A reason for not swimming

Another quietish day.  But it was 10^oC warmer than Carwoola!

I went for a quick stroll down the start of Mather Rd early this morning and was rewarded with a beautiful Grey Goshawk perched in a Hoop Pine.  I tend to think they are about the prettiest of Australian raptors.

After regrouping the three of us when for a walk to North Yungaburra.  On getting to the end of the houses in Mulgrave St we went for a look in a garden area.  This is Williams Park and has some very good garden beds.

It also has a lot of birds at times although today was not one of those times (other than yet another pair of Bush Stone Curlews).

We swerved on to the Casuarina Track and on getting to the end of that proceeded to the cemetery.  This is an interesting mix of old and new.  The oldest headstone (1883) was just inside the gate and had been relocated from Tinaroo Dam (damn - sic - I have been mis-spelling that in the matter of 'n') by the Historical Society.

This headstone is interesting because

• it is that of Maud Kehoe, after whom a park in the centre of town is named; and
• the relative dates of death of Maud (1971) and her husband John (1933) show a pattern common to a number of the graves.  I shall have to find out more about this couple.

 I was initially amused by the formality of Mr Williams titles in contrast to the inscription  "resting with Syd".  On Googling Sir Syd I found this Toyota Press Release informative.  A very busy bloke and well worthy of his awards.

On the way back a grasshopper landed on the road.  I realised this was the first 'hopper I'd seen up here.

 We got a view across to the new part of Yungaburra - for some reason I was reminded of the song "Little Boxes".

Frances and I then went for a walk to Lake Eacham.  This image is not about (1) the young ladies sunning themselves on the pontoon.  However the contrast between (2) other young folk swimming in the Lake and (3) the notice about the crocodile is a worry.

 This was the best collection of fungi.

The vegetation was quite interesting with this fig tree appearing to combine the attributes of the Curtain and Cathedral trees,

 Birds were, as usual with rainforest, very hard to spot.  I eventually saw 2 Yellow-throated Scrubwrens which were bird of the day.

Back on Mather Road I was able to snap this attractive flower before my small four-legged companion spat the dummy and we returned home.

• Bird of the day: Yellow-throated Scrubwren gets the individual award.  9 Great Crested Grebes at Lake Eacham get  the flock award.
• Vegetation of the day:  Gardens in Williams Park
• Memorable moment:  Today wasn't that memorable.
• Comment of the day: ibid
• Pie of the day: No submissions.  I must try harder to find a specimen.
• Troppo moment of the day. A nice looking lady pushing a wheelbarrow full of collapsed cardboard boxes down Elm St.  I don't think they'll help much if Mr Krueger turns up!

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Another day in Paradise

Heh, heh, heh!  It's a bit warmer in Yungaburra than the ACT!

After  relatively quiet night from the wildlife we awoke and went for a walk.  I had exchanged emails with Alan Gillanders, from Alans Wildlife Tours, who lives here, on the roosts of Bush Stone Curlews in Yungaburra.  He provided the good oil.

The first site he suggested was at the end of 'our' street.  Here were a couple spotted as we set off on our dog walk.

 About 1km further towards the Avenue of Honour we found these 3 imitating garden ornaments!

 A little later I revisited Elm Street to get this more focussed image.

 Alan also suggested a fig tree in Mather Street could produce some interest.  It was blowing a gale, which made things difficult but this small green blob resolved to a Double-eyed Fig-Parrot.  Lifer!!  One of my target species for the trip.

 Meanwhile back at our place a MacLeay's Honeyeater turned up.

 As did the usual horde of Olive-backed Sunbirds.

 Much later in the day I revisited the hide at Hasties Swamp.  The Geese and Ducks were in similar numbers to Monday but seemed a bit more mixed together.

 Frances had stayed outside the National (Socialist) Park boundary and when I rejoined her, commented on the two large raptors she had been watching.  She nailed the key ID point of white rump, making them Swamp Harriers, and they continued to stack on a real turn of display flying.  Absolute magic.

Getting back to botany, this lichen was interesting in the market park.

 As was this huge case moth shell.  It's at least 12.5cm long.

 A very modern War Memorial on the way out of town ...

 .. towards the Afghanistan Avenue of Honour.

 I had thought this was somewhere in the village and it was quite a step to get there - about 3.5km at a guess.However it was a very interesting walk with lots of other birds to look at en route.  It ends up on a Southern branch of Lake Tinnaroo and will be visited again.

In the afternoon we went through Atherton to the rail trail which was quite a pleasant walk - that means flat - apart from a gale!  We found a couple of interesting birds (Plum-headed Finch and Scaly-breasted Lorikeet) and some pretty flowers.

This is an Umbrella Tree, which seems to be Schefflera sp. but according to Wikipedia has had "a turbulent taxonomic history".

 I did see, but couldn't photographa male Ulysses on that walk but back at home this Bordered Rustic was very obliging

• Bird of the Day: A very tough call, but the Fig-Parrot was a lifer and also very pretty so beats out Macleay's Honeyeatyer and Spectacled Monarch.  6 Hornbill Friarbirds take a flock walk - 200 Little Black Cormorants had the numbers, but that is business as usual.
• Vegetation of the day:  The fig tree in which the Fig-Parrot was feeding.
• Memorable moment: 
• Comment of the day: "Lola, don't terrify the little dog."  A considerate, but totally misguided, owner of a cattle dog about to exchange greetings with Tammy.  I explained that Tammy didn't do "terrified". 
• Pie of the day: No sample.
• Troppo moment of the day.  Grass mowing.  I expect this has to be done continually in this climate or else mowing needs a chain saw!

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Day 3: to Eyre Peninsula

This is going to be a long days drive.  930km so we  will need to be on the road early to ensure we get to Dutton Bay before dark. 

I'll start with a large (and in my experience unusual)  brickbat to Google maps.  On asking for a route from Wentworth to Dutton Bay West I got this map.

If you click on it your attention will be drawn to a bolded statement about  766km,  I didn't look at the rather strange line on the map at first blush.  Then I looked at the line and thought I'd better either:

• fit a propeller to the Subaru; or
• force the route through Port Augusta.

Since I had already got the car serviced I decided option 2 was the go.  Here is the result

It turns out the short route includes a 70km ferry trip.   On checking the Ferry website it emerges they charge $210 but more importantly only leave at 9am which means that to get there from Wentworth we'd have to leave about 2am.  I don't know how long to allow for hosing the many dead roos off the roo-bar on the front of the car!  That is so obviously stupid direction provision that the 4kg steaming item goes to Google!

The day began a tad early as I was awoken about 2am by a lustful Southern Boobook.  For overseas readers, this is an owl which calls repeatedly in the breeding season.  (This got my Wentworth bird list up to 39 species.)  I didn't feel inclined to hit the road and fortunately  got back to sleep until about 5:30 when we both got up, showered, packed, and were on the way at 6:40.  This was well before dawn, let alone sunrise.  However, we had 950km to cover and the end needed to be done in daylight – tricky rural roads from the sound of it – so a prompt start was Good.

We took a cut off once over the Murray and got out to the Sturt Highway rather easily, avoiding all the suburbia of Mildura, Merbein etc.  Then on down the road to South Australia, where we stopped for fruit-fly check.  On to Renmark for a grocery shop and petrol fill up.  Then  on to the West.

After successfully finding the quick cut to Morgan, we paused to buy some Navel Oranges ($5 for 5 kilos) at a roadside stall and off through the saltbush towards Burra (SA – not the place in Western Palerang).  A few windmills were evident (well done ETSA).

This was a pretty steady drive and as we neared the end of that stretch Frances asked if people would grow crops there.  I had just opined that I thought it unlikely when we passed a sign marking Goyder's Line, which is the limit of agriculture due to rainfall.  This is the first time I have seen it marked on a road – perhaps because  the road was the Goyder Highway?

We then started to cut across the bottom of the Flinders Rangers which was pleasant driving through a hilly agricultural area until a crossing semi caused the windscreen rubber to tear out again.  This got fixed a couple of times (with increasing levels of bad language - I hope no-one thought Billy Connolly was in the area) before we got to Port Pirie where a helpful local directed us to Serge's Crash Repairs.  They are also the local agents for Windscreens O'Brien so should be good.  My oath they were good: a ragazzo (after a lad so described fixed a car for us in Venice) appeared and said that a squirt of Superglue would fix it.  His boss appeared and explained that the rubber was just cosmetic: the screen is held in by some other compound to stop it exploding when the air bags deployed.  Whatever 15 minutes and $15 later we were on our way.  No more trouble for the trip. Big, big bouquet to these guys.

A big problem on the man road (Highway 1, which circles the country) was the number of Road Maggots.  Some people call them caravans and say they are driven by Grey Nomads.  Whoever propels these things typically cannot drive: they go about 20kph under the speed limit (unless overtaking is possible when they speed up) and are generally a menace to society.  A big brickbat to caravans.

Despite the efforts of the Road Maggots we go to Port Augusta, noted the flock of Black-winged Stilts feeding in some water,  refuelled and headed off towards Eyre Peninsula.  This had a bit more saltbush, but it was generally mixed up with Mallee so a  bit more interesting.  Past Whyalla we found we had about 100km to go to Cowell, which we had never heard of.  As we got close to this burg some agriculture appeared.  On the far side the sea (aka Spencer's Gulf) also appeared  in a very pleasant blue condition.  Many of the properties we passed had 'candlelabra plants' on their drives.

The afternoon passed quite pleasantly, tooling on down the Peninsula to Port Lincoln.  Here we found the discount petrol place, refuelled (discussing small terriers with the clerk) and headed out of town on a very crappy, and poorly signed, road towards Coffin Bay.  It then turned out this was the Old Flinders Highway which joined the newie, of far superior quality.  It also turned out we were driving into the sun and that our windscreen was filthy.  Not an easy drive.

Using Greg's instructions we found our way to the Shack where we are staying for the next several days.  The first macropods of the trip were spotted about 200m from the Shack – wallabies of some type.   The Shack is brilliant.  Apart from anything else it is millimetres from the beach

and as I first looked out at the water a SootyOystercatcher strolled by and some Pacific Gulls landed just off shore.  A good start to the  birdlist.

Bird of the Day:                         Sooty Oystercatcher  (on rarity grounds,  [The Stilts get a mention for numbers.]

Plant of the day:                        Flamboyant red candelabra plant grown in driveways.  [Soursobs (Oxalis sp) got a tick on emotional grounds as I once offered to landscape the soursobs in Frances house.]

Most interesting thing of the day:      The green-ness  of the Southern Flinders and Eyre Peninsula.

What we learned today:                      The Mysteries of modern windscreens.

The sun came up after we had left,

Out of the scrub came he!

And he shone bright, and on the night

Went down into the sea.

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Day 4: Dutton Bay

Probably just hang out near the cottage after the long drive of the previous day.

Yep, that is what happened.  After a good nights sleep the noise of the birds (and not John Peel's horn)  got me from my bed.  A good haul was achieved, of which the most surprising was two Horsfield's Bronze-Cuckoos.  Pied Cormorants were also good.  The mammal list was enlarged by a fox (being seen off by Masked Lapwings) and a pod of at least a dozen dolphins in the bay.

As is often the case in coastal areas there are tractors around the place that are used for hauling boats down to the ramp.  I think this one (a Fordson rather than the traditional Fergie TE20) is past its used by date.

Following breaking our fasts we wandered off to revisit the areas I had been earlier to see what else we could find and to identify the plants.  We were able to identify the area also: it is the Ricky Bates Reserve, named after a custodian of the site, who appears to have passed away and been replaced by a local Landcare group. 

This is basically a sheoke heath (Allocasuarina verticillata) on a Limestone base.

We found some good plants (to save upload times I have decided to have a special plants page and will use hyperlinks to let people see images of species when they wish:

Hardenbergia violaceae 

Templetonia retusa

Wurmbea dioica

Correa pulchella 

Drosera auriculata

Lomandra effusa  

Eucalyptus diversifolia  

Lasiopetalum discolor 

Goodenia sp.

Pomadierris obcordata 

Threlkedia diffusa (a saltbush) 

Acrotriche patula

There was also a very interesting plant which thus far we haven't identified with certainty. has finally (close to a year later) been identified as Grevillea aspera: pretty close to endemic to this area.

The cliffs were also photogenic.

In the afternoon, since it appeared likely to rain we drove to Shelly Beach.  

The only plant in flower there was a lily Burchardia umbellata.  As the rain appeared to be starting we hopped in the car and headed for home, pausing to look down into a swamp (why there is standing water in a limestone area is a question I can't answer!).  There were some good birds there including 8 Australian Shelducks and 2 Caspian Terns.

Nothing much came of the rain so I went back to Ricky Bates Reserve to photograph the Threlkedia.  After finding that I decidable to have a good look for orchids.  I think I found some!  As they still seem to be at bud stage ID is a bit iffy but I will opine that Cyrtostylis robusta (the robut gnat orchid) is looking like a winner!

I haven't commented at all on invertebrates because they haven't been too obvious.  A few mosquitoes were evident at Ricky Bates Reserve but although their bites swelled up they didn't itch.  Back at the house we found quite a lot of case moth larval cases stuck on the water tank.

After the exertions of the day we were having a medicinal glass of red when I noticed a dolfin phin (sic) out in the sea.  We watched it swim around and along the shoreline about 10m out.  As it came past “our” house it must have got on to some good stuff as it sped up dramatically.  

About 30m past our house it disappeared below the ripples.  A truly magic moment, like unto seeing a Rhino from our room at Ngorongoro or Hippos on the lawn in the Serengeti.

The maritime theme continues inside the house with several art works made from shells and driftwood decorating the walls.

There are also quite a few mounted photographs of kids enjoying the beach at sunset: presumably that is in Summer not the current climate.

Other residents watch their large digital TVs.  We didn't watch the TV as they didn't receive ABC or SBS!

Bird of the Day:                                 Australian Shelduck due to good numbers and speccie looking.   [Several others were nominated: Pied Oystercatchers (Colourful, amusing and nice to see from the bed).  Horsfields Bronze-Cuckoo (unusually early sighting).]

Plant of the day:                                Correa pulcella: lots of them and very colourful.  [The orchid will get a guernsey once it opens!]

Most interesting thing of the day:    Seeing a dolphin swim by 10m out from the shoreline.

What we learned today:                    Preparing for the plants has paid off!

At Tuesday Eve did cross a Dolphin,

Across the Bay it came;

It ate the food it always ate

Sped up, when meal did same.

(A slight cheat as this combines, as model, parts of two verses of the original.)

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Day 5: Touring Port Lincoln

Going here (or possibly there) around Lower Eyre Peninsula.

The weather overnight was somewhat stormy.  It seemed that every hour a squall would pass with very noisy wind, and lashing rain.  At least the temperature is several degrees higher than it has been in Canberra.  The dawn however was great!

We decided that we would go to Coffin Bay the next day so headed off towards Port Lincoln, pausing to check out the Big Swamp.  We were rewarded with a sighting of a male Musk Duck doing a vigorous display by chucking wingfulls of water high into the air.  The object of his attentions was not visible,

Proceeding down the highway I stopped to begin my collection of photos of SA road safety signs.  So much better than the NSW equivalent with some slapper doing a weak pinky pose.

As we swung into Port Lincoln we were intending to do the Pernkalla walking tour.  Then I looked at the map and realised it was going to be many kilometres long.  So we started in the middle, adjacent to the statue of Makbe Diva – a nag who won two Melbourne Cups, 

Proceeding along the sea front a couple of  OFLUSs (an acronym for Old Farts Like US) expressed, vocally, fear at the sight of the big fierce dog we had with us.  A little later another person of similar vintage asked if we'd found her in a packet of cornflakes.  He was a friendly soul so I didn't comment that “yes, I'd cut my South Australian driving license off it and there she was.”

We wandered along the walk going around the silos and fishing jetty

and generally enjoying ourselves when I noticed that putting on our raincoats had been a good idea.  Looking at the sky suggested it was about to get very damp so we returned to the car.  In fact the dark sky appeared to have been a very localised shower, but we still drove to Billy Light's Point .  The aim of going there was to find our way to a Reserve described as a bird-watchers paradise.

This turned out to be a tad hard to find as all access to the Reserve appeared to be labelled as Private Property.  Eventually we got to a track overlooking the sea covered with very large gravel.  It was hard for us to walk on and must have been agony for Tammy.  Then Frances spotted a dirt trail on the far side of some lagoons.  More bad signage by Port Lincoln City Council, who will be getting some advice about this.  From looking at one (badly defaced) sign we did eventually find it seems as though the rocky track was the bed of a former railway line.)

Eventually we got to the Reserve to be greeted by a group of about 4 green parrots.  They had blue faces so were Rock Parrots (not quite a lifer, but my original sighting at the salt fields North of Adelaide had been very stringy).  Shortly after we decided that the wind was too cold to stick to the waterside so headed off back towards an inland track.  Before getting there Frances had to explore the far side of a bush.  To my surprise I was called to attend her.  She had discovered another colony of Cyrtostylis robusta and on this occasion some of the flowers were fullyopen.  Despite the howling gale I managed to take a couple of reasonable images.

We had become convinced of the ID from reading the text in “First start with the leaves” a book by Robert Lawrence about the orchids of the Adelaide hills.  With that as a good hint I had been able to follow up with “Orchids of South Australia” which revealed the species to be common on the coast, both limestone (original sighting) and sandy soil (later sighting).

A few other additional good plants were seen today as well as several  repeats from yesterday:

Melaleuca halmaturorum p

Leucopogonparviflorus  (this was a surprise as the plant was 2m high: I am used to knee-high bearded heaths!)

Eucalyptus sp

Acacia sp

Plus - although not photographed - a good collection of Xanthorrhea semiplana tatei beside the Flinders Highway.  The lack of images is dealt with tomorrow!

About 20 metres down the track a large white bird erupted from a tree letting fly with the most outstanding spray of guano I have ever seen in mid air.  It was very good that it didn't fly over us while so doing!  Frances, the eagle-eyed scout, picked it as a Barn Owl. 

Shortly thereafter we were serenaded by one of the local intelligentsia on a trail bike.  While he did slow down to pass us the noise of his machine was most offensive.  So we turned to go back home to find other intelligent persons were driving towards us while their 3 pig dogs ran beside the car.  I grabbed Tammy and moved off the track while Frances advised these well sun-tanned folk that we had a dog with us.  Their three mongrels were inserted back in their car, already occupied by about 5 anthropoids, and we passed by, accepting apologies.

We got back to our car and called in at a seafood place to get some prawns and oysters.  They made our tea, and very nice they were too!

Bird of the Day:                     Barn Owl [Rock Parrots strolled down the red carpet but were not as exciting as a day-time Owl].

Plant of the Day:                   Cyrtostilis robusta, as it was identified today!

Interesting thing of the day: the way the walk weaved though the post and silo areas.

What we learnt today:          Where Tammy came from!

And now this spell was snapped: once more

I viewed the parrots green,

And having once turned round walked quick

Because I saw a flying owl

Drop down a mighty slick.

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Day 6: Coffin Bay National Park

There, (or possibly here) around Lower Eyre Peninsula.

A large part of the attraction of this trip for me was the chance to visit Coffin Bay National Park which I had seen several times from aircraft between Adelaide and Perth.  It looked to have spectacular scenery, particularly when the 'planes were approaching Adelaide.

Today was the day we would fit this in to our schedule.  As it was a National Park the small dog would not be welcome so we took her for a walk to Ricky Bates Reserve first.  By being a little more adventurous we found that the area at the end of the road I had assumed was private property not only allowed public access, but also permitted dogs on leash.  (The leash bit reflects a 1080 fox baiting project.) We added several birds to the Dutton Bay list and found more orchids.  At present I am unsure if they are a different species or just  late-emerging specimens of Cyrtostylis robusta.  We also saw another dolphin (actually it could have  been the same one, but you know what I mean) out in the Bay.

On our way to Coffin Bay we found the Grass Trees again and stopped for photos.  Then on through the town to the National Park.  Getting our Park permits was amusing as we wanted to pay with change and the envelope wouldn't seal and the slot through which to post was too narrow for our pile of metal,  So someone will have to scrape it all out of the container.  Tough: if they had someone on duty they wouldn't have had the problem.

In fact we didn't see any trace of a Ranger or other official presence.  Presumably they all lurk in Port Lincoln where cafe lattes are easier to acquire.

We first stopped at the Templetonia Lookout to assess the rather spiffy 360 degree views to Mount Dutton etc in the North

and the sandhills behind Gunyah Beach, and the ocean, to the South,  

We then headed for Avoid Bay 

(and the similarly named Point).  

This was all bitumen and certainly provided some excellent cliff views.  There were many Rock Parrots around and an Osprey was soaring along the clifftops at the Point.

I had thought we would walk a trail from the bitumen road to Gunyah Baech but that turned out to be a 4x4 track so we drove along it until it started to look very sandy and parked.  This had cut about 1.2km off the 8km walk.  (In fact we could have gone for another 2km before it got too sandy, but the walk was very pleasant).

We didn't find many new plants for the day but the flowering of the Templetonia, Pomaderris (white bushes in the background, living up to its reputation as the coming woody weed),

Leucopogon and mallee-form Eucalyptus was excellent. Pigface and other succulents were on the dunes.  A   Wedge-tailed Eagle flew over (surprisingly the first for the trip) and various honeyeaters made a ruckus in the bush.  A group of 3 Emus were booming near the track.

In total we saw 18 species of bird in the Park, adding 3 to the trip list (which now stands at 91sp.)

Getting close to the beach we found some large sandhills on and in which the 4x4 fraternity had been having fun. 

We walked up and along one of the big hills and were intrigued to see how quickly (within 10 minutes) the wind was erasing our footprints in some places.   This is illustrated by the differing heights of the  track markers:

- a third one only had the red bit showing!

On leaving the Park we stopped to have another go at getting our envelope through the slot and while I was losing that battle Frances glanced out of the car and there was another large colony of gnat orchids.  They are giving Pomaderris a run for its money as next WW.

We then cruised the town looking for Oysters.  The first two places we investigated only sold closed ones and I didn't fancy opening them with a knife.  A passing ETSA employee told me a simple way to do it, if we had time:

1.      put them in a freezer overnight; then

2.      shift them to the fridge for about 2 hours; and

3.      they will open themselves.

I mention that for educational purposes only since we found that the butchers shop would open them for us for a quite reasonable fee.  So we did that.  (As an aside, in a conversation in the shop one participant mentioned that they had never used an ATM.  I am astonished!)

Back to the Shack to find a very happy little dog.

Just after typing this I glanced out the window and saw a Pacific Gull rise out of the water and dive back in, completely immersing itself.  It then flew to the beach with prey in beak.  The prey turned out to be a fist-sized octopus which was gobbled before I could photograph the event.  A Pied Oystercatcher ran past quickly, presumably to ensure it didn't beccome dessert.

Bird of the day:                     Emus [Osprey was a contender but Frances barely saw it.]

Flower of the day:                 Templetonia: everywhere in the Park

Interesting sight of the day: The sandhills

What we learnt today:          How to open oysters (without opening an artery). [To believe at least some "4WD drive only" signs was a runner up in this category.]

I looked upon the towering dunes,

And quietly blessed my luck;

I looked upon the carved up track,

And there I was not stuck.

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