Last day at Dutton

In my main blog I often put up photos of dawn from Mallacoota.  On the 19th there was a more subdued, but still very good looking sunrise over Dutton Bay.

 On the dog walk I finally got some colourful Samphire in focus.

 A Pacific Gull in an archetypal pose.

In yesterdays's post I included a photo of some plastic owls, intended to keep birds off a pontoon.  It is possible that this image of Dutton Bay Jetty illustrates what they are trying to avoid.

 I suspect this boat is getting a similar treatment.

 A local was engaged in squid catching, and appeared to be quite successful.

 A colourful squid!  (I usually see them coated in batter so don't know what is a typical colour.)

 In yesterday's post I omitted the roof of the woolshed.  Its actually pretty good as rooves go!  It was originally built in 1870 and held up to 100,000 fleeces from the run which went from Dutton Bay to North of Elliston (~140 km by road).

 Dew drops (or raindrops, your call) on the Allocasuarina.

I suggested on Facebook this might mark where the Saints aspirations for 2018 were interred.  My expert adviser on matters to do with Moorabbin reckons the aspirations are much lower than high water mark!

Getting back to the house and Tammy displayed her usual level of fear of one of the local mutts who came for a visit.

 Our main expedition for the day was to visit some parts of Port Lincoln.  We began by a side trip to Blue Fin Rd, which looked down on the bays of Port Lincoln

The catalyst for visiting this area was to investigate - for some folk interested in weather - a hill in Kathai Conservation area.  Unfortunately the obvious access route is controlled by SA Water who have posted notices with harsh words and dire threats on the locked gate.  As the rest of the area seems almost impenetrable scrub we had to be content with this image.

We had been intending to be in this part of Port Lincoln anyway to do a walk to Murrays Point where we had seen some orchids previously and had read good comments about the birds.  It was a very pleasant walk with a slew of White-faced Herons and Oystercatchers and then this nice aggregation of waterbirds at the Point.

 Looking closely at the two shags on a rock and the one on the right, with yellow facial skin and a pale bill, is a Pied Cormorant while the leftie with black face and bill is a Black-faced Cormorant.  Very obliging of them to pose in such an easy-to-compare way.

 After a bit more walking along the Bay we cut back inland along this track.

 Frances then spotted a yellow bird.  A Western Yellow Robin!  Note the grey breast (and also reflect on the nearest Eastern Yellow being about 350km away near the Coorong).  My first lifer for 2018.

On the way home home we briefly explored the Coast of Kedillie Bay, opposite the town of Coffin Bay.  Quite pleasant but we were getting weary on it.  The best bird was this (again obliging) Brown Falcon.

 Each tiom we had driven in and out of Dutton Bay we'd noticed signs to the Pig Farm.  By chance we went past it on this outing.  The pigs looked very happy trotting around their limestone coated paddock.

The late afternoon was spent packing as far as we could, followed by watching the harry-Meghan festivities on the TV.  Yes I know, but it was interesting to see a big production number done very well.

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Coffin' at the cost of Oysters!

We began the day with a walk to the Dutton Bay woolshed.  A resident was gathering the roo poo from his lawn so visitors didn't track it into his house, and he invited us to walk through the revegetation area on the low dune.  This avoided some boggy bits (in one of which Frances lost, but regained,  her shoe last time we did this).

No dead dogs were found on this walk.  This Kelpie spotted Tammy and just laid down in front of her.  After being thoroughly sniffed she got up and followed us around.

This shows (most of - the roof doesn't matter) the Dutton Bay Woolshed which is being restored as part of a tourist attraction.  It doesn't look any different to when we were last here, 6 years ago.  The adjacent campground was getting a bit of action from caravans so I presume the owners of the areaare doing OK.

As we strolled on the jetty the large dog accompanied us.  This stroll gave us good views of a stingray swimming under the jetty.

We went back traversing an area where the seaweed had washed up.    I liked the three colours!

After a bit more to eat we headed to Coffin Bay to do parts of the Oyster Walk along the foreshore.  We did the red bit (probably 3km return) before lunch and the yellow bit (2.5km) after.

It was showering as we went out on the morning walk so I didn't take a photo of the bunch of people sat under this shelter eating oysters.  The deal is to wade out to the platform and capture oysters - presumably getting trained in shucking - and munch.

I presume the plastic owls are there to dissuade gulls and cormorants from crapping on the deck.

The walk is very good.  Near the start point it goes very close to people's houses (I would be interested to see how close the houses were built to the boundary of the block) which could be very strange in Summer when the houses are fully occupied.  A bit further on some nice mosaics of the usual suspects - starfish etc - had been set into the path,

I was rather surprised to see a Sacred Kingfisher still present.  As we saw one on the afternoon walk, about 3km from here so I think they were different, birds they must overwinter rather than heading North,

A flower!  Hakea cycloptera.

This was an attempt to get the Hakea flower and a 'nut' in the same image.  At least the mulch on the ground is in focus!

We had to turn at the edge of town as the bush area there is owned by the Department of the Environment  so dogs are banned.  It is surprising how Council Parks are generally so much more sensible that the ideologically driven State Government gulags.

One of the new McMansions adjacent to the walk.  Very architectural with a galvo kangaroo to the left of the deck.

A view across the bay.

Closer my Pelicans to thee,   I guess they are aso dissuaded from the oyster munching area by the owls!

This is the scene outside the cafe from which we got some excellent crumbed whiting for lunch.

I suspect the waders are those provided for the oyster munchers.  I am not sure how much they charged for the full oyster munching 'experience' (cough, splutter - I do apologise for that use of the word) but they were like unto a wild bull for the shucked items in the shop.   $17.50 per dozen for opened oysters is about $7.50 more than is charged in Canberra .  So they were left in the fridge.

The second stroll passed a good number of Quandong (Santalum acuminatum) bushes with very unripe fruit.  As well as anything else, there were a number of very informative signs along the walk.

A view down the bay towards the sea

A clip of some of the closer dunes.

These monsters are, as measured on Google Earth, 10km away, which I think explains the hazy quality of the image,

At the close of the walk a Singing Honeyeater appeared!

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Not looking back yet

I will start with a quiz:  if males = Guns what are females?  Answer at the end of this post.  (alternatives welcomed in the comments section!)

Frances asked if I had put a photo of the cottage on the blog yet.  I have now.

 After checking the car Ratsak situation (some eaten in the front - good that should fix it) we went for our final stroll on MatherRd.  The weather wasn't good, after raining most of the night.

 But it wasn't as bad as we found two hours later as we headed towards Millaa Millaa.  An unpleasant drive in showers on a hilly, twisty road.

Once we got to the bottom of the escarpment the weather improved.  It was cane country, what could be referred to as MMSBC  (miles and miles of sugar bloody cane). Trains were very evident.

 So was smoke or steam from the mills in every town.

 This was the closest we came to seeing a Cassowary.

 As we proceeded along we came to the Hinchinbrook lookout it was very impressive.

At Ingham I went for a look at the Tyto Wetlands  They were excellent and delivered Wandering Whistling Ducks (Bird of the Day) and

 .... Comb-crested Jacana.

They were also graced by an Italian Festival; with the worst Italian ballads since the crap our teacher offered us in language school in Sienna.  Ingham has the wetlands as a big plus and the festival and the fish and chip shop (see comments under pies) as BIG minuses.

On down the road towards Townsville.  We spent quite a bit of time close to Townsville due to the worst bunch of road (non) works we've come across so far on the trip.  These rocks on the way out of town were the highlight.

As we got close to Alva Beach Frances noticed a flock of about 20 Black Kites on some recently cut cane fields.  Of course by the time I'd stoppedthere was only one  left on the ground.

 A few kms later she spotted a group of Bustards.   Well done that Woman: well done those birds for hanging around while I did a uie and got back to them.

 On the beach at Alva kites were being surfed.  Note the one in the background out in the ocean.

Here is the estuary.

 Our first coconut palm with nuts.

 A Little Egret gave some ID issues but were resolved by deciding it was a juvenile.

 This dog gave Tammy a look but stuck with the quad.  See also comment of the day.

• Bird of the day: Wandering Whistling Ducks at Tyto Wetlands.  The flock was contested between the Black kites on the ground at Alva and the Crimson Finches at Tyto.  Size matters so the Kites win.
• Vegetation of the day:   Coconut tree at Alva Beach
• Memorable moment: Frances spottingthe Bustards wins, but the Hinchinbrook Lookout gets a walk on the carpet.
• Comment of the day: "He wouldn't hurt her." by the owners of a dog that charged Tammy with gums bared.  When bioth held and introduced he snarled again: I think they were optimistic.
• Pie of the day:.  No pie, but Frances suggested fish and chips at Ingham.  There about 10 folk in the shop and one staffer debating each bit of fish.  At least a 30 minute wait.  Pass. 0/10.
• Troppo moment of the day. The dog on a quad

Answer to Quiz: Roses, of course.
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