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On My Own - Australia and New Zealand 2002 Emmalee Tarry |
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The Lady Carrington Track is 9.6 KM of unsealed fire road. It is mostly easy walking and fairly level except for the uphill section at the south end. It was first built as a carriage road. It is a little too far for me to walk the length and back so I walked it in two trips starting at either end.
My first hiking day I started in Audley at the north end of the Lady Carrington track. In the river was Australasian Grebe, Pacific Black Duck, Dusky Moorhen, Little Pied Shag. I walked some distance on the track without seeing much. This area was caught in a large fire several years ago and the underbrush has not fully recovered. Since the winds were quite high, I went to the surfing beach at Garie to watch the surfers and to scan the coast for seabirds. This was not profitable. There were Masked Lapwings on the beach.
The following day I went to the south end of the Lady Carrington Track. Park to one side of the stone gate. They warn you to be careful about leaving your car here, but what can you do but take a chance. This site is fairly close to the train station and I guess thieves have broken into cars in the past. I parked here on three occasions without problems.
The first section is downhill through very tall forests. I saw many small birds in the upper canopy which I had no chance of identifying this early in my trip. I did see a Green Catbird.Two early hikers on their way out told me they had seen a Lyrebird behind the Audley 9km sign at the bottom of the hill. I forgot the little jobs in the high canopy and made my way to the sign. And there was the Superb Lyrebird as promised. I actually heard it scratching in the leaves before I saw it ten feet off the path. It paid no attention to me and went on scratching in the dirt. A little group of small birds were actively searching for food right behind the Lyrebird: Yellow-throated Scrubwren, Eastern Yellow Robin, and Eastern Whipbird. Winter is the time to look for the Lyrebird. In fact as I was beginning to realize winter is a very good time to bird in Australia since their winter is very mild.
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One of the birds that follow the Lyrebird is the Eastern
Whipbird. The bird appears black with a white throat. This pictures shows the
wings and back to be very dark green. Easily heard, it is not so often seen and
obviously pretty hard to photograph. The song is a loud whip cracking. |
A biker stopped to chat. There were several bikers on the track most of them riding very fast. Best to stay out of their way. The friendly guy was a fisheries Biologist whose hobby is fishing. He likes birds too and stopped to tell me about Eastern Whipbird he was hearing. Actually the Whipbird was the one bird whose call I knew. It really does sound like a whip cracking. He said they were hard to see, but I had just seen one following the Lyrebird.
Walking back I had a third Lyrebird walking parallel to the track and a fourth cross the track in front of me. Either this was a really good day or this is really the place to see the Lyrebird. I returned here later in the spring and didn't see any Lyrebirds and yet I saw two Lyrebirds going up the road to the Barron Ground Bird Observatory about the same time.
| The Yellow Robin is easy to see. It has yellow underparts and a bright yellow rump. One of the things I noticed was its propensity to cling to the side of a large tree. I was soon to find out that the some of the other robins are not nearly so friendly and easy to see. |  |
That night I was the only camper at BonnieVale. The next day I went to Lady Carrington again and this time met a bird group from Sydney. They were very friendly and asked me how many North American birds I had. They invited me to the next meeting of the Sydney bird club. With them I saw my first Crimson Rosella perched in the canopy. I showed them a Lyrebird with a Whipbird following. May have been the same one as yesterday since it was near the Audley sign. I had White-throated Treecreeper and Pied Currawong. They were disappointed with the number of birds they were seeing. Also I finally identified the Superb Fairywren which I had seen a few days ago near the visitors center.
Bird Guide
In private communication after this book was first published Steve Anyon-Smith the author of the Birdwatching in Royal and Heathcote National Parks. offered to guide birders in the park. since he frequently birds there anyway. Contact him by email: steveas@tpg.com.au
A Day in Sydney
The Sydney pelagic has been cancelled for lack of participation. I am very disappointed, but since I now have no reason to hang around Sydney, I decide to head north to Lamington National Park for a week or so and to come back at the end of the month for the Wollongong Pelagic. Wollongong is just south of Sydney. I studied the map and plotted what looked like a good route through the city to the north. There is no good route and I spent a good part of the day starting and stopping at traffic lights and fighting traffic. In late afternoon I was finally north of the city and stopped in the La Mancha Campground. This was a great place with hot showers, internet, and swimming pool.
The campground was across the street from the train into Sydney and the next day I went into the city for the day. What Sydney lacks in highways it makes up for with wonderful trains: Electric, quiet, clean, two-decker cars, clean stations. On the way into town the train crossed the famous Sydney Harbor Bridge and I had my first look at the famous sails of the Opera House.
I got off at the Wyngard Station and walked down George Street to the Circular Quay where I took a trip on the Captain Cook ferry around the harbor for AU$20. It is a beautiful and historic harbor. For a price you can climb the Sydney Harbor bridge and I watched the tiny figures of the climbers. My son climbed the bridge twice on two trips to Australia. Its an activity for the young.
I had lunch at Doyle's on the Circular Quay. They have a winter special: soup, fried fish, chips, rolls and a glass of wine AU$19. The restaurant was full of older people all having the winter special. My table faced the harbor and the Opera House. A unique aspect of downtown Sydney is that feeding with the flocks of pigeons you find White Ibis.
Port Macquarie
The next day I continued north on the Pacific Highway, a road that varies from two lane with overtaking lanes every 5 km or so to four lanes divided highway. A campervan is really nice when traveling long distances because you can stop and fix a nice lunch and do a little birding without wasting much time. I find that by 3 PM I am tired of driving and look for a campground. On this day I ended up at the River Lodge Camp on the north side of the Macquarie River. This campground is mostly filled with permanent residents and people who maintain caravans here for their vacations. You can tell the permanent people because they have gardens, bird feeders, and elaborate extensions on their caravans. Living in a caravan seemed to be an accepted way of life in Australia. With the mild climate people adjust to walking to the common toilet and shower block. The campgrounds have laundry and recreational facilities and it must save money. A powered site cost me AU$15.
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I took a good walk around the campground and along the river. Rainbow Lorikeet, Galah, Crested Pigeon (left), White Ibis, Magpie, Scale-breasted Lorikeet, Noisy Miner, Noisy Friarbird, Eastern Rosella, Straw-necked Ibis. |
Rose-breasted Robin
In Coffs Harbor the next morning the odometer hit 1000km so Willy was due for the free service which my contract with Bartrak required me to handle. I found the Toyota place and they agreed to do it at 4 PM so I went and found a campground on the beach and spent a restful afternoon. It was warm enough to change into shorts. I wasn't expecting to spend time here. Thomas and Thomas have a paragraph on Coffs Harbor. Most of the ravens here are the northern subspecies of the Forest Raven which has been split into Relic Raven. I saw plenty of ravens in the campground so they must be the Relic Raven. I have to admit I find the split hard to determine in the field. You should also be able to see the Pacific Baza breeding here in spring. Unfortunately it is winter and I never did see this bird.
Pulling in the parking lot at Toyota, I hit a bump, the dish cabinet flew open and with a great crash everything fell out onto the floor. Taking your house on the road has its drawbacks. Nothing broke, but everyone certainly knew I was there. The service did not take long and soon I was back at the beach campground.
The next day I made tracks for Lamington National Park stopping for lunch just after Ballina at a rest park across the creek from Stotts Island Nature Reserve. A Rose-breasted Robin moved along the brush at the edge of the creek. This beautiful little bird is my second Australian robin after the friendly Yellow Robin in Royal National Park. I like this bird so much I decide I want to see all the Australian Robins. I wish it had stayed around instead it just moved right on hopping from branch to branch. I stalked around with my camera ready, but couldn't dig it up again. I am sure it is across the creek in nature reserve which is not open to the public. At least it is safe there.
Across the state line in Queensland I went to Neruna and asked directions to Canunga the jumping off point for Laminton National Park.. After some difficulty I got on the road to Canunga and was doing fine until a sign said "Canunga Ctr ->" . Confused I slowed down and when the road to the right appeared to be a dead end, I went on to the next intersection and stopped signaling a right turn. At this intersection there is no right turn. Now I am stopped on the highway with heavy traffic in both directions. The guys caught behind were probably in a frenzy. I am struggling to get the car into first gear so I can go forward when suddenly I hear a horrible crunch on the left.
The guy behind me driving an SUV and towing a boat couldn't stand it and had tried to squeeze through a narrow space on the left. Something on his boat clipped my left rear view mirror and destroyed it. He stopped and started to berate me because I was stopped on the road. He was gesturing to his two friends and yelling about there being plenty of room for him to pass on the left. When I said that I was driving a rental car and would have to notify the police, he jumped in his car and took off after handing me a piece of paper with "B Dovey Box XXXX Noosa Head".
I got his car license number. (Birders always have a pencil and notebook handy.) I went to the police station in Canunga and made an accident report. I figure Mr. Dovey and friends had been out enjoying a few beers on the boat and did not want to talk to the police. It doesn't matter how much room there was on the left, he had no right to hit my car with his boat.
The Queensland Police told me to report it to my insurance company. Bartrak refused to report it to the insurance company and the end result was that I got ripped off for the repairs to the mirror. I did hound the Queensland police to complete the investigation and made sure that his local police learned of his behavior. I think they already knew about Mr. Dovey. It turns out the Canungra Ctr sign refers to a local road named Canungra. It happens.
From Canungra I drove the steep, windy road to Lamington National Park. This very dangerous 35 km climb takes about an hour. A sign at the bottom warns "Not suitable for caravans". I was terrified especially when I was driving about 2 feet from a steep drop off. Willy took this climb with no trouble in low gear. I would not attempt this road at dusk or after dark and no birding on the way up. If you arrive late in the afternoon there is a campground in Canungra.
This was a tough day, but a day on which you see your life Rose-breasted Robin is not a bad day. Besides Lamington National Park was everything one could expect.
End Royal National Park
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