Mareeba, Mareeba

After a thought about Rolf Harris for yesterday's post, this title might stir some memories of Pat Boone's song "Speedy Gonzales" although the fastest mouse in all Mexico de-emphasised the M.  I should also note, in a musical context, that while NY NY is a town "so good they named it twice" I make no such assertion about Mareeba.

It was a moist morning revealing the large number of spiders along Mather Rd.

We have noticed the buds on this plant for several days.  They have finally opened. The trumpet is about 15cm (6"in old money) diameter.  Following yet more good advice from Alison, it is definitely Solandra sp and I suspect more likely S grandiflora than S maxima.

As we headed off to Mareeba a hay truck appeared in front of us.  There seems to be quite an industry in hay farming around here - I suspect because water from Lake Tinaroo can be used for irrigation through the dry.

This sign on the outskirts of Mareeba is quite romantic in the remote places it names.  The degree of weathering of the lettering causes me to wonder how well (or at least frequently) it is maintained.

Our initial target was Lake Mitchell.  This is an artificial lake built by a private company, presumably with the idea of making it the focus of a residential development.  The water is not used for anything as far as Wikipedia knows!

We got on to the causeway shown as a red dotted line.  According to Lloyd Neilson's very helpful book the land out to the island in the middle of the Lake is privately owned and thus traversable.  The gate was apparently very heavy!

This view is from the end of the causeway looking back towards the Highway.

The most exciting bird seen was Green Pygmy Goose, with a flock of 14 birds seen.  There were few ducks around (but lots of swans and several Magpie Geese) which seems to be the case everywhere - Hasties Swamp!

This flowering bottlebrush (escaping the Callistemon/Melaleuca/Hakea question) was very attractive to Honeyeaters, with a flock of 12 Blue-faced Honeyeaters arriving at one point.

This very small Bean was growing on the causeway.

There were a good number of huge white water lilies scattered across the water.  This caused some initial confusion as to which were lilies and which were possibly interesting birds.

A bit further away from us much of the surface was covered with these much smaller white flowers - possibly Nymphoides indica.

Comb-crested Jacanas were walking around on the lily leaves but not at a photographable distance.

After leaving the Lake we stopped at Big Mitchell Creek to try for White-browed Robin.  I walked along the bed of the Creek: many Double-barred finches but no Robin.

I went to the other side of the Creek.  No Robin.
I played the birds calls.  No response, no Robin!
I jumped in the car and drove away!

We went to Mareeba for a look round.  There was really not a lot to see.  Unlike other towns and villages in the area Mareeba seemed to be totally full of modernish buildings with next to no history.  We acquired a pie and some buns for lunch and went to the Bicentennial Lakes to eat them.  We found a sign to the Lakes, but not one indicating that we had arrived - the red water lilies were a hint

Many feral ducks (Muscovies and Grey Lags), bin chooks (White Ibis) and a Yellow Honeyeater (Bird of the day) but not much else.

We thought about the loop to Granite Gorge and Nardello's Lagoon but the former seemed unlikely to be pet friendly so we passed.  We then headed to Nardello's Lagoon and got to a spot where we could see into it from a distance but not an access route.  So we drove to a nearby distillery and asked: they consulted Google Maps and suggested a route.  Their guinea fowl and banana palms were photographed

 and on we went.  The suggested route was blocked off for banana quarantine!  Into a nursery to ask again.  They knew no route in, so we gave up and headed off, stopping at a fruit stall for some lady finger bananas.  Note Wall of Shame!

We stopped briefly at the Rocky Creek War Memorial Park to marvel at the array of caravans ..

.. and inspect a few of the memorial plates bolted to the big rocks.

On the way from Atherton I went to inspect a possible owl-hunting area, and found where maize was being harvested close to the Curtain Fig Tree.  So after watching the finale of Le Tour took myself out there for sunset.

I was obviously too early for owls, despite waiting for a while.  As I drove back past the Curtain Fig a Long-nosed Bandicoot was digging on the roadside.

• Bird of the day: Yellow Honeyeater.  Green Pygmy goose gets the flock tick.
• Vegetation of the day:  Big yellow flower on Mather road.  Fringed water lily gets the carpet award (plant equivalent of 'flock award').
• Memorable moment:  The rocks at Rocky Creek
• Comment of the day: "I've only been here a year" - an explanation by the very helpful person at the distillery explaining why she didn't know how to get to the lagoon 500m from her place of work!
• Pie of the day:  I tried Brumby's in Mareeba.  They had another batch due in 15 minutes (so a tick for "home made" but the range left were all 'exotica'.  I tried a Beef and Onion and it was OK, if you like beef and onion pies. 6.5/10.
• Troppo moment of the day. Me, wandering up and down Big Mitchell Creek hunting for the Robin!

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