different, and offer different types of marine life.

It was obvious from the start that the addition of scuba was good for business, as the boat was definitely newer and fancier than the other boats we had taken. The previous two times we’d been out it had been quite windy, and therefore rough on the water, but lighter winds combined with the bigger boat made for a smooth ride this day.

One frustration that had to be dealt with, however, was that the snorkelers were second-fiddle to the scuba divers, so for example when we would arrive at a sight the crew would ensure all the divers were in the water and off swimming before allowing the snorkelers off, which slightly reduced our time in the water.

While we were in Port Douglas, the time of high tide was around midday, which meant that the reefs were submerged and it was possible to swim over them. However, on this day the crew was adamant that snorkelers were only allowed to swim around the reef, not over it. The restriction was a little frustrating, but I prefer they be more prudent with protecting the reef than being lax with their restrictions, so it was alright.

In the end we did see more schooling fish here, and some different marine life that we hadn’t seen before, so I wasn’t disappointed, but I think a snorkel-only boat was better in the end if one didn’t want to try scuba diving.

[Treepol]

@@Zubbie15 wow - really nice photos in your last few posts.

 

I particularly like the Plumed Ducks and the Blue-faced Honeyeater is a beauty.

[Zubbie15]

Last Day in Port Douglas

We had an 8PM flight out of Cairns this night, so we planned for this day to be relatively relaxing while waiting for our transport. We slept in, and then walked over to the Port Douglas market that was going on that day. This is held in the area of the St Mary's by the Sea Church, which has a great view behind the altar of the ocean.

From there, we hopped on a little bus and headed over to the Port Douglas Wildlife Habitat. I’m the trip planner in the family, and my wife just usually follows along. For this trip, she had one requirement, which was that she wanted to cuddle a Koala. While there’s some debate about doing this, and its effects on the animals, they allow it at this park so we had to head there. We weren’t going to be anywhere else that had Koalas on this trip, so I took advantage to get some pictures.

We were also able to see a male Cassowary, to at least have an idea of how they look.

And our only view of a Lumholtz's Tree-Kangaroo was to be here as well.

It’s not a large place, but it was interesting to be able to spend a few hours checking out the local wildlife we hadn’t been able to see. We left around mid-afternoon, headed back to our hotel to grab our bags, and then transferred to the Cairns airport for our flight to Darwin. Because it left at 8PM, the whole flight was in the dark, so we didn’t get to appreciate any scenery. We arrived in Darwin a few minutes early, grabbed our bags, and then crashed at a nearby hotel.

[Zubbie15]

Hello Northern Territory – time to start our road trip!

Because we had no experience driving on the “wrong” side of the road, and weren’t sure how the jetlag would affect us, we decided to not rent a car in the Port Douglas area, hence the reason we took so many tours. However, this wasn’t realistically an option in the Top End (there certainly are multi-day tours available, but to me they seemed rushed and expensive – and, in all honesty, the thought of being on a long tour with no control of who the other members are didn’t seem ideal). So the next morning, we returned to the airport, picked up a rental car, and set off on the road.

Our destination this day was Litchfield National Park, a relatively small (it's 1500 km squared, but with only one paved road so with a normal car there's a limit to what can be seen) park located only slightly more than an hour south of Darwin. For people who either don’t have a lot of time in Darwin, or don’t want to head too far out of town, it is a popular daytrip. We decided to split our daytrip in half, spending the afternoon there and the morning the next day, with the hope that being there later and earlier in the day might mean the park would be less busy. This partially worked out, but not as much as we hoped.

We had rented a 2WD sedan, and so were limited to driving on sealed roads. We followed the one main paved road through the park, with the various points of interest available as turn-offs from it.

The Road

Our first stop was Wangi Falls, the last sight along the sealed road, which also had a small café. We reached here around midday, and stopped at the café to eat. This may have been an error, as by that evening my wife was suffering from what appeared to be food poisoning. After lunch, we walked down toward the water hole, which was packed with people swimming.

There is also a track that goes up the escarpment and allows you to see the upper part of the river. I had read in general these walks were good to do at Litchfield, as while a lot of people go to the water holes to swim, the walks can be quite calm and peaceful. Starting away from the water hole, you first reach a little viewpoint that offers the best view of the falls.

Proceeding along, we entered a forest where the trees were full of Black Flying Foxes. We were able to get quite close to them, which also let us smell them (not too appealing!).

It was interesting to watch them deal with the heat, they'd partially flap their wings to circulate the air. It made me think of vampires sleeping. We continued along the track, and eventually made it to the top of the falls. Despite a pretty good amount of flow over the falls, the top wasn’t too impressive.

This area also had a nice view over the park.

This part of the walk was very exposed, without too many trees, and so we continued along and back down to the falls, before heading to our next stop.

[Zubbie15]

Litchfield day 1, continued

Once we returned to our car, we started making our way back to Batchelor, with the first stop at Tolmer Falls. These falls are protected, and you aren’t allowed to get too close, as there are a couple of endangered bat species (Ghost Bats and Orange Horseshoe Bats) that roost in the cave underneath them. The view however was quite nice.

This viewpoint also afforded the opportunity to get a good overview of the surround area.

While we couldn’t get too close to the falls, there was a short hike along the top of them. This proceeded in part through an area that had been burned recently, and the cycads were a golden color as they started to die.

I think there was a really good picture to be taken here, but I wasn’t satisfied with my results.

From here, we decided to head toward our hotel. We took a brief stop at the termite mounds near the entrance to the park.

These were definitely interesting, but I was surprised at how distant the boardwalk was from them. I don’t know if that was due to ecological sensitivity or something else, but they were definitely quite distant for the most part. There were, however, a few closer to the carpark that allowed us to appreciate their size.

From there, we went to our hotel, where we crashed for the night.

[Zubbie15]

Litchfield National Park, the next morning

We returned to the park the next morning, after a lot of sleep. My initial plan had been to go there for sunrise, to try to avoid most of the crowds, but with my wife’s sickness we decided to delay. Therefore, after breakfast we headed to Florence Falls. Here there is a viewpoint that givens an overview of the falls.

You can then, if you choose, descend to the floor of the little valley and get close to the falls.

From here, you can then either return up the stairs, or continue along the Shady Creek walk, which loops back to the parking lot. We took this path, and despite the fact that the sun was fairly high in the sky, the shaded areas were sufficiently dark for me to try some long(ish) exposure water shots.

This was a really nice walk, with not too many people on it. There were several small footbridges over the creek as well, allowing for some interesting vantage points without needing to wade into the water.

This was a very enjoyable walk, and like most other spots in Litchfield once you got away from the swimming area it was quite quiet.

We then continued to our other stop in the park, which was the Buley Rockholes. This is a series of plunge pools, in which people can swim. Because we were later than planned, the site was really busy, so we essentially dipped our feet in the cool water for a few minutes and then hit the road.

I enjoyed Litchfield, but it felt a little more crowded than I had hoped for. I think I'd have been more enthusiastic about it if we were campers, and had spent the night camping in the park - once the daytrippers left and the temperature cooled down I imagine it would be quite peaceful.