Ferry cross the Daintree

I thought a reference to the Gerry and the Pacemakers tune about a somewhat different river would be a good title as we took said ferry twice in the last 2 days.  (I will note that the guys I worked with in the UK in the 60s referred to the Merseybeat runners up as Gerry and the Pisstakers, them being seen as a joke compared to the Fab Four.)

One of the features of driving around Queensland at the moment is the series of road safety ads against texting (and presumably playing Pokemon Go) while driving.  The background shot is the radiator of a large truck.  One set of words are "Hi Mum" while another are "C U soo ...."  I shall try to get an image.

As we headed North the weather became a tad average.  As directed we swung into a scenic lookout and snapped the view.

Several kilometres later, after cursing the lack of signs in Mossman we got to the queue for the ferry.  Here is the line-up in front of us  ...

.. and here a view of the line behind.

By the time we'd moved forward the queue was well out of sight.

It took us 30 minutes to get on the ferry and my guess is that some would have waited an hour.  The friend we were visiting opined that people would be far better off going on a commercial tour as they'd skip this queue and they might learn something.

Here is the cockpit of the ferry: the pilot was trying to persuade the dweet in the red car to move up so as to fit more cars on!

We got to Rainforest Village (in the rain).  The place was large but everywhere was very soggy.  We chose this site as it was a drive through, although I had to engage 4WD to do so.

We then went to our friends place a bit back towards the River.  It was fabulous!!  When purchased ~26 years ago it was a cow paddock covered with grass.  The rain forest has regenerated, assisted by some plantings by our friends so it looks like this.

I have always wanted to see Cairns Birdwing butterflies (the males are huge bright green beasts) and they were constantly here , but not photographable,  See memorable moment below.  Where plants are named below this is almost entirely due to Roger Farrow: many thanks Roger.

Here is one of the plants in the garden: it is a ginger.

We then went off to a mangrove boardwalk.  On the way we passed a lot of Cassowary habitat.  This sign is a bit controversial.  The handwriting on the lower panel says "Chill out not flat out".

The speed bumps are a tad vicious (which is fair enough - see above.)

I cannot remember the name of this tree, but it is another in which the flowers come out of the stem. Roger advises Ryparosa kurangii

Here is a Ribbonwood (Idiospermum australiense) fruit which has germinated in a clearing left by a fallen tree.

This is a Strangler fig in which the host has died and fallen.  This is the same process which has given rise to the Curtain Fig at Yungaburra but in this case the aerial roots have not (yet??) formed.

Spikes-R-Us?  The common name is Vicious Hairy Mary which I am sure I will remember longer than Calamus radicalis!

This is a Pandanus fruit, but P. monticola not the common one!

A little further along the track was a ripe one.

Fan palms (Licuala ramsayi) gave a little shelter from the sprinkles.

This is the fruit of a Cannonball Mangrove (Xylocarpus granatum), family Meliaceae.  We found some components of these fruit on the beach later.

I have fiddled with this image to include an enlargement of the seed of a Looking-glass Mangrove Heritiera littoralis family Sterculiaceae.  It also shows the buttress root of the adult tree.  Roger commented that "Mangroves"is an unusual grouping which includes representatives from many families which have in common only the lifestyle!

 

An ant plant Myrmecodia beccarii.

In a recent post about our trip to the Pilliga I included an image of emu crap.  Cassowaries are much more colourful!

When we got to Cow Bay the beach was lovely and the sky blue.  The latter didn't last long and having left the brollies in the car we were soon well wet, especially Tammy who got stuck in a deep pool, having tangled her lead around a rock.  She kept swimming!

Here are some very pleasant patterns in the metamorphic rocks at the beach.

The rain continued to piss down all night, and I was awake for most of it due to the 4 air conditioning units running in the service station.  Avoid this place unless it is dry enough to get far away from the station.  It was so wet that:

• When trying to pull the draw-bar across to link on to the Pajero I lost my footing and the cleanliness of my jeans. 

• and had to engage 4WD low range with diff lock to get the camper out.

Whatever we got out by about 7:15 and off to the ferry (again).  Not so busy at this time.

Still raining as we crossed the river (that is probably pretty much like the Mersey)!

We called in to Abattoir Swamp where the vegetation was pretty rank and no open water was visible,  The boardwalk and hide were top notch however.

We continued on through Julatten and turned on to the Cooktown Rd heading, in the rain towards Bustard Downs on the East Mary Road.  Yep: they had Bustards - after Frances first spotted some we got the count up to 10 quite briskly.  Here is one ..

.. and 2 more.

Some nearby Acacias  ...

.. and Melaleucas were flowering well with lots of birds  but the rain caught up to us and we fled.

We took a snap of this old ruin in Mount Molloy.

I'll finish with a couple of interesting animals.  This was named as the Golden-bummed Ant which appears to be Polyrachis sp.

And here is a small - nearly transparent - Gecko.

• Bird of the day: Yesterday 19/7 was going to be Mangrove Gerygone, but that has been withdrawn due to being a stringy record,Magpie goose gets a nod as individual and flock on that day.  Bustard is a clear winner in both categories today.
• Vegetation of the day:  The regenerating rainforest on our friends place for the 19th and the forest overhanging the road up from Mossman to Julatten for the 20th
• Memorable moment:  For the 19th seeing a male Cairns Birdwing harassing a male Ulysses Butterfly.  For the 20th the way the camper popped out when given low range 4wd and a fair serve of wellie!!!!
• Comment of the day: "Its a bit boggy near the fence" - comment by the owner of the van park on the 19th.  "Can you take your foot of the brake - its right in my eyes"  Driver behind me in the queue for the ferry in the 20th.
• Pie of the day: On the 20th "Stewarts Pies" from a van at the Marreba Info Centre.  A quite tasty Pepper pie with all good stuff, but a bit dry, as though made a few hours ago.  7/10
• Troppo moment of the day.  Leaving 2 spray jackets and 2 umbrellas in the car while we got soaked on Cow Beach.  Trying to find somewhere to park with a camper in Mareeba!

Back to Index page

Off we go!

So we packed the camper and the Pajero and off we went at 0840 on 2 June.  You may recall on our trip last year it was snowing as we left.  Not so this time, but it was -3^oC and the side window on El Camion was well frosted.

As we headed up the Lachlan Valley towards Cowra there was lotsa water in the paddocks and the hills were very green.

 I like this snap with the mirror.  Yes, Frances took both of these.

 There was lotsa roadworks as well.  This bunch had totally unnecessarily closed our road, some where near Molong.

We took a comfort stop in Wellington where the nice park  had the biggest range of prohibitions I can remember seeing.

 They also had an interesting swing bridge over the Bell River.

 The stop in Wellington took about 30 minutes.  Which was good as I reckon we missed this by about 30 minutes.

The first lot of debris was up past the police car and there were people trapped in the wreck so the road was closed.  As there was nothing about this in the Dubbo Daily Liberal the next day I assume that there were no fatalities.) After I got advice from the folk on the LHS (whose car seems to have been hit by the rolling wreck) we headed back towards Dubbo and cut around - through quite a few flooded causeways - to Eumungerie, where we scored a War Memorial.

The memorial included this reference to the Cooee March ..

 .. and the cut out figures on the windmill walk at Gilgandra also reference the March.

 Here is a windmill!

 This is an innovative arrangement on a car towing a van.  I presume the textile stops crap getting on the van.

 Here is our first camp.  The site at Gilgandra seems excellent.

• Bird of the Day:  Spiny-cheeked Honeyeater.  Pied Butcherbird was a contender, as were the 7 Black Kites soaring over Gigandra.  The flock of the day was about 400 Galahs coming in to roost in Gilgandra.
• Vegetation of the day: Flowering eucalypts along the Windmill walk.
• Memorable moment:  The car wreck.
• Comment of the day: a reference to Tammy as a man-eater.

Back to index page

The Road to Robe episode 2

We did a short walk in Maiden Gully before departing.  Apart from seeing all the kids walking or being driven to school the most interesting bit was the design of the lamp posts.

The whole area is quite new - 20 years old maximum.  At least the houses were mainly a fair fit to the blocks, not McMansions on a postage stamp.  It was also quite warm: by the time we drove off (9am) it was about 27^oC.

We rumpled down the Calder Highway for a few kms and then diverted on to the Wimmera Highway  which led us to St Arnaud.  This was quite a large town of which we had never heard!

As always trying to drive EW across Victoria there was quite a bit of dodging and weaving (it seems that if you don't want to go to Melbourne you are not quite "right").  One of the places we zigged (or possibly zagged) was Murtoa - never heard of that either.  They had a large lake (Marma) as the centre piece with a war memorial gate leading to it.

There was also rotunda, decorated with plaques for Queen Victoria and King George the 5th and more surprisingly, Earl Kitchener.

The y also had a very tall water tower, which seemed to be inhabited by a good number of ...

.. Long-billed Corellas ....

... some of whom seemed to prefer nearby trees.

After leaving this town (and passing through Horsham - of which we had heard - where the temperature was 38^oC) a lump appeared of the horizon.  As we got closer it appeared to be a line of cliffs.

It was soon confirmed that this was Mt Arapiles the most famous climbing site in Australia.  I was a bit surprised about this as I thought it was in the Grampians which are about 80kms in a straight line East.  Noticeable in the roadside vegetation were some colourful Callistemons.

After about an hour we crossed into SA and got a poorish pie in Naracoorte where the thermometer was still ticking in at 37^oC.  Leaving on the Road to Robe (where were Crosby and Hope, not to mention Dorothy Lamour?) a lot of Xanthorrhea sp were noticeable.  Some were the standard vertical form but others were bent.

The temperature dropped rapidly as we headed West getting to about 25^oC.
At the coast Melaleuca sp. was quite prominent.

We set up at the caravan park - in a very quiet part surrounded by bush - we went to have a look round the town.   Here is the sea front.

This turns out to be a Memorial to Flinders and Baudin who both explored the area.

At the rear, these steps are a memorial to the ships (and crew) wrecked along this coast in the 19^th Century.  I think there are 44 plaques!

This more modern memorial is to Robe fishermen who have died - 20 of them, including a coup[le drowned in a Cyclone off the Kimberly.

After sorting a few issues with power supply - this part of the camp is still under development - a peaceful evening enued.

Bird of the Day:  Musk Lorikeet.  The other contenders were Peregrine Falcon and Pied Cormorant.
Plant of the day:  Xanthorrhea just outside Naracoorte
Creek name of the day Mosquito Creek Watercourse: the least tourist attracting name of which we could think.
Oddity of the day:  Piles of red rocks in paddocks a few kilometres into the drive.
Striking thing of the day:  Mt Arapiles.  It dominates the landscape for miles and I have read about it in rock-climbing articles for years.
Pie rating:  Morris Bakery in Naracoorte, steak and pepper:  Ordinary.  Verydry (burnt?) crust, lotsa meat, little gravy and somewhat bland..