140910 Queensland More of Atherton Tablelands

Queensland, Australia 2014-09-05--09-25
140910Wednesday

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© NF Photos 140910

As before we birded the garden area at 6.30 before breakfast. The clothes I washed up two days ago are not yet dry so I had to let them hang in front of the fake fire-heater. Hopefully they dry till tomorrow.

 It was a fine morning with great birds in the trees.

After breakfast we left to visit the NP of an old tree but it turned out the tree was no longer there. It was blown down in a storm and the NP was gone with it.

Then we went to Lake Barrine, Crater Lake NP. We started with a walk in the forest and then arrived at the lake. There was some birds in the lake but the real treat was the flowering trees. Here I first met the honeyeaters. Such adorable birds. A little reminding me of the hummingbirds in CostaRica. So fun to watch. I also found a Wompoo Fruit-Dove  in one of the big trees. There was also time for people to have some snack at the NP Centre if they wanted.

Hastie's Swamp NP  aka Nyleta Wetlands was next to visit. A place with a great "hide", a two storey birding tower from where you had a great outlook over the lake. There was some rare ducks swimming in the lake too. I took this shot from the bus before we got to the hide.

Then lunch break in a village. With some bird as guests. We also had walk in a school area, Wom ECLA I think the name was. There was trees and a ditch behind a football plane. A few small, colorful birds in the trees.

Now we headed for Herberton Range a burned forest. The first burned forest I´ve walked in. I have seen some in the past, but not walked in them. We were looking for some birds but did not see many. And I was busy with trees. And cows. We did see at least two groups of cows in the NP.

We were back at Chambers rather early for dinner. Later on we went out again to the Curtain Fig Tree to try our luck with owls and other nocturnal birds and critters. We heard some but saw little. But we did see a tree kangaroo.

Back at Chambers I took a quick look at the balcony for Striped Possum. They really are sweet. Took a shower, uploaded images and packed as we are leaving tomorrow.

Last night at Chambers Lodge and my clothes are finally dry.

Below, a beautiful silvery tree sparkling against the sky at Herberton Range

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140908 Queensland Cairns to Atherton

Queensland, Australia 2014-09-05--09-25
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© NF Photos 140908

I woke up at 5,45 for an early start of the day. Breakast was supposed to be at 6.30 so I had to be packed and ready to leave by then. Now, it happend that the chef had overslept so there was no breakast ready. OK, change of plans then. We left for the Esplanade and trying to find the owl again. With no success. We walked around several places, but no owl. But it was a nice morning in the park of the Esplanade. 

Finally we went back and got our breakfast. But now we learned that one of the men had trouble with the eyes. Our tour guide decided he had to go to see a doctor. We left the two men off at an emergency and our birdguide took the rest of us for a birding tour around Cairns. Turned out to be quite nice. First we drove slowly through an old graveyard. Phil, the guide, did not let us out but we could take some shots from the open doors of the bus. The place was crowded with Bush-thick knees (bush stone-curlew). It was strange to see them in and around the graves. They seemed to fit in rather well.

Then we drove in to the Centenary lakes Botanic garden. It was a large park with several different areas and we spent the better time of the morning there. There was flowers, birds, butterflies, snakes, trees, lots of things.  Most famos for having both sweet and salt water lakes. The best Botanic Garden I´ve ever been to. Later on I will probably have to make a post for that place only. I think this species is a Carpet python. What you can see is about half the lenght of it.

We also visited Machans beach, close to Cairns, a nice, sandy, beach. It was probably low tide when we visited.
Me on the beach to the left.  

After having some lunch we realised our two lost men would not be ready to continue. It was decided they had to go by cab to the lodge for the evening and the rest of us went on our way to visit some of the planned places for the day.  So, we headed inland. Straight to Granite Gorge. It is  a Nature Park as well as a camping site. And they hosted the lovely little Rock Wallaby and two Tawny Frogmouth. And I could finally touch a Termite Mound to see what it felt like. I have a post with the Rock Wallabies and a video HERE. It shows how you can feed the small ones with pellets. The one here has a baby in her pouch. So tiny you could probably have it all in your hand. The head probably not more then 2 cm.

 

The Tawny Frogmoth was sitting in a tree that had a table beside it. To get better shots I climbed the table to click from there. Then I overheard Phil, our guide, talking to some other guests. They pointed out that I was on the table. He explained it like this: oh, she is from Sweden!  Giggling. Like that should explain it all. :)

After Granite Gorge we made two more stops before going to Chambers. Our lodge for the next two nights. Our two men was already there. And as it seemed OK.  I got an entire appartment all by myself in the djungle. How cool is that! Agreat place from what I can tell. We spend a few moments to look around and get our things to the rooms. Then we had dinner and the birdlist done. This place is DARK! You need the flashlight if you want to go out.

Uploaded todays images, washed up some clothes and took a shower. Then...sleep!

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Labels:    Resor, travel, trip, journey, Sverige, Sweden, sky, photo, photography, Monica Johansson, NatureFootstep, nfphoto, NF_photo, nature, natur, fågelskådning, birding, resa, travel, Australia, Australien, Botanic Gardens, Queensland  bush stone-curlew, Bush-thick knees, Cairns, Centenary Lakes, Machans beach, Queensland, Carpet python, Rock wallaby, tawny frogmouth.Chambers,