Saturday, December 14 was a very good day.
Up at 4 and headed straight out to Mosquito Creek Road. By 9 am we had whitewinged fairy wrens, emus, superb fairy wrens, tons of butterflies, cisticola (sp? will get later on Steve's bird list), white-necked herons, kookaburras, apostle birds, zebra finches, double-barred finches.
The highlight, though, was the white-winged fairy wrens. This was pretty much our only chance to see them as they were at the far edge of their range.
We saw two emus fairly quickly once we turned onto Mosquito Creek Road. We were far, far away from them but the minute we stopped they started walking away, eventually starting to run in their loping gait. Through the binoculars, it was kind of cool to see their feathers bouncing as they ran.
Later in the day we decided to take a longer drive down the road. It passes through a lot of terrain, and a fair amount of open range. Soon we saw three more emu--the count was five--in one day! Eventually we turned around, and then saw two more! This time, close enough to clearly see all the colors around their necks and face.
Total emu count for the day - 7!
The entire day we only had two people pass us on this road--and one of the stopped to make sure we were okay. It's rugged country. I don't think you pass a stopped car without checking on them.
Eventually we decided to head back over to Durakai (means scrubby place) for the evening bird show. But all day long I had been trying to check out the Coolmunda Olive growing operation. Every once in awhile I would drive to the end of Mosquito Creek Road to see if the gate was open, it never was. So, as we headed back down the Cunningham Highway, we saw another entrance! So I turned around and we drove in.
No, I never could find the store, but the turn was a good one because up the drive Steve spotted Turquoise Parrots! Absolutely incredible colors. So Steve got a little video, and back to Durakai we went.
We decided to go back to Warwick and stay one more night rather than going to Toowomba. I called up the Comfort Inn, and off we went.
I think Warwick must be the city of roses. There were rose gardens everywhere, and roses lining the city center streets. It's the business center of the regional area they are in. We took a short drive through the center. It has the low buildings, angle in parking, and wide median strips of trees and flowers that we have seen in other Australian country towns. There's a distinct "look."
We were the only ones in the place. The restaurant was closed, and we were too late for room service--until I asked. And Colleen kindly opened up the kitchen and made us two very nice dinners of Barramundi and Salad (me) and t-bone and chips (Steve).
I followed this up with a swim in their saltwater pool, very refreshing. Steve and I walked to the bottle shop next door where there was one refrigerated unit of water and soda, and row upon row of beer, wine and liquor. It was a little bit the equivalent of the Texas Beer Barn as you could also do drive through.
It was our last night in Warwick, and a pleasant evening indeed.
Sounds amazing! - Amy M.
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