Emerald

Wednesday, 11 January 2011

We left the Mackay Highlands yesterday and pulled up in Emerald in the early afternoon.

Here the weary travellers found a reasonably priced motel room for the night, recently refurbished and very clean. When we turned on the TV (what luxury!) to watch the news, it hit us why there was a fresh lick of paint on the walls, all new furniture and appliances: Emerald, like so many other towns in Queensland, had also been hit by the big floods a year ago.

Listening yet again to the memorable and very emotional speech Anna Bligh (Queensland's Premier) held a year ago to the day brought it all back...

"As we weep for what we have lost, and as we grieve for family and friends and we confront the challenge that is before us, I want us to remember who we are.
We are Queenslanders. We're the people that they breed tough, north of the border."

Today it was hot and sunny in Emerald, 41ºC in the shade, those storm clouds brewing in the distance and the few drops of rain they would bring over night a far cry from the torrential downpours that resulted in the worst flooding in Queensland's history during December 2010 and January 2011.

Boh boh!
Anja

The Plural of Platypus

Apologies, I ran out of credit for the WiFi thingymagic a few days ago in Emerald, hence no internet connectivity for literally thousands of kilometres.

I guess I've got some catching up to do now that we've arrived in Alice Springs in the meantime...

Tuesday, 10 January 2012

Three unforgettable days in a rainforest retreat of our liking just went way too fast...

On Saturday, 7 January 2012 we left Cape Hillsborough.

After completing the usual chores such as grocery shopping and fuelling up, we headed for Eungella National Park.

I wanted to see Platypus (Ornithorhynchus anatinus) – and we'd been told that this national park in the Mackay Highlands was the place to see them.

It was quite an enjoyable drive through Pioneer Valley with its cane fields and small villages followed by a steep climb up the Clarke Range to the little township of Eungella.

The information provided once we were in the national park was somewhat patchy, to put it mildly. We had expected a proper visitor information centre at Broken River, something similar to Bowali in Kakadu National Park.

To start with, there was no room in the Broken River car park (which appears to be the key visitor site) to park our 4WD and trailer.

There's a Platypus viewing platform on one side of the road. In the middle of the day it's unlikely to spot platypus here, dusk and dawn are the best times. A handful of turtles were paddling in the river, poking their heads up in anticipation, obviously used to scoring a feed as a great many people still ignore all signs that prohibit feeding the wildlife.

I would have appreciated at least a little plaque with information on what species of turtle we could see from the platform – nothing!

A kiosk and an eco lodge can be found on the other side of the road – but the visitor information we came across consisted of three information boards in an unstaffed and otherwise bare room next to kiosk, nothing more. A laminated note on the outside door of the adjacent cafe indicated clearly that staff weren't interested in answering questions regarding camping bookings, etc.

After a drive through Crediton State Forest we found Crediton Hall, an old timber building with corrugated iron roof that serves the local tight-knit farming community as a meeting place. Here we could have camped for the night on the grassy area next to the building, toilets and fire place looked inviting enough – but it didn't quite have the feel we were after.

After lunch and some (heated) deliberation we decided to head back down to Finch Hatton, a small township at the base of this magnificent range. After all, a phone call at Platypus Bush Camp several days earlier had revealed that pre-booking a site wasn't necessary, we could just turn up – and it had 'Platypus' in the name. Nomen est omen, we thought – and I was not going to leave the Mackay Highlands without spotting a platypus in the wild!

A few shallow water crossings on the gravel road to Finch Hatton Gorge were no real challenge. Along the way we noticed a couple of local families swimming in the rock pools by the side of Gorge Road, in crystal clear water. Just 2 km short of Finch Hatton Gorge we found the Platypus Bush Camp. Some fellow campers had already set up camp but Wazza asked a very friendly Canadian couple to move their Jucy van so we could nudge our camper trailer into a level niche between a small shed and the creek.

Once the tent was up and the boxes unpacked, we went to explore Wazza's unique rainforest retreat. What a place! The sparkling clear creek safe to swim in (no crocs, stingers or other nasties), bush toilets with monstrous resident Green Tree Frogs, showers with a view, hot water from a wood-fired oven – all nestled into dense rainforest vegetation complete with over 50 species of birds. And the huts...next time I'm going to stay in one of the huts!

The Platypus viewing pool was only a short stroll upstream from where we were camped. No swimming or fishing here, no disturbing the wildlife!

I'm happy to announce that on Saturday, 7 January 2012, the sun had set already and the full moon was on its way up, I spotted my first Platypus in the wild!

Funny little creatures they are: the bill almost as broad and long as the tail, brown fur, big claws on the front feet – and lightning fast in the water.

This little critter, only about 30-40cm long from bill to tail, would pop up after a dive in the deeps of the pool, float on the surface for a few seconds and then, bum up and bill down, disappear again for a few minutes. Truly special!

We shared our platypus-viewing experience with a small number of like-minded travellers. Everybody at Platypus Bush Camp respects its “Land for Wildlife” status and tries to leave as little impact as possible while enjoying the beauty and diversity of the place during their stay.

I would like to make a point of this as only a couple of kilometres further upstream, in Finch Hatton Gorge (also part of Eungella National Park) we would make a totally different experience just a couple of days later.

The proximity to Mackay makes the gorge with its swimming holes and rock pools a popular destination for day trippers – not much different to Buley Rockhole and Florence Falls in Litchfield National Park. These places get totally overrun on long weekends with visitors from Darwin.

So we decided to wait and hike the trail up Finch Hatton Gorge on Monday instead and spend Sunday (8 January 2012) relaxing and swimming in the rockhole at the bush camp instead, followed by more platypus spotting at dusk. By the way, the plural of platypus is 'platypuses' or simply 'platypus'.

There were surprisingly few mosquitoes around, bliss! Wazza reckons the frogs are taking care of mozzie larvae in the very few stagnant pools of water, the creek otherwise flowing too fast for pesky mosquitoes to breed in.

On Monday, 9 January 2012 we raised early to head up Finch Hatton Gorge.

We were the first ones on the well defined trail that leads about 2km up the gorge to the 'Wheel of Fire'. Well, if the information boards were a little more informative I wouldn't have been left guessing as to why you would name a waterfall with something “fire” in it – apparently there's a plant of this name growing around the place.

We also stopped at the 'Araluen Cascades' where testosterone-driven teenagers and young adults jumping and diving off cliffs and trees into the deep pool below, ignoring the warning signs on the rocks not to dive as deaths have occurred here, were totally oblivious to the wildlife we spotted: goannas, spiders, chubby skinks and tree snakes. Yep, that's Flip in snorkelling there, still struggling with his head above the water he's a pro with the snorkel!

The walk would have been nice enough – but the rubbish left behind by the weekends revellers really turned us off! Somebody even left a 25l esky on the walking track, half-filled with empty stubbies. By the time we reached the car park the esky was full with rubbish we'd collected along the walking track. Disgusting!

Back at Platypus Bush Camp Steve separated recyclable empties from general rubbish, cleaned the esky thoroughly and put it to good use immediately. We treated ourselves to more swimming in the rock pool (even Dog, Wazza's canine pet, jumped on one of the tubes to join the fun in the water), listening to the birds and the frogs. Unwinding is so easy at this place.

The explorers vowed to return as the lot of us could have stayed longer – a lot longer!

Boh boh!

Anja

Cape Hillsborough National Park

Thursday, 05 January 2012

Happy New Year!

The three explorers left Bargara on 31 December 2011, stocked up on food and fuel in Bundaberg and headed north on the Bruce Highway.

We took a little detour to check out the Town of 1770 and Agnes Waters, beautiful places – and crowded too. The Workman's Beach camping area which at a different time of year should prove a worthwhile rest stop, showed tell-tale signs of a New Years Eve party (involving several dozens of teenagers and P-platers in various states of sobriety, rubbish strewn around their camping sites, lovely!) in full swing at around lunchtime...
However, we're glad we checked out Round Hill and the beautiful scenery that would have amazed Captain Cook just the same when he anchored here in Bustard Bay in May 1770.

We rolled through Rockhampton in the early afternoon.
You know you're in cattle country when you see a bride and groom exchanging their vows in a small park next to the Bruce Highway, just a stone throw away from the oversized replica of a Brahman bull situated in the centre of a roundabout right on the Bruce Highway. There was another cattle sculpture in the same park (Santa Gertrudis? Romagnola? It was big and brown and in the flesh would have made any breeder proud) and we couldn't help but wonder if it would serve as a backdrop for the official wedding photos.

We passed through Rockhampton and left Yaamba behind as well. A little later it became obvious that we wouldn't make it to Carmila Beach or any other worthwhile rest or camping area until after dark. And to be honest, we didn't really feel like pitching the tent after the late night we'd had at Bargara and the overall distance travelled for the day. So we treated ourselves to a motel room and the luxury of an ensuite bathroom in the small township of Marlborough.

Dinner was noteworthy for the flustered manager of the establishment who'd given most of her staff the night off to celebrate at the local hotel. She was completely out of her depth when guests (the Toms family) unexpectedly checked in and demanded a feed and she apologised profusely about not being familiar with the content of the fridge/ freezer in her kitchen. We enjoyed our meal nonetheless (as otherwise it would have been 2 minute noodles) and retired to our room where two thirds of the party didn't manage to stay awake to great the new year.

The Toms family started into the year 2012 well rested, happy and healthy and arrived in Cape Hillsborough National Park at noon.

It's a beautiful little national park just north of Mackay. We decided to set up camp at Cape Hillsborough Nature Resort, a caravan and camping park on Casuarina Beach – and after checking out the other camping areas of nearby Seaforth, Haliday and Ball Bay I must say it was a good decision.

We parked our camper trailer in an unpowered site right behind the dunes, taking delight in the scent of flowering hibiscus and native gardenias that builds up to a powerful perfume while the sea is calm and the breeze is only light. Coconut palms line the grey sandy beach that glistens and sparkles with the finest shards of mother of pearl.

The hills around us are densely vegetated with Hoop Pine (Araucaria Cunninghamii), Elegant Palms (should have written it down), different species of figs, eucalypts grass trees and ferns of various shapes and sizes. Over 150 different species of birds frequent the area and I'm happy to announce my first sighting of an Olive-backed Sunbird! Beautiful little thing, wish it would have stayed a bit longer!

Laughing Kookaburras, Brush Turkeys and Orange-footed Scrub fowl are among our early morning visitors while the possums make themselves at home throughout our camp at night (and even use the roof of our canvas tent as a playground for their joeys). The nocturnal wildlife with their light sensitive eyes come out of their hollows and down the trees after dark. I would hate to harass possums and other critters with the strong flashlight of my camera, temporarily blinding them, hence there are no photos of these furry natives.

Occasionally a young female Eastern Grey Kangaroo calls in as well, after an early morning hop on the beach. Yep, the wallabies and kangaroos in this part of the woods are beach goers!

And why wouldn't they...

  

 

Since it is such a relaxing and picturesque place, we decided pretty early on to extend by two nights.

Yesterday we tackled the Andrews Point Trail in the morning to avoid the heat of the day. The walking track ascends on the southern side of Casuarina Beach in the shade of dense rainforest vegetation. We could hear a great many chubby skinks rustling in the leaves. After not even 20 minutes we had reached the first viewing platform, Twin Beach lookout. Below us Casuarina Beach and Wedge Island, stunning views!

We continued on the track and stopped at Turtle Lookout and Andrews Point next. By the time we reached Wedge Island Lookout the tide was on the way out so we could return to our camp taking the shortcut along the beach. I walked across to Wedge Island as the causeway was no longer submerged, a few anglers were heading over to the rocks as well.

This morning we took the narrow 4WD track that starts behind the resort's reception building and leads to the Yuibera Plant Trail, an Aboriginal plant use walk on the southern side of the hill. It was rather interesting to compare the native vegetation with related plant species and their uses we know from Kakadu and the Top End. Anyway, I'm still not too keen on the Rotten Cheese Fruit (Morinda citrifolia) which is said to be a great cure for colds.

Another couple of walks to tackle yet, there's a mangrove board walk as well as a walk along the beach to Beachcombers Cove at low tide. Steve is still keen to go fishing on the beach. And since all vegetation is protected and he can't just cut one of these straight-growing Beach Hibiscus saplings to make a fishing spear, he will have to use rod, reel and prawns for bait.

We may yet have to extend our stay at Cape Hillsborough for another day or so before we can embark on our next adventure in the Mackay Highlands – there's still so much to explore here!

Boh boh!

Anja

The Loggerhead Turtles of Mon Repos

Friday, 30 December 2011

Late start to the day, we were in no hurry today as we knew we would be staying up very late.

There were a few things to do around the camp: washing, mending equipment, general tidying up to allow for a hassle-free departure the following morning.

After a late lunch and an afternoon nap we headed over to Mon Repos just after 18:00 (6:00PM).

Lots of people were already queuing, lots more were still arriving as we were taking in the atmosphere and a cup of coffee from Robby's “Vantastic Food” outlet outside the Mon Repos Information Centre.

Eventually the gate was opened and visitors were welcomed into the centre after checking their respective booking details. Tonight's turtle encounter was fully booked. When we were handed our numbered stickers we found out that we were in group 4 – it would be a long night for us as group 1 was to be led onto the beach first and turtles weren't expected to emerge from the sea before 21:00 (9:00PM).

In the amphitheatre outside we watched an introductory film on turtle research and conservation at Mon Repos. 95% of the female turtles that come on the beach over night for breeding are Loggerhead Turtles (Caretta caretta), an endangered species. If we were going to see a turtle tonight, it would be a loggerhead.

Shortly after 21:00 (9:00PM) the first group was called to assemble at one of the boardwalks that lead onto the beach, the first turtle had emerged!

A little while later Flip had the opportunity to join Mon Repos' junior ranger program.Flip and the other children got an insight into turtle research and filled in a data collection sheet after carefully examining the fibreglass model of an egg-laying loggerhead.

Outside we listened to another talk on the characteristics of Loggerhead Turtles, particularly their breeding pattern and quite extraordinary life cycle, all preparing us for the real life encounter.

Then it started to rain. In between showers Shane, the QPWS ranger in charge of the night, was receiving radio calls from turtle-spotting staff based on the beach, researchers and volunteers. He would then go on to assemble groups and send them onto their way into the night.

Eventually, at 23:15 (11:15PM) it was our turn.

Group 4 met at the gate to the northern boardwalk. Instructed not to turn on any lights we shimmied down the sloped boardwalk, slippery with rain and sand, onto the beach in complete darkness. The moon had set already, the stars were obscured by clouds.

Once on the beach we waited for a few minutes only to be told by our guide Shane that we had to return to the information centre.

The turtle our group had been assigned to had changed her mind and gone back in the water.

But a short time later we made our way down the wooden planks again and we were led to a site a few hundred metres north. We could see a few lights up there as we were walking through the sand, the rain becoming stronger once again.

The turtle had already completed laying her eggs when we arrived at her nesting site.

Bummer...we thought...

But there were a couple of reasons why the rangers hadn't called us in earlier, why they didn't want too many people around this turtle too early in the night.

This particular female Loggerhead Turtle had been on the beach the previous night. But something had spooked her and she'd decided to do a U-turn and swam out into the dark again.
So when she emerged again tonight, they wanted to make sure everything went to plan.

Loggerheads dig their nests above the high water mark, up in the dunes where the sand is soft and doesn't get inundated in the event of a storm surge.

They usually clear any grass and debris from their chosen site and dig a body pit before they proceed with the digging of the egg chamber, up to 60cm deep, by use of their rear flippers – the hard yakka.

Our turtle (who is easily identified by the tag number on her flippers) is known to have a “glitch” in her nesting sequence, this complex set of instinctive behaviour embedded in a turtle's DNA.

She digs the body pit – but then she skips the crucial part of of digging the deeper egg chamber!

In order to improve the survival rate of her offspring Barry and a couple of other volunteers had helped her out by digging the hole for her, right under her stubby little tail, so her eggs would drop into the safety of a sufficiently deep egg chamber. She had already started to fill in the hole again when we appeared on the scene.

This is the time of night when photos of nesting turtles can be taken without causing too much of a disturbance.

Our guide, very knowledgeable and truly passionate, provided us with information on this turtle lady.

She was tagged when she first emerged from the South Pacific in the year 2002. After her “lost years”, the 30-35 years between hatching and reaching sexual maturity, she'd found the beach with help of her inbuilt GPS that recognises the Earth's magnetic fields. Since then she has returned to the scene every second year.

Tonight she actually laid her second clutch of eggs for the season, over 100. And she may even return in a couple of weeks for a third clutch.

About 8 weeks from now this clutch will hatch, baby turtles will work their way through the sand – and in the cover of night they will make a mad dash for the water.

Some of the hatchlings will have their DNA samples taken to determine how many different male turtles contributed their sperm to the hatchlings of this clutch.

After obscuring the nest, she started to make her way back to the water. For a moment she wandered in the wrong direction but after we'd all turned off our lights and cameras, she found her way back down to the waves, guided by only Shane's torch light. And then she was gone, swallowed up by the sea.

We didn't encounter any other turtles on our way back to the information centre. We were soaked with rain. We had an unforgettable night.

Boh boh!
Anja

Bundaberg and Bargara

Monday, 26 December 2011

Boxing Bay

A quiet and relaxing Christmas was spent with the family in Burrum Heads. The Christmas ham eaten, all wrapping paper disposed of, condiments boxes packed again, the Toms family waved goodbye to the rellies and hit the road once again.

Our destination today was Bargara. We had booked a camp site for 3 nights at the local caravan park a few days earlier when Steve and I had travelled to Bundaberg for a look-see.

Our reconnaissance trip back then had revealed that “Turtle Sands”, a caravan park right next to the Mon Repos turtle rookery where Steve and Flip had spent a few nights on a previous trip no longer accommodates overnight campers.

Bargara Beach Caravan Park it was instead, a busy place this time of the year, packed with caravans, camper trailers and motorhomes. We checked in early enough to find a shady spot in the back of the unpowered camp site area, sandy ground, a bit of gras, dense bushland right behind the boundary fence. The first thing we noticed were the birds: Kookaburras (the laughing kind), Grey Butcherbirds, Rainbow Lorikeets, Scaly-breasted Lorikeets, Magpies, Koels, Noisy Miners – hundreds of them, going off!

A family of Noisy Miners came into our camp a bit earlier for a quick bath in the dirt. After flapping their wings and making quite a racket for a while, all of a sudden they dropped flat on their bellies, wings spread wide and “played dead”. Motionless these birds were lying flat in the dirt, staring at me and my ham and cheese sandwich. I reckon these dirt baths followed by a good dose of sunlight might help them fend off blood sucking parasites – but I'll have to do some research to find out what this behaviour really is about.
Helpful comments on this would be much appreciated!

A strong wind warning had been out for the last few days, ex-tropical cyclone 'Fina' brought rain and big swells to most parts of the East Coast.
But when we walked down to the beach in the afternoon the conditions weren't too bad at all.

The crocodile-fearing members of this expedition felt surprisingly at ease as the water was shallow and the beach patrolled by at least half a dozen surf lifesavers. Flip had lots of fun with his boogie board once he'd worked out how to ride the waves all the way in.

Tuesday, 27 December 2011

Apart from a few mozzies after dark the night was very pleasant.
After the birds had been provoding plenty of day time drama, night time entertainment continued with XL-sized possums and lots of hissing and snarling from and unknown source somewhere in the bushes out the back.

The sun was fairly high up already when the members of the expedition decided to stir.

The billy was boilt and first cuppa was enjoyed at around 7:00AM while enjoying the pleasant morning, observing the hustle and bustle of the bush. Two Frilled-neck Lizzards were having a little tiff just a few metres away. After the bigger of the two had run off and up the next tree, the smaller one continued to squabble with a cheeky Butcherbird that picked a branch too close for comfort.

A bit later we drove into Bundaberg for some shopping. Here we walked straight into the street parade of the 66th Australian Jazz Convention. Sorry, neither the banjo-playing jazz enthusiasts nor the umbrella-twirling ladies following the musicians on their parade up and down Bourbong St were really our cup of tea.

Later we checked out the turtle rookery information centre at Mon Repos. No staff were present but we found out where to book for the ranger-guided turtle observation. As all tours were already fully booked until Friday we decided to extend our stay for another two days.

Can't come all this way and then miss out on the loggerheads! The rangers cannot give us a guarantee that any Loggerhead Turtles (Caretta caretta, the species currently nesting) will actually make an appearance on the night – but I'm sure it will be an awesome experience anyway.

Boh boh!
Anja