FInch Hatton Gorge

After spending a week in Townsville it was time to head to Mackay.  We had a lovely visit with some relatives who we’d last seen in Tasmania! It is exceptionally nice to see someone you know after months on the road.  This lifestyle offers continuous opportunities to meet new people, but those relationships are fleeting.  Life on the road can actually be quite lonely despite being surrounded by other travellers, so meeting up with someone you know is both comforting and rejuvenating.

While we were in the area I was desperate to see a platypus in the wild and the best place to do that is Eungella National Park.  We made a day of it and spent the afternoon at Finch Hatton Gorge.  After about an hour’s drive we then had a 1.5km walk to the Araluen Falls.  You can do a longer walk to more falls, which I am sure are worth seeing, but that would have been too much for us.  Look at these falls, aren’t they gorgeous?

Did I mention the waterhole?  The one you can swim in?  Awesome.  The hope of a swim at the end of the trail kept the kids moving.  The water was cold and deep but that didn’t stop them!

The only downside was the lack of an area for this little guy to play in.  There was no shallow entrance where he could safely play.  I found a spot where he could put his feet in but I couldn’t let go of him the whole time.  He enjoyed himself anyway, he found a puddle to play in and a stick to put in the puddle.  What more could a toddler need?

Hard to make out, but there’s Dad and the two boys at the very right of this picture.

There were a couple of big rocks to stand on, but none in the middle next to the cliff.  (Do you see where I’m heading?)

Look at the lichen clinging to the cliff face, so colourful!

Looking the other way there were giant rocks to climb and more water to play in, but the kids seemed to prefer the main waterhole.

I think I’ve mentioned I’m a wimp when it comes to cold water, so this was as far as I went that day.

Remember the cliff?  The kids decided to play a nice game of ‘Let’s Scare Mama!’.  Actually, it was Dad that went first.  Let’s blame him.

When we’d first arrived at the waterhole a young couple was jumping off this cliff into the water so I prayed told myself it must be safe enough despite the nearby ‘no jumping off the cliff’ signs.

One of the boys was hesitant the first time around and one barely paused before jumping right in.  I’m sure anyone who knows them could never guess who was who!

Then there was the poor 5yo who we wouldn’t let jump.  She really, really wanted a go.  But she hadn’t been quite comfortable enough swimming in the waterhole, she really clung to Dad so the jumping was a no.  She’s quite at home on a 5m diving board, though!  Never fear, she made friends, as she does, with the young couple that was there so she soon forgot her sorrow and cheered her brothers on.

As we were leaving the light had changed and the falls looked just beautiful.

Someone was tired and quickly resorted to clinging to my legs for a cuddle.  Is this not a familiar sight to any parent of a 2yo?

We had a long walk ahead of us, with no waterhole waiting for us. 

That little 2yo got his cuddle and we were off.  On the way out I took another look at those ‘no jumping’ signs and discovered there would have been on-the-spot fines if anyone had been checking.  Ooops.

On the way back I made sure to grab a pic of the mohawk rock.

At the car we had a snack while these hungry birds looked on.  These innocent-looking creatures  stole the lunch of a couple at the next car.  We were reminded of the sausage steeling kookaburra we’d met earlier in our adventures.  I don’t think I’ve ever seen four lined up like this, and there was another one in a different tree.  Someone walking by suggested that these were the mum and babes while dad was in the other tree.

What a lovely way to spend an afternoon!  The kids would have been satisfied to go home after that but we had more to see that day.  I still hadn’t seen that platypus….

Billabong Sanctuary, Day Two

DAY TWO!  Day one is here, here, and here.  This is the last one, I promise!

So….we liked our day at the Billabong Sanctuary so much that we opted to come back the next day.  You can get your ticket stamped before you leave to visit the next day for free.  We came back the next afternoon to see some of our favourite things.  We headed back over to see the cassowary and got a good look at these black cockatoos.  The colours on their tail feathers are gorgeous!

We watched this young water hen being fed.  There were several chicks, as we watched we realised that several of the adult birds were feeding them.

There’s that pretty cassowary!

We enjoyed the cute turtles basking in the sun.  Until we came here I didn’t realise that ‘basking’ was the actual term for what reptiles do to warm themselves.  I thought it was just a saying: They are basking in the sun.  But you can use the term by itself: Look at the turtle basking!  Who knew?  (Okay, everyone but me!)

I watched a ranger and their volunteers administering medication to the echidnas.  They had sore feet for some reason (they hadn’t yet worked out why) and needed cream applied to the bottom of their feet twice a day.  The first one was easy enough and after he (she?) was done he happily enjoyed some food, sticking his snout into the container.

The second echidna was not so willing.  He was affixed to the ground with superglue, apparently.  I had no idea they could burrow themselves in so well.  The ranger dug and dug around him, but it took quite some time before she could wiggle him free.  He just dug those feet in with his spikes pointing out and there was nothing for her to grab onto.  When he finally did come out he rolled up into a ball and they had quite the task getting to those little feet that were in there somewhere.

We went to the bird show again, so we got turns holding the lorikeet again.

This time I remembered to take pictures of the tawny frogmouth.  He was hiding in the tree behind the audience.  They pulled him out during the show and afterward he backed himself right up against the tree again.  He blends in so well.

And we got to see another turtle race!  TurboBug’s trauma with the turtle the day before was forgotten.  He was a little hesitant with the turtles at first but by the end he was fine.

Back to the dingo show, where this time I learned that dingos aren’t considered native to Australia.  What?!?  They are a cultural icon!  Apparently they were brought here at least 4,000 years ago (or more).  We’re wondering how long a creature has to live here to be considered native!  They brought out the male with the familiar dingo colouring for pictures.

We wanted to see Psycho in action again so we waited near his enclosure before the crowd arrived.  At first he was basking but as the time drew near we saw him disappear into the water.  It was very creepy!  He was so silent, we could make out that he had positioned himself near where the ranger would feed him but then he disappeared.  The water was not deep at all, it doesn’t take much to conceal a croc.  They can hide in the water for an hour without surfacing, tricking their prey into thinking it must be safe to approach the water.

This time I got a video of that awesome snapping sound.  So. much. force.

 

Some kangaroos were hanging out near the croc enclosure, they happily ate from our hands.  TurboBug loved feeding the kangaroos.  The only downside was that about a week later we saw some wild kangaroos that came right up to us and TurboBug didn’t understand why he couldn’t give them a pat!

We went to the afternoon wombat talk and the kids got to give Tonka another pat.

TurboBug was delighted when he moved his foot after he’d touched him. 

One last time.  That croc couldn’t stay away from my kids.  Or vice versa.

Billabong Sanctuary, part 3

Here’s part one and part two.  I wish I could remember the details about this (stuffed? preserved?) croc.  (Bad tourist!  Always take a picture of the sign!)  This was a real crocodile that had lived at the Billabong Sanctuary (I think) and he’s huge.  We were careful not to touch him (as requested on the sign I forgot to take a picture of).  I was surprised he was out where he could potentially be mishandled but he’s been around awhile so they must not have too many problems.

Look!  Pademelons!  We hadn’t seen any since leaving Tasmania.  They seem so small now compared to the wallabies and kangaroos we’re used to seeing.

I’m not sure if we were supposed to feed them, but there were no signs saying not to and they were very keen to be fed!  TurboBug absolutely loved them, they were just his size!

I don’t think I’ve ever seen pink cockatoos before.  Aren’t they gorgeous?  I think there were three, one was flying back and forth between perches.

There was even a free flight bird show, we learned about kites (I seriously did not know there were birds called kites), owls, curlews, and more.

At the end we were all able to hold a rainbow lorikeet.  He especially loved JitterBug.  The ranger would move him from person to person (the bird, not JitterBug!).

Then the kids went and got eaten by a crocodile again.

We got to feed the turtles again in the afternoon session.  It was in a different spot this time and the turtles could more easily climb ashore for some tasty fish.  There were a couple of eels as well, which they advised us not to feed to keep our fingers intact.  As I mentioned in a previous post, turtles don’t have teeth so even if they do get a finger they can’t do too much damage.  Thank goodness I knew that or I would have panicked that afternoon.  It’s hard to see but this picture below records the exact moment a turtle latched onto TurboBug’s thumb instead of the fish skin he was holding out.  In the moment I wasn’t quite sure what to do, I didn’t want to bash the poor turtle in the face to get him to let go, though that was my first instinct.  I squashed that instinct because of the no teeth thing, I knew no one was going to lose a thumb to this creature.  TurboBug was screaming and got quite the fright before the turtle let go. 

After some cuddling he recovered and was happy to join in on the turtle race with the others.  (Wait.  Did you say turtle race?  Yes.  Yes I did.) The turtles could move surprisingly fast and knew just what to do.  With so many turtles in the lake I wonder how many times each turtle has raced?  (I didn’t realise until later that all four of my kids are in this picture, though at varying degrees of visibility!)

Then it was time for the dingo show.  The sanctuary has two females (both white) and one male.  I hadn’t realised dingos from different areas of the country can have different coloured coats.  They are all the same species, just variations on colour.  The white dingos are alpine and found in mountainous regions.  They brought the girls out for a meet and greet, it was lovely to be able to give them a pat. 

See the other colours on the sign?  The rust coloured one on the left is the most common and is found in the outback.  The black dingo is much more rare and lives in forest areas. 

Next was the croc feeding.  How exciting was this!  They took us around to a few of the enclosures and we got to see them feed several estuarine crocodiles.  They were able to get some to really launch themselves out of the water.  Crocs are amazingly fast and powerful.  And scary.  The ranger was talking the whole time, they gave us lots of information about crocodiles, including that saltwater crocs are not only found in saltwater!  They prefer the term ‘estuarine’ since that better describes their habitat.  Look how big they are!  See his tail sticking up out of the water?

It took several tries for some of them, but we got to see some jumping crocs!

These are freshwater crocs.  They are much smaller.  I wish I’d asked why it was they could all be kept together in the same enclosure- are the males not territorial?  All the estuarine crocs were either by themselves or with their mating partner. 

We enjoyed the croc feedings so much that we went to both sessions that day.  This croc is called Psycho.  Unlike the other enclosures where the rangers went right in, this one had a special fenced area for the ranger to stand in while feeding the croc.  Even the viewing fence was higher at this enclosure.  Psycho is young and very powerful and they don’t trust him to keep his distance. 

We learned that if there is any chance crocs could be in the water, don’t risk it.  You won’t be able to see them, they will hide very still until their prey comes close enough to the water for them to grab.  Look. at. those. teeth.  They told us their jaws slam shut with a force of over 3500 lbs psi.  Wow.

I had to grab a picture of this sign listing aboriginal names for the animals.  There are so many different aboriginal language groups that the names vary greatly.

Just when you think we’re done…we went back to the Billabong Sanctuary the next day for more!  One more post to come.