Cardwell and Murray Falls

We had a lunch stop and walk along the beach at Cardwell.

There were more Red-tailed Black Cockatoos.

The Bar-tailed Godwit was a new one for our list.

Since we weren't in a hurry to travel north I started looking at the National Parks the had camping grounds, rather than just doing day visits. Murray Falls turned out to be an excellent find, and is a place we could easily come back to.

The falls are pretty even though they aren't very big.

There's a walk through the rainforest to the lookout at the top of the falls.

The highlight was definitely the swimming pools a little further below the waterfall. They also provided the perfect opportunity to start experimenting with my Osmo.

Forest Kingfisher 

Bordered Rustic Butterfly

Wallaman Falls

After some overcast days where we could see the mist on the mountains, we were hoping the forecast for mostly sunny would be accurate for our day up at Wallaman Falls. When we left in the morning there was still some mist about but the cloud was clearing by the time we reached the top of the falls.

The lady in the Visitor Information Centre said to take walking poles if we had them, and we were glad we did. It was wet all the way down, and would have been a lot more slippery without the poles for extra balance. As we descended the rainforest grew thicker.

It was beautiful at the bottom, and the changing sun through the clouds and mist created some lovely rainbows.

It was only about 3.2km return, which was around half the distance of the Bluff Knoll walk we did in WA last year, and the gradient wasn't quite as steep, but the humidity was high with all the mist from the waterfall, so it was hard work getting back up to the top! 

Australasian Figbird

Common Myna

Common Mynas have a bit of a brawl!

Ulysses Butterfly

The view from part way down the range on the way home.

Masked Lapwings often appear in pairs or with their young, but there was a large flock of them on the road back to Ingham. We've never seen so many of them together!

Ingham and the TYTO Wetlands

When I was looking for somewhere economical and hopefully not too busy for the May long weekend I found the TYTO Wetlands self-contained RV site behind the Ingham visitor centre. It turned out to be a great choice. We only had a couple of neighbours and it was very pretty. 

It was also, unsurprisingly, great for birds!

Yellow Honeyeater

Comb-crested Jacana

Wandering Whistling-ducks

Magpie Goose

Spangled Drongo

Willie Wagtail 

Crimson Finches (including a juvenile) 

White-gaped Honeyeater 

Rufous Whistler

Chestnut-breasted Mannikin

Dusky Honeyeater 

Brown-backed Honeyeater

Brown Honeyeater

Bush Stone-curlew

Silver-crowned Friarbird 

Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike

White-breasted Woodswallow 

There were a number of murals in Ingham, including a series that depict the history of the region.

On the recommendation of the lovely lady at the Visitor Information Centre, we drove out to Lucinda one afternoon to see the longest service jetty in the Southern Hemisphere, at 5.76 kilometres long.

Hinchinbrook Island

We drove home via Taylors Beach and spotted a few more birds.

White-bellied Cuckoo-shrike

Red-tailed Black Cockatoos - They were making a terrible mess "pruning" the trees.

 

Brahminy Kite