Rinyirru (Lakefield) National Park

We weren't sure what the road or camping was like through Lakefield NP, and we wanted to visit Artemis and Fairview Stations along the PDR, so we planned to do day trips into the northern and then southern parts of the park. We did the northern part from Musgrave Roadhouse. 

Before we even got to the national park boundary Dazz spotted some little birds in bushes on the side of the road so quickly pulled up and grabbed his camera.  It was great spotting, and turned out to be one of the species we were hoping to see up here!

Masked Finch 

Our first planned stop was Sweetwater Lake. We were hoping to see crocodiles and birds.  There was a small parking/camping area, and unfortunately not much of a gap in the trees to see out onto the lake. As I cautiously walked towards the lake, watching for crocs sunning themselves on the bank, I suddenly noticed a large goanna in the grass. I stopped in my tracks and motioned for Dazz to take a photo before I scared it away.

The next stop was Low Lake. A raptor darted across the track in, and we were hoping to see a Red Goshawk, so of course we stopped to see what it was... not quite the one we were looking for, but a great photo anyway!

Brown Goshawk (immature)

There were some whistling ducks, egrets and a few other birds in the distance, but nothing close to the side where we were... and no crocs. 

The track in and out of Low Lake was fairly open forest with plenty of magnetic termite mounds.

Red-winged Parrot (female)

The trees suddenly stopped on the Nifold Plains.

The next feature was the Hann Crossing over the North Kennedy River. As we were coming out of the crossing Dazz spotted a bird at the end of the causeway.

Black-fronted Dotterel

These photos of the crossing and the river are from our way home.

We had initially only planned to go as far as Hann Crossing, but were making good time, so kept going to Breeza Homestead and Billabong... but still no crocs.

We were now close enough to White Lily Lagoon to include that as our last stop for the day. As we looked out for birds and crocs a motor home pulled up, and they mentioned that they had just stopped to get a large python off the road. Dazz went to see if it was still there. It was clearly going slow because it had quite a lump through its middle. It would have been interesting to see it eating whatever it was that it caught!

Green Pygmy-goose

Finally, Dazz spotted a croc on the other side of the lagoon. It cruised along for a while before disappearing back underwater.

The first time we saw one of these trees we thought that it must have been a palm tree that had its leaves stripped by a cyclone. 

When we looked closer, though, we could see there were other leaf-like things that were clearly not palm leaves. I kept forgetting to look it up, but when I was writing this blog I put the photo into Google image search and it told me it appeared to be a Corypha utan. According to the Australian Native Plants Society (Australia) website:

They are monocarpic plants (ie. plants that flower, set seed and then die)... which may reach 20 metres in height with a spread of up to 8 metres... The plant may live to 50-60 years at which stage it sends up a huge, terminal inflorescence which may contain up to a million yellow or cream flowers, each about 6-8 mm in diameter. The flowers are followed by numerous dark green to black seeds about 10 mm in diameter. Once the seeds are mature and shed, the plant dies. (https://anpsa.org.au/plant_profiles/corypha-utan/)

On our way back through the Nifold Plains we saw a bustard in front of us. It took off just as Dazz grabbed his camer.

Australian Bustard

While we were stopped he also noticed a raptor in the tree.

Brown Falcon

A little further on, something flew up into a bush. He wasn't sure where it was to focus on (not that there were many leaves to hide in!), so just took a picture of the whole bush.

With some zooming and cropping it turned out to be a pair of finches that were also on our list of things we hoped to see!

Black-throated Finch

A little further on and some more birds on the road...

Australian Pratincole 

Our final creek crossing of the day - Saltwater Creek.

Rather than turning left back to Musgrave Station we made a last-minute decision to turn right on Marina Plains Road to have a look at the Annie River. There was a camp site on a high bank, and a group were just getting ready to make dinner. They had put their boat in and taken crab pots down to the mouth of the river and had seen five crocs. After we chatted to them for a while we jumped in the car to head back because it was getting late and only realised when we were well down the track that neither of us had taken a photo. It was an open spot and would be an easy place to bring the van for a couple of days, so maybe on a future trip...

So that was the northern part of the national park. After Fairview Station we planned to stay two nights at Laura and do a day trip into the southern part of the park. Now that we'd seen how good the road was, and that some of the campsites at Hann Crossing were accessible for caravans, I did a bit more research to see what Kalpowar Crossing was like. There was one spot available for the two nights we wanted and it was suitable for vans, so I made the booking. 

We stopped at Old Laura Homestead for an early lunch.

Some finches and wrens caught our attention on the side of the road, so we stopped for photos. The Red-backed Fairy-Wrens proved to be elusive, but the finches were more cooperative.

Red-browed Finch Race temporalis minor - an adult, a juvenile and an immature bird

Some of our friends saw large crocs at Kennedy Bend and Catfish Lagoon a few weeks ago, so we stopped at both places on our way to the camp. There was nothing at Kennedy Bend, but we did see one cruising in the distance on the other side at Catfish Lagoon.

Archerfish

Kalpowar Crossing, on the Normanby River, was really pretty. No crocs showed themselves when we walked down for a look. We even went down at night with a torch, but didn't see any eyes.

There were a few birds around the camp, and on the short walk behind the camp.

Red-tailed Black-Cockatoo

Radjah Shelducks

Blue-winged Kookaburra 

The next day we went back to Kennedy Bend and spent about an hour watching and waiting, but didn't see any crocs. Dazz amused himself looking for birds.

White-bellied Sea-Eagle

We also went back to Catfish Lagoon, with a similar result - just some birds and a skink.

Double-barred Finch

We were debating whether we would bother going back up to White Lily Lagoon, and decided we probably should. Just north of the turnoff back to the camp was the Lakefield Ranger Base, and there was a billabong there and some Magpie Geese, along with some ruins. We thought we should get out to have a bit of a look, and on closer inspection discovered there were quite a few different birds.

Wandering Whistling-Ducks

Spotted Whistling-Duck

Plumed Whistling-Ducks

Green Pygmy-geese

Magpie Geese 

And a crocodile on the other side of the billabong!

On our way out of the park the following day we stopped for one last look at Kennedy Bend. There were some people stopped at the day use area who had previously camped at Kennedy Bend, and they told us to walk down a track that ran to the currently closed camping area and look on the sandy bank on the other side of the river. Looking through the undergrowth as we walked down the track I glimpsed something that looked like a white log. My binoculars identified it was a log of the biting kind! Dazz got a couple of photos while I walked further up to see if it was more open for a better shot.

There was a section that was a little closer, but there were still some bushes in the way.

By the time we got up to where we could walk down to a more open area it had spotted us and slid into the water. We were excited to finally get some closer shots though!

We were leaving the national park happy with what we'd seen, but there was one final Sand Goanna on Battlecamp Road.