Orchard Swallowtail
After another day out driving it was nice to come back to camp and kick back in the recliner.
Cape York Graceful Tree Frog
Yellow-spotted Honeyeater
Australian Brush Turkey Race purpureicollis
Once we were packed up we went for a final walk and managed to get back just before another shower came across. If we didn't have work waiting for us we would have loved to stay another day or two!
If it wasn't for the ferry we wouldn't have been on the northern side!
The Jardine River, looking back up towards the old crossing.
Our camp for that night was back at Eliot Falls, and one more new bird.
Brown-backed Honeyeater
It was very windy, which is normal for this time of year, but beautiful. Again, if we didn't have work waiting for us we probably would have camped for the night.
The remains of the old landing.
We had passed a couple of gravel pits with dams on the way up, and planned to pick one of those to camp for a night or two. The one we found was so nice we ended up staying three nights.
The Jardine River ferry
I chose Loyalty Beach as our base for the three nights we were up there, and it was a perfect place to camp.
We were treated to a beautiful sunset over the water on our first night.
The plan for first full day was to make our way to The Tip (Pajinka), looking for birds along the way. We didn't get far... as we were driving out of the caravan park we noticed some girls looking at something. At first glance I thought 'scrub turkeys', then I realised they were a bit different and thought 'weird roosters', then as I was thinking that they weren't roosters Dazz said 'palm cockatoos!' We jumped out and grabbed the camera and binoculars and watched them for ages as they happily ate Beach Almond seeds.
Once they flew off we continued on our way, but we had only just turned onto the road when a raptor flew across in front of us and landed in a tree next to the road. So of course we had to stop again.
Our first stops were some of the historical sites from World War II - the Douglas DC-3 (C-47) and the RAAF Beaufort Bomber.
Brush Cuckoo
The view from the tent in the morning wasn't half bad either!
Brown Goshawk (immature)
A little further up the road and another stop. This one wasn't a new bird, but still a nice photo.
White-bellied Cuckoo-shrike
A few more kilometres and another bird flew up off the road. We knew what it was, but don't have a great photo of one, so stopped to try to get it. Unfortunately it kept flapping its way up into the foliage with its head out of sight.
Pheasant Coucal
After all that birding excitement we finally made it up to The Tip mid-morning, just as some tour buses were leaving - great timing!
We also noticed a few termite mounds. Here is Dazz with the most northerly termite mound in Australia!
On our way back down I was looking at some shadows in the water, trying to work out if they might be crocodiles. When Dazz saw me looking out he thought I was checking the rock, so he had a look at the rock through his camera and saw that there was actually a croc on it!
Our lunch spot after the walk.
On our way back through the rainforest we noticed an unusual bird on the side of the road. It's a juvenile tern (but I couldn't figure out what sort) that must have been blown off course and landed, and clearly can't take off again. It probably became food for a goanna or snake...
Red Lacewing
We had another nice sunset that night.
Mistletoebird
Sacred Kingfisher
Common Banded Awl
Olive-backed Sunbird (female)
The Jardine River at the Pump Station
On the way back we stopped in at a small lookout area.
We got the obligatory photo with the sign.
Australian Brush Turkey Race purpureicollis - Up here the turkeys have a purple collar, rather than the yellow of the ones down south.
This goanna was 'standing up' on the side of the road, but but the time Dazz got the camera out it was down and wandering off into the scrub.
Somerset Beach
The next morning there were a few showers out to sea.
Dazz ran around the campground and got a few more birds.
Dusky Honeyeater
Then we were off for the day's adventures - to Mutee Head. There was a road off to the left to the Jardine River Pump Station, so naturally we took it to see what was down there. The vegetation was tall timbers, which was surprising to us for an area regularly whipped by cyclonic winds. Dazz took a quick photo while his phone was in the holder to mark the GPS location for his other photos, but we didn't think to get a proper picture of the trees. It was a really pretty area.
We were hearing lots of bird noises, so stopped for a bit of a look. High up in the trees were some Red-winged Parrots and Grey-crowned Babblers. Dazz caught site of something black and white, so just snapped pictures of the tree, hoping that whatever it was would be enough in focus to identify. They turned out to be Banded Honeyeaters.
Banded Honeyeaters
The beach at Mutee Head was pretty and the free camp was right on the beach, but it was very sheltered, to the point of being quite hot. We were pleased we didn't try to camp there.
On the way back we stopped in at a small lookout area.
The open woodland vegetation
The jetty at Seisia
There wasn't much colour in the sunset on our final night.
There were some heavy showers during our last night so there was time for Dazz to run around with the camera on the final morning while the tent dried a bit.
Fairy Gerygone (immature)
Australian Brush Turkey Race purpureicollis
On our way back to the ferry we stopped to have a look at the Old Jardine Crossing, where people used to drive across the river before there was a ferry. There was quite a bog hole before the crossing. We didn't want to test our recovery gear so we just parked and walked the rest of the way.
We're still kind of early in the season, so the water levels are high, but this isn't even the main part of the river.
Blue-faced Honeyeater (juvenile) - in a palm tree at the ferry
Brown-backed Honeyeater
There were more showers overnight, but we managed to get things dry enough to pack up, knowing that we could hang it all up to dry properly when we got back to the van at Bramwell Station. We also decided not to bother with another swim in the falls since it wasn't particularly hot. We knew it couldn't match the ambience of a few days before, so hit the road knowing we could use the time for some side tracks.
I remembered to take photos at various points along the way where the vegetation or terrain changed. Travelling south made the view so much nicer with the sun mostly behind us. At times the sky looked quite threatening, but there were only occasional short showers.
Since we had time we decided to take the track out to Captain Billy Landing. It was less than 30km and quite an easy drive, but we were just dawdling along enjoying the ambience of the changing forest.
The view out to the ocean before descending to sea level.
There were a few creek crossings, but none of them were particularly deep. I took some footage and put it together, and it clearly shows that they weren't challenging at all.
We did get some rain near the end of the track close to the PDR.
Back along the PDR, we drove a short distance off the western side along the Gunshot Bypass Road towards the Heathlands Ranger Station hoping to see some honeyeaters. We couldn't hear any around, and with over an hour of driving still in front of us we pressed on.
We were pleased to be "home" at our van and spent the rest of the afternoon sorting and cleaning out the car. We spent the next two days working and washing (and managed to get everything dry in spite of a couple of unexpected showers). This was Dazz's office for the two days of marking.
We had a day off work on Sunday and left Bramwell Station to head south.
The area around had been burnt off in the last week and there were still a couple of smouldering logs further off in the bush. As we drove in I said it would be a nice spot for a campfire. It was quite windy (still!) so there was a need for some kind of shield and Dazz found a wheel arch that had obviously come off a trailer.
