Australian Adventure – Day 22 – Bateau Bay

2013-12-28 | puppy1952

We met Tim Morris in Botswana on Christmas Eve in 2001 when he asked to join us and the friends with whom we were travelling, on a scenic boat trip we were taking on the Kavango River. He was a young Australian geologist and was back packing through Africa. We were impressed with his knowledge of the birds and he explained that he had been interested in wildlife and nature since childhood because back in Australia his father was a game ranger. He was alone and we invited him to join us for Christmas Dinner, which was a very simple affair in the middle of the African bush. Tim also caught up with us in Cape Town when his journey brought him there. When his parents visited some time later we made contact with them too. So of course now that we ourselves are visiting Australia we got in touch with Anne and Alan and arranged to meet. Tim is in Port Macquarie and we won’t get to see him this trip. He is now a married man with three young sons!

Colette kindly lent us her car and we drove to Bateau Bay near The Entrance to spend the day with Anne and Alan. Their garden is a bird magnet and from their balcony we got to see the king parrot, lorikeets and other small birds. After tea Alan took us to various wetland venues and shorelines and was the most amazing bird guide ever. We saw t lunchtime we returned and Anne presented us with a delicious prawn salad and a dessert which was to die for.

After lunch we went to various places where Alan found interesting birds for us to view. The highlight was a female tawny frogmouth that had a nest in a tree in a nearby park. By the time our ornithological tour was over it was 6 o’clock and we were thrilled with all we had seen both as far as birds and scenery was concerned.

Our bird list today included Grey Butcherbird, Eurasian Coot, Australasian Darter, Eastern Great Egret, Intermediatet, Intermediate Egret, Freckled duck, Australian Wood-duck, Superb Fairywren, Grey Fantail, Red-browed Finch, Tawny Frogmouth, Australasian Grebe, Hardhead, White-faced heron, White-necked heron, Swamp Harrier, New Holland Honeyeater, Australian White Ibis, Crested Tern, Caspian Tern, Wild Turkey, Red Wattlebird, Woodswallow

Royal Spoonbill

Stilts

Intermediate Egret

Red-kneed dotterel

Tawny Frogmouth

Brush Turkey

Red Wattle Bird

Sharp-tailed Sandpipers

The Entrance

Bateau Bay Beach

Lunch with Anne and Alan

Australian Adventure – Day 21 – Karuah

2013-12-27 | puppy1952

The village of Karuah, which is on the old Pacific Highway straddles the Karuah River. It includes the largest Aboriginal community in the Port Stephens LGA and, at the 2006 Census, had a population of approximately 857. The rest of the suburb’s population live in the rural properties which surround the village.

The Karuah bridge was built and opened in December 1957. In 2004, the Karuah Bypass was opened which, as part of the AusLink program, speeds up car and truck travel times past the township.

Colette has a chaletvan in the caravan park where she and Leonie often go for holidays. To day we went there for the day. After we arrived Earl and I went for a walk to check out the jetty on the River, the boats being Earl’s priority focus. The tide was out and we were fascinated by the crabs on the mudflats and the few birds that were hanging out there. We spotted our first Sea Eagle (similar to the South African Fish Eagle) in a distant tree and one also flew over.

The Chaletvan

Hullo South Africa

Jetty into the River

Catching some rays

Australian White Ibis (Sacred Ibis)

White-faced Heron

Bird of the day – Eastern Whimbrel – Largest Wader in the world

There were thousands of these little crabs in the mud

View from jetty

Oysters and mussels under the jetty

The Karuah township has long been known for its oysters and at lunchtime we went to a local outlet and bought 2 dozen cleaned and opened oysters for just $28. We sat at the riverside and ate them with our picnic lunch. What a stunning spot it was. A sea eagle flew over with a fish in its bill, a little egret made an appearance but then decided not to stay, we found pelicans around the corner and chatted to friendly people at the next table. Afterwards we explored the area, went to a local café for coffee where Earl and Colette got into conversation with a local Aboriginal fisherman. We then returned to ‘The Lighthouse’

View across the river from our picnic site – the finest house on the river

Another view

kookaburra

Yellow-face Honey-eater

I went for a walk to the jetty again and along the boardwalk over the mudflats. The tide was in and so the scene was quite different from earlier this morning. A Willie Wagtail entertained me and I managed to get photographs of a peewee and a lorikeet.

Peewee

Willie Wagtail

Rainbow Lorikeet

It was just the most perfect day. We saw birds, ate excellent oysters and enjoyed another piece of Australia. Once again we were blown away by the fact that there were no crowds and that another beautiful spot was just an hour’s drive away.

Australian Adventure – Day 4 – Tower Hill Wildlife Reserve and Port Fairy

2013-12-10 | puppy1952

The solution of where to have breakfast was easily solved and I found myself at an establishment I wouldn’t think of going to at home – MacDonald’s! I was pleasantly surprised -they have a varied menu and service is quick and efficient – you place your order at the counter, wait five minutes, take your tray to a table and then throw away the containers afterwards! Not my normal style no – but the scrambled egg and bacon wrap was great and before long we were on our way to Tower Hill Wildlife Reserve.

This view greeted us

The Tower Hill Wildlife Reserve encompasses the Tower Hill volcano and wetland and is 6.14 km² in area. Entrance to the park is free, there is a short drive and several walking trails. We chatted to a young German couple and asked – What have you seen? Oh – nothing we’ve just arrived. We’d just arrived too and in the two hours it took us to reach the visitor’s centre we’d seen kangaroos, emus, rabbits, a koala bear and a variety of birds! Their mouths dropped open when we told them this. The aim of most visitors seems to be to get to the visitor’s centre as fast as possible, walk the trail in record time, have a cup of coffee and leave. Then they return from holiday and say – We went to this nature reserve and didn’t see a thing. We had the best time looking for birdlife and of course every bird we saw was new to us. Because we look carefully for birds we tend to see all kinds of other creatures too.

The rock formations in the reserve are fascinating and beautiful. A wall of rock that is filled with tiny caves and crevices makes a wonderful apartment building for various creatures. Some noisy galahs were obviously waking up and were about to leave for whatever their mission was for today.

These galahs have taken up residence in rock crevices - most luxurious apartments they are too

These galahs have taken up residence in the volcanic rock crevices

It wasn’t long before I spotted movement in the bush and to our delight we found the iconic Kangaroo with her young joey. It had been raining but the sun was out and they were catching the rays!

Kanga and Joey

Long ago rabbits were introduced into Australia and they are still somewhat of a nuisance and can be seen in most neighbourhoods. They are in the parks too!

How adorable is that!

Leonie spotted the koala. If there are droppings at the bottom of the tree you are almost guaranteed that one will be sleeping on a branch above.

Koalas spend most of their lives asleep!

One of the birds we were delighted to see was the blue-breasted fairy-wren. She makes the tiniest nest – just a teaspoon in size. The eggs must be minute. The male is the pretty one and he has more than one wife!

Male Blue breasted Fairy-wren

Female Blue-breasted Fairy-wren – quite drab in appearance don’t you think

Australia’s biggest bird in the Emu – and it doesn’t fly. It reminds one of the ostrich but it is not even closely related. I love our ostrich and this emu is also a fascinating creature. The female chooses more than one mate and then leaves the ones in favour to care for the eggs and the chicks without any help from her. He raises those chicks very well too!

These birds are not even related to the ostrich!

These birds are not even remotely related to the ostrich!

We got very excited when we saw a very familiar little bird – just like the one we see at home only to discover that it was a tiny bit different and also had an odd name!

Nope – it’s not a Witogie – The Aussies call it a Silvereye

There were lots of birds on the bodies of water in the park. Familiar again were the coots – but these did not have red knobs.

Eurasian Coots among others

White-faced Heron

Chestnut Teal

The Australian Black-winged stilt is not the same as the South African species. The black nape is missing on ours.

Black-winged stilt on nest

This bird of prey was a great spot – not sure yet what it is but we’re guessing it is a Little Eagle.

On a walk we were lucky to spot this wallaby. At first she just looked like a rock but then I saw her move. She was very silent but not at all scared.

Wallaby

We heard and saw a lot of tiny, pretty and interesting birds – photography of said birds was next to impossible as they flit so quickly and hide in the foliage of the trees. But it was fun and we were delighted with our day.

We ended our trip with a visit to Port Fairy. It is a little fishing town and holiday resort with a beautiful river and coastline. Earl loved it and enjoyed looking at the fishing boats. The main catch is shark!

Next to the river we found a little fish shop that served seafood. It was not the Ritz but the view was to die for and the food served in a box at grubby outside tables was delicious – far too much though – we would have been better off sharing! Aunt assured us that $20 each for a meal was cheap by Australian standards!