Mar 7, 2013 - Croc farm

Today was the last touring day of our journey.. sniff sniff. We decided to call the lady from the croc farm that was good friends of Linda's (from the B&B in Hunter Valley). She gave us a great discount on getting into the farm and we were able to feed the crocs. Clint was a bit more excited about this than I was! We spent the whole morning here touring around on a boat and throughout the farm. It was quite interesting and what a scorcher o a day it was! I think the 'feels like' from the humidity up here made it 45 today.. We were just...

Feb 24, 2013 - The great Great Barrier Reef

What an amazing day we had today. We took a Quicksilver cruise to the Agincourt ribbon reefs which are recognised as the most pristine eco-systems in the reefs environment, part of the Great Barrier Reef. We had an hour and a half journey to reach the large, spacious activity platform at Agincourt reef. We had three and a half hours at the reef in which to snorkel, use the underwater observatory fish and coral viewing and go on the semi-submersible vessel. We did them all. Roger who is a non swimmer, put on a flotation jacket and for the...

Feb 23, 2013 - More rain in Port Douglas

Today has been quiet. We woke to torrential rain and didn’t leave the apartment until midday which gave us time to catch up on a few things. We hadn’t seen our local beach, called 4 mile beach, so thought we would go and investigate. This was another beach of long golden sands. Not a sun bed, umbrella or lookie lookie seller in sight. An area of the sea is cordoned off for safe swimming and even though the weather was over cast there were people swimming. We decided that tonight we would eat at the Mirage Hotel so went along to have a look...

Feb 22, 2013 - A day in the tropics

Today we took the Skyrail, the rain forest cableway, to the Kuranda Terminal. We enjoyed stunning, panoramic views from the comfort of a six-person gondola cabin, as we glided just meters above the rain forest canopy on this amazing 7.5km journey. There’s two stations that you stop off on route and at the first stop, Red Peak Station, we had a little tour and saw the towering 400 year old Kauri pine. The guide told us that there were also pythons in the rain forest, amongst other predators, that were about 10 inches thick. Back on the sky...

Feb 21, 2013 - A Tropical Paradise

The long drive to Port Elizabeth was pretty uneventful. The landscape is one of fields upon fields of sugar cane. It is such a vast open country, very green and during our visit, wet. We passed through Cairns and were winding our way to Port Douglas when the heavens opened and down came the rain. On checking in the receptionist remarked that this was the first rain they had had in over 3 weeks. Is it following us? Not ones to hang around we deposited our bags in our apartment and headed for the town. Fortunately Port Douglas is quite small...

Oct 22, 2012 - Trip on the Lady Douglas

Decided to go croc watching again and take joshie on the lady Douglas paddle boat. Was a little disappointed not because we didn't see a croc but more so because joshie only got to see one native bird in the while trip. It was a beautiful kite bird he was like a hawk only brown and white. Very pretty. Think we were duped again for croc sighting though wrong time of year. Also caught up with MEL Kerr from Dunedin her while family moved over around 7yrs ago. Home to cook up chicken Parma and chips. Yumo

Oct 20, 2012 - Cooktown to port Douglas

Heading back down to port Douglas today, probably spend a few days there to catchup on things. Marc got talking to an old guy at the camping ground who manages the place, very friendly and loves a chat. The boys watch the v8 today and then a well deserved swim. Joshie is getting so confident in the water such a different boy to several months ago. We go for a stroll around the camp grounds we stop and watch the curlew birds there a curious bird very fast considering their skinny legs. Check out the new camp kitchen and bathrooms. Overall...

Oct 10, 2012 - Port Douglas

Port Douglas: 10 - 12 October 2012 Time to be spoilt! Before we left for our trip I managed to grab a bargain on “Catch of the Day” for 3 nights at the Rendezvous Reef Resort Port Douglas. The resort was set amongst 15 acres of lush tropical gardens, with 2 lagoon-style pools and a lap pool - which we made use of every morning before indulging in a full buffet breakfast. To our surprise they upgraded our accommodation from a 2 bedroom villa to a 3 bedroom executive villa which meant that Jesse & Bronte got their own room with a flat screen...

Oct 5, 2012 - Full Day Birding the Atherton Tablelands

Today was our third day birding with our guide, Del. Accompanying us were Jim and Bette. Today was supposed to be a full day, birding the Outback/Savanna Woodland, as Del's Tour 4. As with our previous tours, he tailored them to focus on our target birds and we spent the entire day in the Atherton Tableland. The Atherton Tablelands are situated above Cairns and are a colorful tapestry of farmlands and wildlife rich savanna plains, in a much cooler temperature than we had previously been in. Del intentionally omitted the Mareeba Wetlands, as...

Oct 3, 2012 - Search for the Southern Cassowary Bird

We were originally scheduled to go on a tour to the Great Barrier Reef today. Del had it changed, as there were gale-force winds predicted and he didn't want us to be out on the reef in that weather. Following Del's directions, we went to look for the Southern Cassowary bird. The location was not listed in the Thomas & Thomas book, The Complete Guide to Finding the Birds of Australia, but we believed in Del's guidance. As we were driving up the road to the location, there was the bird, walking down the hill to us! What a wonderful sight it...

Oct 2, 2012 - Half-Day Bird/Wildlife Safari and Half-Day Daintree River Cruise

Today was our second day of birding with Del. We went on his Tour 2, a half-day Bird/Wildlife Safari to some of the sites visited yesterday, in the tropical lowlands and the rain forest of the Great Divide to Julatten. The afternoon was spent on Del's Tour 3, to the Daintree River. Both of these tours were modified to focus on our target birds. The Daintree River cruise was changed from a tourist cruise, to an actual bird watch/nature cruise with Ian Worcester of Daintree River Watch. We were accompanied by John, Jan and Angie, a family...

Oct 1, 2012 - Full Day Safari - Tropical Lowlands/Great Dividing Range and Edge of the Outback

Today was our first trip with our guide, Del Richards. A full-day safari, we traveled from the tropical lowland areas to beyond the Great Dividing Range, to the edge of the Outback. Tony, from the Melbourne area, accompanied us on the tour. We provided Del with his birding list, annotated with the Australia birds we had already seen and he tailored our trip to focus in on our target birds. Highlights of the day included, Chestnut-breasted mannikin, Brahminy Kite, Blue-winged Kookaburra, Diamond Dove, Double-barred Finch and the Great Bower...