Retracing our steps back to Ingham

Once we got to Lakeland we were back in familiar territory. The only place we stopped for a photo was a pull-out lookout on the left (according to the maps it's Bob's Lookout). It's looking towards Mount Carbine.

We booked three nights at Bonadio RV Park and Nature Reserve in Atherton, hoping for some relaxed bird watching in between restocking the freezer with meals. We arrived on Monday afternoon with two full trolley loads of groceries still in bags on the floor in the van (after stopping at Coles in Mareeba and Woolies in Atherton), so Dazz took his camera for a walk while I found homes for everything. It wasn't too difficult as the fridge and cupboards were almost empty after almost six weeks of no grocery shopping. Dazz had a successful time too.

Large-billed Scrubwren

White-throated Treecreeper

Pale-yellow Robin Race nana

Yellow-breasted Boatbill 

Grey Fantail 

Over the past six weeks we'd put a number of things on a list to buy when we got back to civilisation, and not knowing when we'd be close to major shops again, we decided a day trip to Cairns would be worthwhile. We initially thought we would drive down the Kuranda Range and back up the Gillies Range, but it was foggy and drizzling rain on Tuesday morning, so there was no point chasing views, so we just went down the Gillies. 

We had mixed success with shopping. Bunnings didn't have a number of things we wanted even though the website said they had plenty in stock. We're very happy with our new Kings solar blanket, though. We've seen more and more people using solar blankets, and while they are not as efficient as regular panels, they are light and compact, and can be moved around to follow the sun. The new battery system in the car is all Kings and the DC-DC charger had an Anderson plug input for solar, so I watched for a deal on the 360W panel and 12m extension cable and bought it click and collect. The system was plug and play, so we tried it out in the car park while we ate lunch and were getting about 10 amps even with the cloud cover. The additional solar means the battery running the Engel can stay topped up even if we aren't driving, without needing to plug it into the van.

On our way back up the Gillies two cars in front of us suddenly slowed and put their hazard lights on, even though we weren't at roadworks (and there were a number of sections of roadworks). Dazz quickly realised they were stopped for a cassowary! It took me a minute to grab my phone, but I did manage a quick (one second!) video. This is a screen shot from it.

Some of the people we met at Iron Range had told us that a really good place to see tree kangaroos was at Peterson Creek in Yungaburra. It was about 4:30pm when we got back to the top of the range, so we thought we'd have a quick look. The whole area was a lot bigger than we expected and we didn't see any tree kangaroos, but we did see a Pied Monarch, and watched Pale-yellow Robin parents feeding a chick in the nest. The chick was being kept warm under one parent while the other one went to get food. It fed the parent on the nest, who then fed the chick.

Pale-yellow Robins

Pied Monarch

Red-legged Pademelon

On Wednesday Dazz took the car into Atherton for a service while I spent the day cooking meals for the freezer. By the time he got home it was late in the afternoon, but we decided to try again for the tree kangaroo. Still no luck with that, but we did get a better shot of the Pied Monarch and we also saw a male Victoria's Riflebird. There was a rainforest tour group coming the other way and Dazz was explaining to them about the Pale-yellow Robins' nest on the next path when I noticed something large and black fly into a tree down the hill a bit. I found it in the binoculars and realised it wasn't a Satin Bowerbird and that it had a long bill, meaning it wasn't a Spangled Drongo. I didn't want to say Riflebird out loud with the tour group there, though, because I wasn't sure that's what it really was. As they moved down the path I called Dazz over for a look. His initial thought was Spangled Drongo, but then he also saw the bill and said it was a Riflebird. There was a straggler from the tour group who was looking for birds and he was really excited when we pointed it out to him. When the tour leader came back to get him, he told him what we were looking at and the other birder in the group also came racing back for a look. Unfortunately it was late in the afternoon and the photos were totally backlit with cloud so the photos aren't great.

Pied Monarch

Victoria's Riflebird (male)

Our time at Bonadio was not particularly relaxing, but at least we did see some new birds!

Our last opportunity for birding in the tropics was back at the TYTO Wetlands at Ingham. As we came into town we were excited to see our first cane train of the trip. We saw another one a couple of minutes later, but now that we're out of the cane growing area that will be it.

Australasian Darter (male)

Leaden Flycatcher

Willie Wagtail 

Forest Kingfisher (male & female)

White-gaped Honeyeater 

Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike 

Brown Honeyeater 

Brown-backed Honeyeater 

Comb-crested Jacana 

A turtle playing peek-a-boo

Spangled Drongo 

Pacific Baza 

Cooktown area

The mountains make such a difference to the climate and vegetation on the east coast of Australia, and the evidence of this was clear as we crossed the range towards Cooktown on the Battlecamp Road. We went from dry savannah to suddenly be in lush tropical green! Our three nights at Endeavour Falls Tourist Park were lovely... even though they were full of work. 

The first job was washing the dirt of The Cape off the car and van with the communal pressure washer - such a luxury!

We didn't really have dust inside the van - apart from what came in the windows when they were open at camps and the wind was blowing, but I had put off washing the screens, windows and curtains before we left because I knew we'd have a month of dirt roads. Two full days of sunny windy days were perfect to get all the washing and cleaning done while Dazz did some uni work.

The one "weak point" for dust is the four seasons hatch, and nothing can be done to stop it, but I have worked out a way to clip an old piece of sheet around the frame to catch the dust that does come in. I was actually surprised at how little dust was caught in the sheet - but it was still better in the sheet than spread through the van!

The Endeavour Falls behind the caravan park.

Once the cleaning, washing and uni work was done it was a nice spot to relax.

One afternoon we drove back up the hill to see Isabella Falls and have a better look at the view from the top of the range. When we were coming down with the van we didn't have a chance to stop.

The Isabella creek crosses the road and there is a small waterfall below.

Our next stop was Cooktown. The view from the lookout was impressive, but very windy.

The Endeavour River

We walked through the botanical gardens, hoping for some birds, but there weren't any. They did have a rather sad looking Cooktown Orchid though.

Finch Bay was just near the gardens and was quite pretty.

The caravan park provided a couple of bird shots.

Large-billed Gerygone

Blue-winged Kookaburra 

On Saturday our plan was to do the northern part of the Bloomfield Track to Cowie Beach (where we went to from Wonga Beach). Our first stop for the day was Keatings Lagoon to see if there were any interesting birds around.

Shining Flycatcher (female)

Green Pygmy Goose

The next stop was Black Mountain.

The road meandered along the side of a number of creeks.

The Bloomfield River and the Bloomfield Falls.

We made it back to Cowie Beach and had a short walk and an ice cream.

Beach Stone-curlews

The Bloomfield Track has some seriously steep sections, but thankfully they are all now concrete. 

A creek crossing on top of the ridge.

And then it went back down the other side!

I wanted to stop at the Bloomfield River on our way back for a photo because I had noticed this pretty spot in the morning. When we pulled over there were some people fishing and they said they had just seen a croc cruising up the river. We got out the binoculars and camera and started scanning and Dazz found another croc on the opposite bank.

The last stop for the day (or so we thought) were the Trevathan Falls. The late afternoon light was perfect.

It took a little longer to get to the falls than I had anticipated, so we were running a bit late as we came into Cooktown. I wondered aloud if we should try to get to the waterfront for the sunset... and so we tried, and only just managed to succeed.