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| Walking along the track near Gary's Anchorage |
Cyclones Dylan and Edna had finished their destruction a bit further up the coast, the wind had died down and it was safe for us to leave.
Even though the weather was quite cool and drizzly, it was a pleasant change for us to put on our raincoats to go for a walk.
We found this little fresh water creek not far from where we anchored.
The water was stained the colour of weak tea from the tannins of the trees but it was clean enough for us to have a dip in. Luxury when you are on strict water rations.
While I was standing in the water, conducting my ablutions, I kept on feeling something prickly on my foot. Thinking it was just the weed and sticks flowing down the creek, I didn't take much notice. Later, I noticed there were yabbies in the creek, so I took my trusty little underwater camera and snuck up on one to take a little movie. All went well till I felt more prickles on my foot. I looked down and noticed that my feet had attracted the attention of several yabbies, and far from being afraid of me, they were investigating to see if I was edible. I got out of there in a hurry and asked Ian if he would do the movie for me.
Bravely, he went in and recorded them for me. I gave him instructions from the safety of the bridge.
The movie goes for 1:21 and uses 16.4mb
This area is also important to many migratory birds which come to fatten up on our delicious worms, shrimps and other delicacies which abound in their muddy habitat.
One of these summer visitors is the Eastern Curlew, easily identified by its ginormous long downward curved beak. These birds migrate from Siberia, after a short breeding season, often leaving their chicks behind before they can fly properly. The chicks follow on this migration from as young as 6 to 8 weeks old. Arriving in Australia with several stop offs at wetlands along the way, they spend our summer fattening up before heading back north around March/April.
Birds aren't the only inhabitants to benefit from the riches of the sand banks. We watched these dingos from the safety of our boat for several evenings as they wandered along the low tide line looking for stranded fish and crab pots with delicious morsels of bait still in them left by unwary fishermen.
Our next stop was Kingfisher Bay. We woke in the morning to find that we had guests - about 20 to 30 of them.
These Welcome Swallows are so named as they often fly out to 'welcome' ships, as far out as a couple of kilometres. They will also build their nests on boats and just follow the boat around to tend their young if the apparently stationary boat leaves its harbour.
We would often hear the loud expulsion of air as either a turtle or dolphin passed us by. Both these animals were in abundance in this area.
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| Ferry photo by Ian |
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| Jetty photo by Ian |
The jetty adjacent to the wharf was home to a few die-hard fishermen. They would even come and tie up their boats to the jetty and prefer to fish from there, rather than from their boats.
I managed to talk to the most sarcastic fisherman on the wharf when I asked what they catch there.
"Fish" he says with the tone that says I'm stupid. Not to put out I ask (with what I hope as the right amount of return sarcasm), "What kinds of fish?" He answers with the only answer someone of his type can answer, "all kinds".
The other two chaps who were fishing there, made themselves small so it didn't look like they were friends of his.
Ian has a bit of an interest in reptiles and likes to take photos so he can identify them in his Snake and Reptile book. I am also interested but there are so many, I leave the research to him. We both often take almost identical photos when we go for walks. Sometimes a split second makes all the difference between a great photo and the other sort. Ian got this great photo of the skink and the ant (I got the other sort).
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| White-cheeked Honeyeater photo by Ian |
There are quite a few walking tracks around Fraser Island and we did a few of them. In the summer when it's hot, it's not much fun to do strenuous walks, so we didn't.
One thing that we've found in our travels is that birds often tend to hang around human habitats.
Fraser was no different and after hearing the sweet calls of the Mistletoe Bird, we found several families of them feasting on the Midyim berries which grew around the perimeters of the tennis courts.
Kingfisher Bay resort does not grow lawns and roses. It is an Eco-resort and the only planting they do is of native vegetation. Their chalets are surrounded by 'bush' and wildlife is all around.
Back to the Mistletoe Birds. The Midyim Berry which is the size of a blackcurrant and a greyish green colour, is a favourite with them. It must have quite a sticky mucousy centre judging by the photos we took. The birds in the collage are only babies. When they mature, the male has a bright red breast and under-tail area, with the female having a more pinkish colour.
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| Red-browed Finch |
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| Laughing Kookaburra |
Banksias made a picturesque backdrop for these birds which rested a while before being frightened off by our cameras.
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| Welcome Swallow |
Boardwalks meandered through the freshwater wetland area of the resort.
It was a good place for Red-browed Finches to take a birdbath.
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| A Reflecting Damselfly |
Quite often you find they have a favourite resting place, so when they take off, you can keep the camera focused on that stick that you know they will return to.
Even more of a challenge is to get a photo of one flying.
I copied this table from About.com/insects
Differences Between Dragonflies and Damselflies
| Characteristic | Dragonfly | Damselfly |
| Eyes | most have eyes that touch, or nearly touch, at the top of the head | eyes are clearly separated, usually appearing to each side of the head |
| Body | usually stocky | usually long and slender |
| Wing Shape | dissimilar wing pairs, with hind wings broader at the base | all wings similar in shape |
| Position at Rest | wings held open, horizontally or downwards | wings held closed, usually over abdomen |
| Discal Cell | divided into triangles | undivided, quadrilateral |
| Male Appendages | pair of superior anal appendages, single inferior appendage | two pairs of anal appendages |
| Female Appendages | most have vestigial ovipositors | functional ovipositors |
| Larvae | breathe through rectal tracheal gills; stocky bodies | breathe through caudal gills; slender bodies |
From Fraser Island, it's back to Great Keppel Island. That's where we are now. We have a few more places on our agenda which have good anchorages in south-easterly winds on our way back to Cairns.
We hope to get there about end of March/early April and (yes I'm saying it), hoping to work. It's hard to "live the dream" without an income. Of course, there's always the Dream Job!
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