Three trips on the Daintree River - was it too much?

The answer?  No!

December 26

We wanted to spend as much time on the river with Ian "Sauce" Worcester as possible, but ended up with even more time.  Sauce had told Trish to meet them at 7:30, but turns out he told her the wrong time and called at about 6:45 to ask if we could come down to the jetty as soon as possible.  We threw on some clothes and quickly walked over.

There was another couple in the boat as well, Ray and Alma from Melbourne.  Ray was also a video guy so he and Steve sat in the front and quickly bonded.  To Ray, everything was worthy of a pun, and he was a hoot.

It was gray and drizzly, and after awhile turned into a downpour.  Sauce gave up and took us back to the dock, told us to get breakfast and come back at 9:30 and we would still go on the full two hours.

On cruise 2 for the day the sun came out, and it was a great trip.  We see the Black Bittern and Great-Billed Heron, and the Papuan Frogmouth and babies.  There are looks and opportunities for video for the Azure Kingfisher and Shining Flycatcher.  The smell of ylang-ylang is in the air, and the night flowering blooms are hitting the river with an audible plop.  (I can't find the correct spelling, but it is something like night flowering borotonia).

These flowers are so beautiful.  They hang down over the river in a sort of string of blooms that look like puffballs.  They bloom at night, and in the day all simply fall into the river.  The surface of Barratt's creek is covered with the fallen blooms.

The sound is so audible, and they look so light and fluffy, that I ask Sauce how heavy they really are.  He gets me a net to scoop one off the surface of the river (crocodiles you know...wouldn't want to put your hand in there!).  There are four pointed petals at the base, that are quite waxy and heavy, then all the thing filaments that are very soft.  From the river they don't have much scent, but if you pick one directly from the tree, they are really fragrant.  He shows us the only pink one he knows of on the river.

The native yellow hibiscus was blooming, and he picked one of those for me and took a bite!  They are edible, and taste a bit like lettuce.

We also saw an absolutely huge crocodile sunning itself.

I asked about a tree that had big red spikes coming out the top.  Turns out it is the fairly common umbrella plant that many of us have as houseplants, but it only flowers there.

Sauce also points out a tassel fern that only grows there; a black bean tree where if you break a small branch it smells like cucumber, beautiful water and river gums that hang out over the river and have beautiful trunk patterns; and, huge basket ferns.  A Ulysses butterfly actually sits still on a tree for us to look at.

End, Part 1!

Photos From Christmas Day in Australia 2013

Christmas morning on the Daintree River

The only crocodile on the morning crocodile cruise.  About 2 meters long.  Not far away was a cow carcass that had been taken off the shore by a crocodile.  The kids on the cruise got a lesson in nature.

A boat kept on the banks of the river.

Darter

My view from the blanket on the grass on the Esplanade in Cairns on Christmas day.

Looking the other way.

Christmas in Australia

It doesn't feel like Christmas

We have had warm weather Christmases before, so it wasn't  really the warm weather that made the difference.  It was a combo of Australia just in general not being as over the top as the US is about Christmas, and spending most of our time outside of cities and never in malls.  We also didn't listen to the radio (with the exception of Alan occasionally turning it on to get the cricket scores --sorry England) so never heard a single Christmas carol.

What were the signs of Christmas that we did see?

• A total of 5 cars with the red Rudolf nose on their front grills and antlers on their windows.
• 1 car with a renegade candy cane circle on the front grill.
• Two farms/ranches where they decorated the barbed wire fencing flanking their front gates.  One possibly decorated by a child, the other with a more Martha Stewart flair
• Lots of small towns with the old style, tinfoil garland type decorations
• Strings of colored lights in parks and over main streets
• Most of the small Australian Country towns we were in have divided main streets.  Often the median area is park-like with trees, shrubs, roses, benches, etc.  And, at this time of year, decorated Christmas trees

Our Christmas Day

Daintree Village

Steve started out early with some local birding and I slept in, then got some coffee and enjoyed it on the veranda.

We enjoyed Christmas breakfast on the veranda with Trish and Andrew, then headed down to the jetty.  Ian had invited us to be his guest on the 9:30 am cruise he was running.  This was on the bigger boat that focuses on crocs, but we were always happy to take the opportunity to be on the river.

We arrived early, and Ian and his partner were holding little bits of bread over the side of the boat.  He had trained archer fish to spit on command for the bread.  Archer fish spit streams of water to knock berries into the water to eat.  In this case, if they spit water he would throw them the bit of bread.  Very entertaining!

On the beach

After the river cruise we hung about on the veranda, had a cup of tea, Trish brought over some delicious shortbread cookies she had made.  Eventually we headed out, thinking to go to Mitchell Lake, but changed our mind and went to the Cairns Esplanade.

It was about 1 1/2 hours down the Captain Cook Highway, just a beautiful drive.  It skirts the sea most of the way and it is a gorgeous turquoise.  At the esplanade Steve headed for the mangroves to bird (got the mangrove robin) and I threw a blanket down on the grass and enjoyed the sun, reading, writing, watching people and the sea.

A Cassowary Christmas Eve

For everyone but us that is!  Darned Cassowaries.

Daintree River Wild Watch

The day started with a cruise with Ian "Sauce" Worcester on the Daintree River.  We had gone out with Ian on our previous trip in 2007 and knew we wanted to spend as much time as possible with him this time as well.  Trish had booked us for this morning and we walked down to the boat launch at 6:15 am.

Ian really works at getting you good camera opportunities on his smaller boat.  We went both up and down river, and up Barrett's Creek, which involved going under the bridge for the road into Daintree Village--something the bigger boats cannot do.  Steve got some good video of the Azure Kingfisher and Shining Flycatcher, and we see a huge (over 4 meters) croc.  

There's a nice young couple from Israel on the boat with us this morning and the girl asks if Ian can get closer to the croc.  He answers no, he's got grandchildren.  Their English wasn't strong, so I'm not sure she got it, but I giggled.

It was a beautiful morning on the river, the water still as glass.  I think they say something like 'Daintree, where the rainforest meets the sea.'  Here, the rainforest meets the river.  It's hard to describe how incredibly lush it is.  The trees, and vines, and ferns, and more are so dense, and there are spots where the land rises almost vertically from the river.  This is probably lucky for us since it would have made it hard to clear before it was protected.

Jindalba Boardwalk and the Elusive Cassowary

After the river cruise we returned to Red Mill House for breakfast then Steve went off birding for awhile while I showered, read, and wrote for awhile, with the occasional look into the garden at butterflies.

About noon Steve came back to get me and we headed over the Daintree River up to the Jindalba boardwalk.

The ferry is interesting.  It runs on cables, one on either side, and is simply cranked across the river. 

The boardwalk isn't far, and almost as soon as we get out of the car we see Cairns birdwings mating.  This went on for, no kidding, an hour or more.  Naturally we got video.  We walked the short loop boardwalk, taking our time as Steve shoots video and I look at plants and butterflies.  

A group comes by and told us they saw a cassowary walking by.  Hmm.  No one acted very excited, were they pulling our leg?

We continued around the boardwalk, taking our time, and when we returned to the parking/picnic area we sat down for some water, fruit and cheese.  And who should walk up?  The couple who went on the nocturnal tour with us with Alan Gillanders!  They are really nice people and we chatted awhile, and then they told us they had just seen the cassowary from the boardwalk!  Darn, I guess the other guy wasn't fibbing.  We decided we had to make the loop again just in case, but, no luck.  

By the way, the Cairns Birdwings were still at it.

An early Christmas Gift

Trish had given me two ferry coupons so it would be a little cheaper to cross the river.  I lost one in the parking lot at the boardwalk and was ready with my $13 at the ferry.  The ferry worker waved me onto the ferry when I told her, and finished her work of loading the ferry.  As we approached the other shore, she came up to me, leaned in the window, and said I had an early Christmas present and not to dole her out!  She earned the right to wear that merry Santa hat she was wearing.

A Christmas Eve Dinner

With limited options in the village, we had arranged with Trish to prepare a meal for us at Red Mill House.  She prepared a delicious dinner of grilled chicken and sausages, homemade bread, and a really fresh salad that I thinnk had mint in among the greens, and was crunchy with macadamia nuts.  Steve got mango, and I got passion fruit and papaya after.  A XXXX Gold rounded out the meal.

Caroline and John from the UK have arrived, and their passion is mammals.  We all chat, sitting out on the veranda, and later look for the nocturnal mammals.

Butterflies of note:

Cairns Birdwing

Bordered Rustic

Common Crow

Orchard Swallowtail 

Ulysses Swallowtail 

Orange Bush-Brown

Hamndryad

Large Green-banded Blue

Green-spoted?

Birds of note:

Azure Kingfisher

Black Bittern

Great necked heron

ShiningFlycatcher 

Red Mill House

We arrived a bit past 6 the night before, and luckily Trish from Red Mill House had made arrangements for us to eat at the Daintree Rainforest Tea House just up the road as everything in the village was closed.  There was one other person dining, and I quickly deduced that he was also staying at Red Mill House.  He figured it out too, and soon we were chatting.

We had a nice meal, and conversation, then headed back up to Daintree Village.

Red Mill House - Daintree Village

People have heard me talk about Red Mill House before.  I think they should run classes on how to run these type of establishments.  They strike just the right balance of welcome - not overwhelming, but warm and friendly. (remember our St. Charles BnB hostess Whitney?)  And If you need any sort of arrangements made or have questions about what to do, where, when, and how, Trish will have you sorted out in no time.

And for birders, they are just the best.

If we come back one more time, and stay in the lower near room we will have stayed in each of the rooms in the four unit building.  This time we are on the far end at the top.  The rooms are very nice, big comfortable bed, nice amenities, and a big wide veranda out front.  A fridge is provided, already stocked with cold water, and in addition to the coffee and tea always available on the main veranda, there is a kettle, tea and coffee available outside your room.  A big umbrella is also provided, hanging just outside your door.

The gardens are gorgeous, and you can do some bird and butterfly watching right there on the grounds.  I didn't get a chance to use the pool this time, but I have before, and it is nice and refreshing after a busy day birdwatching.

Breakfast is provided (it is, after all, a bed and breakfast) and Trish is a great cook.  Always a tropical fruit plate, homemade yoghurt, toast, and cereal is available.  And she will cook you a hot breakfast as well.

There is a very nice lounge area with plenty of reference material if you need to look up a mysterious bird.

Sydney on New Year's Eve

I realize I am really really far behind on blogging.  It's not just internet access, it's finding the time!  We are having a wonderful time, and sad to see it coming soon to an end.

Here are a few pictures to tide you over until I can catch up more.  These are the views from where we are staying in Sydney.  We will see the fireworks over the harbor bridge tonight.

From the Alexandra Lookout to the mouth of the Daintree River of the