Animal Action

Farewell to Le Grand

Posted on March 18, 2015 by Fifty Toes Walkabout

After ten relaxing days at Le Grand campsite we felt the need to keep moving. We haven’t been in WA for long and there is so much to see. We had a big dinner in the camp kitchen on our last night with our new friend Jackie cooking up a delicious Thai green curry. It was a lovely evening with great company. We’d seen so many great people and the kids had had loads of playmates.

 

View from Frenchmans Peak cave
Le Grand Beach
Another snake!
Sunset on Young River
Mundawarnup watches Le Grand
Little Hellfire Beach
Cape Le Grand Kids
John and Roy Gill at Skippy Rock
Big Dugite

We had also found five species of snakes, most of them passing through our site, tiger snakes, dugite, python, ringed brown snakes, and another short plump brown snake that our neighbour Rob nearly trod on.

Having had ten days of poor fishing we had to go to Stokes Inlet where we had been told you can catch your bag limit of black bream in 15 minutes. Stokes National Park was a short drive west and we set up camp before heading to the infamous Young River. Hannah had caught 3 fish before I could even get a line in the water, though nowhere near the fabled 40cm length that inhabit the waters. Everyone managed to catch several before Oscar hooked a big one that snapped his rod that he bought with his own money only the previous week. He was so distraught but still managed to land his 28cm fish for dinner. Oscar’s challenge complete again, catching and eating a fish.

With Amanda keen to get to Albany to pick up the kids schoolwork we were up early to head for Albany. Unfortunately for Amanda my curiosity took us down a 4WD track to a place called Skippy Rock. The campsite, perched above the beach was deserted except for a very friendly camphost, and we decided to stay. Roy, the camphost, took us fishing, and I caught two lovely fish for the BBQ later, a 44cm flathead and a 39cm silver trevally. No photos but they tasted delicious.

Roy was full of stories and despite being a mad keen fisherman, he was a gold prospector from Kalgoorlie who had even starred in a recent movie, Goldtown. He even had some small pieces of gold to show the kids. Everyone wanted to stay longer but schoolwork was beckoning and we were two days into the new fortnight.

Categories: Adventure, Animal Action, australia, Australian Outback, Beach, Big Lap, Discover Australia, Explore Australia, Journey Narrative, Kids Travel, National Park, Natural World, Photography, Travel, Travel Adventure, West Australia | Tags: , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

West Australia – here we come

Posted on February 12, 2015 by Fifty Toes Walkabout

Just as we approached the West Australian border a wild dingo calmly crossed the freeway in front of us. It was our first on the trip. We pulled over for lunch to eat some residual items that we knew would be lost through quarantine. 25km short of the border the coastline becomes a sloping descent rather than precipitous cliffs. Whilst a dirt road to the beach beckoned we gave it a miss and the kids had fun catching desert cockroaches in the car park. These insects were of herculean stature, buzzing past slowly everywhere. We swatted a couple for closer examination.

Big Roo at Bordertown
Oscar sticks to the fairway
Desert cockroach
Hannah tees off
Desert cockroach
Xavier putting
Big putt required
Amanda chips onto green
Golf Challenge completed!
Nullarbor Links

At the border we decided to play another Nullarbor Links hole to relieve the boredom of long straight roads. The straight par 3 hole looked a doddle, but when the clubs were handed over without balls, “because everyone loses them”, we noticed the fairway was largely rocks and dirt and it wasn’t long before balls were ricocheting into the bush in all directions. Armed with two clubs, one for striking the ball, the other for defence against abundant brown snakes, we zigzagged our way up the fairway several times, as we all wanted a go and we only had two balls. Best score of the day, two over par, 5.

50m away as we crossed the border we had a good chat with the quarantine officers who spoiled the kids with chuppa chups. We surrendered the few remaining items we hadn’t been able to eat then drove through. Here we are in West Australia after almost 15,000km on the clock.

Categories: 4WD, Adventure, Animal Action, australia, Australian Outback, Big Lap, Camper Trailer, Car, Challenges, Discover Australia, Explore Australia, Journey Narrative, Kids Travel, Mitsubishi, Photography, South Australia, Travel, Travel Adventure, West Australia | Tags: , , | 2 Comments

Lincoln National Park – Memory Cove

Posted on February 5, 2015 by Fifty Toes Walkabout

A short drive from Port Lincoln brought us to Lincoln National Park, and we drove down the 4WD track to Memory Cove. During Matthew Flinder’s trip to the area in 1802, eight of his crew took a boat to shore, foundered on the reef near Cape Catastrophe, and lost their lives. The surrounding offshore islands were individually named after them and Memory Cove as a reminder of the incident.

Sea Hare
Mother and baby dolphin
Sealion
Sealion
White-bellied sea eagle
Sealion
Xavier watches a show
Memory Cove
Dolpins

Access is via a padlocked gate and a very rough road takes you to the beach. Unfortunately as soon as you arrive a swarm of bees descends looking for water, so the full awning went up to protect us, but not before I accidentally trod on one and got stung. Once set up things got better and the next few days were spent exploring the beach, shoreline, surrounding area and a bit of fishing. Wildlife abounds in the National Park and when Xavier wasn’t finding sea hares, peninsula brown snake jawbones and more besides we were watching Australian sea lions frolicking around the bay, and sea eagles flying overhead. We even got to watch a newly born baby dolphin being taught the ropes by its parents in the shallows of a nearby beach. It was tiny, barely a metre long and looked very clumsy when it surfaced to breathe, pushing its whole head and torso out, rather than just exposing the blowhole. Fish were everywhere and when the wrasse had stopped eating all the bait the big stuff came out (around dusk). Having watched swimmers in the sandy shallows it was a bit unnerving to see a 2+m bronze whaler cruising in knee-deep water two nights on the trot. Memory Cove is famous for the presence of Great White Sharks in the murky depths but this was 10m from the shore. That said I couldn’t resist slipping into the water at a spot where the sea lions were hanging out to try and get a photo. Unfortunately they were very wary and not as inquisitive as I was hoping they would be in the water. When I didn’t have a camera at hand they were more than happy to mock and put on fantastic jumping performances as we approached. I landed a large eagle ray on the last night after a 30 minute battle, and released it back.

Categories: 4WD, Adventure, Animal Action, australia, Australian Outback, Beach, Big Lap, Discover Australia, Explore Australia, Journey Narrative, Kids Travel, National Park, Natural World, Photography, South Australia, Travel, Travel Adventure | Tags: , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Brachina Gorge, Flinders Ranges

Posted on January 21, 2015 by Fifty Toes Walkabout
Brachina Gorge view
Fun at Youngoona waterhole
New life sprouting
Youngoona waterhole
Brachina
Xavier’s bat
Yellow-footed rock wallaby
Bunyeroo valley lookout
630m year old stromatolite formation
Grave of Emma Smith
Birds nests in cliff
Wedgetail eagle
Flood damaged road

We took the dirt road through Bunyeroo Gorge to the middle of Brachina Gorge, stopped at a couple of the lookouts then entered Brachina Gorge. The gorge is a geological showcase for many rock formations/types over 130 million years from 620+million years to 500 millions ago over a 20km drive. In 2004 a new geological period, the Edicarian, was determined based on fossil beds found in the gorge, that documented many primitive life forms not previously documented (we’d seen these in the museum in Adelaide). We camped nearby at the Trezona campground by the river. Once unhitched from the trailer we explored the gorge and found the recent rains had washed away sections of road, nothing the Pajero couldn’t handle fortunately. The highlight for the kids was Youngoona waterhole where they found enough water to submerse themselves and cool off, catch the enormous tadpoles and watch the birdlife that congregates around the river. My favourite was the rainbow bee-eater, but there were also kingfishers and nests in the cliff that looked like swifts or swallows – anyone who can identify please let us know. Wedgetail eagles frequent the gorges in abundance too.

The morning brought Xavier scampering up from the riverbed with a bat roosting in a curled piece of tree bark.

As we drove out of the gorge we found a mob of yellow footed rock wallabies, the cutest we have seen yet with their hooped tails.

Categories: 4WD, Adventure, Animal Action, australia, Australian Outback, Big Lap, Discover Australia, Explore Australia, Journey Narrative, Kids Travel, National Park, Offroad, Photography, South Australia, Travel, Travel Adventure, Walks | Tags: , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Seal Bay and more from Kangaroo Island

Posted on January 5, 2015 by Fifty Toes Walkabout

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Some of the other day trips we included in the Kangaroo Island trip were Raptor Domain, one of the kids favourites. We watched the three shows, Venom Pit, In-flight (bird show) and Fang-tastic, where the two very knowledgeable guides showed us local reptiles like scorpions, tiger snakes, and some less venomous ones (pythons, bearded dragons, sleepy lizards), and of course the bird show. We enjoyed waking up Casper the barn owl, seeing him pop out of his hollow tree then proceeding to hop across our knees, but the performances by the hobby and wedgetail eagle were also pretty impressive. Hannah, Oscar and Xavier all jumped up to hold a boobok owl.

Glossy Black Cockatoo
Ligurian Beehive in cave
Rosenberg´s goanna
Fossilised Whale Tooth
Cliffords Honey Farm

Xavier and I went on a hunt for the rare Glossy Black Cockatoo, and found a dozen of them only a few kilometres from our camp. Only about 200 live on the whole island.

Next stop was Cliffords honey farm whose pure Ligurian bees were introduced from Italy by early settlers and today Kangaroo Island has the purest Ligurian bees, even exporting them back to Italy. We all tasted the honey ice-cream before moving on and yes it was good. Later that day whilst exploring a cave in D’Estrees Bay we found a cave housing a wild Ligurian beehive. On the same beach Xavier found what appears to be a fossilised whale tooth and this made his day – let us know what you think it is from the picture above.

Along D’Estree Bay, in Cape Gantheaume Conservation Park we stopped to see the point where Ospreys have nested for 150 years. A huge nest sits on top of a flat rocky headland that just out at the end of the beach. Two chicks sat patiently in the nest awaiting the return of their parents, hopefully with a feed of fish. When I last visited 17 years ago the same nest had a different two chicks sitting there too.

Vivonne Bay
Humpback whale skeleton
Seal Bay resident
Sea Lion

Then we had to visit Seal Bay, home to the Australian Sea lion, where we wandered onto the beach to get a closer view of the sea lions who come to shore after 3 days swimming and feeding for a well deserved rest. At one end of the beach a boardwalk provides views of a Humpback Whale skeleton, placed in the dunes after the dead calf washed ashore in the 1980s. We took a minor detour on the way home to take in the azure waters and picturesque Vivonne Bay – we all loved Kangaroo Island and will be back!

Categories: Animal Action, Australian Outback, Discover Australia, Explore Australia, Journey Narrative, Kids Travel, Photography, South Australia, Travel, Travel Adventure | Tags: , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

Flinders Chase National Park, Kangaroo Island

Posted on January 4, 2015 by Fifty Toes Walkabout

A very belated Happy New Year to all. Here’s hoping 2015 brings you all good health, happiness, and plenty of adventure!

Flinders Chase National Park occupies a large proportion the western end of Kangaroo Island, and when I visited Rocky River many years ago it was abundant with the stocky Kangaroo Island kangaroos, echidnas, koalas, Tammar wallabies, snakes and much more. In 2007 a bushfire swept through the park devastating two thirds of the bush, so things had changed and I think Rocky River, the centre of the park has been rebuilt.

Admirals Arch looking for Seals
Fur Seal Pup
Remarkable Rocks
Long nose fur seal
Fur seal yawn
Scorpion
Fur Seal Pup
Remarkable Rocks

Wildlife still abounds, though not quite as intrusively as previously. The animals are still there though it seemed in smaller numbers. Birdlife proliferates around the centre at Rocky River and a number of short walks around the centre provides the visitor with opportunities to see the crimson rosellas, cape barren geese, scarlet robins and lots more. The visitors centre kept the kids busy for several hours with their touch tables of local animal skins, information about the megafauna that used inhabit the area tens of thousand years ago. The centre also provides a kit bag of tools for the kids to explore the sandpit. They got to experience the thrills of archaeologists, digging up/exposing megafauna bones in a 5 x 3m pit, a great learning experience.

We had to visit Remarkable Rocks which look like a giant has scattered unusually sculptured rocks on a solid granite base. The forces of erosion together with orange lichen growth make it a imposing site perched above the southern ocean backdrop.

Nearby, Admirals Arch hosts a colony of Long Nosed Fur Seals (previously NZ fur seals) which can be smelt long before you see them (very fishy and stinky), basking in and around the significant rock arch formation it was the season for spotting pups and some very cute ones at that.

For Christmas we headed to the most western point of the island, West Bay. The campsite was barely big enough for the trailer and awning but a lovely quiet spot perched just above a clean sandy surf beach. The kids didn’t hesitate their wildlife search and within a few stone turns we had new pets – Scorpions! Yes, scorpions in all colours and sizes. The kids took great pleasure feeding them ants and showing them off to our neighbours and their kids. Santa did find us there though his reindeer appeared to have a serious scuffle with the local possums judging by the commotion during the night in the campsite.

Categories: @travelaustraliawithkids, Adventure, Animal Action, Australian Outback, Discover Australia, Explore Australia, Journey Narrative, Kids Travel, National Park, Natural World, Photography, South Australia, Travel, Travel Adventure, Walks | Tags: , , , , , , , | 9 Comments

Ewens Ponds

Posted on December 19, 2014 by Fifty Toes Walkabout

Our next stop was to a favourite of mine, Ewens Ponds, located near to the fishing town of Port Macdonnell. I had to show the kids the pristine waters that bubble out of the sandy bottom and flow down eight mile creek to the sea. The water is very cold though reaching 15-16 degrees, if you’re lucky.

Ewens Ponds
Ewens Ponds
Galaxid
Ewens Ponds
Ewens Ponds
Ewens Ponds
Algae in Ewens Ponds
Freshwater Crayfish

Freshwater Galaxids, Ewens pygmy perch (Nannoperca variegate) and even black fin bream can all be found relatively easily in the ponds, though in the cold water they proved harder to photograph. The big spiny freshwater crayfish are always a highlight. This little conservation area is a gem, and even whilst snorkelling through the three ponds I could hear loads of birdlife in the surrounding wetlands and reeds.

Categories: Adventure, Animal Action, Australian Outback, Big Lap, Discover Australia, Explore Australia, Journey Narrative, Photography, SA, South Australia, Travel, Travel Adventure | Tags: , , , , , | Leave a comment

In search of a fearsome beast in the Otway Ranges!

Posted on December 15, 2014 by Fifty Toes Walkabout

A carnivorous loathsome beast hides in the rainforest in the Otway Ranges. It uses stealth and cunning to find its prey then devours them slowly. That’s what convinced Fifty Toes that they had to track one down and capture it. Using local knowledge we found out what areas it could be found. Driving out of Apollo Bay we found Koalas first at Kennet River. A quick stop for a photograph was required for our top 25 list (more on that later)

Koala

After the brief distraction we headed for Maits Rest rainforest walk. We walked as silently as a troop of baboons through the forest, looking everywhere, and just as the kids interest started waning, Oscar let out a cry “I’ve found one!”. Well not quite, but a very small part of one.

We chose a dirt track to take us to another likely site and 20km later we set out on the walk to Beauchamp falls

Beauchamp Falls

Beauchamp Falls

Within minutes our enthusiasm was raised as we started finding evidence of Victaphanta compacta. We laid a bounty down of 2 sweets for the first person to find a live one, and just as we arrived at the falls the cry went up – Amanda found it and with Oscar’s help he emerged with the famous Otway Black Snail in his hands, a species of carnivorous land snail that eats meat. Maybe not such a fearsome beast but a very unusual critter nonetheless. Mission accomplished!

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Categories: Animal Action, Australian Outback, Big Lap, Discover Australia, Explore Australia, Great Ocean Road, Journey Narrative, Kids Travel, National Park, Natural World, Photography | Tags: , , , , | 3 Comments

Narawntapu National Park

Posted on December 8, 2014 by Fifty Toes Walkabout

Narawntapu National Park hadn’t been on our radar but when Hannah rejected our camp in the middle of the river at garden island near Clarence, after we had set up camp I may add, but we stumbled upon it as we headed towards Devonport, with only a few days left before we leave Tasmania.

NarawntapuNP

Dubbed the Serengeti of Tasmania it comes as no surprise to see vast expanses of short grassland, but instead of wilderbeest, lions, and elephants, this national park is full of marsupials. Forresters Kangaroos, Bennetts Wallabies, Pademelons, Bettongs and Potoroos all can be found here. I still can’t work out which is which but the ranger told us the rule of thumb was whether they are knee or waist high, and bigger or smaller than this, but there are so many joeys around too they are starting to all look the same. The wetlands are a haven for bird lovers and one of Tasmania’s top 60 short walks is the Springlawn walk to the bird hide in the middle of the lake. Our camp was surrounded by wombat holes, but no sign of them yet!

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The boardwalk takes you past swamps, melaleuca and silver banksia forest, then on to the lakehide. Black swans and coot were everywhere but also to be spotted were Australasian grebe, maned duck, pacific black duck, egrets, herons, blue billed duck, musk duck, hoary-headed grebe and many others.

Just beyond the hide the path takes you on a bush walk to the top of Archers Knob, where commanding views over the park can be enjoyed, including the full length of Bakers Beach. This beach has millions of soldier crabs parading the shoreline at low tide and the kids had a competition to see who could find the most shark and ray eggs. They found at least 4 different species.

I also spotted my first snake here – a tiger snake basking in the sun on the walking path.

The poor wombats are suffering from Wombat mange caused by mites and seeing a wombat with very little fur staggering around during the day, covered in flies was not a pretty sight.

Categories: 4WD, Adventure, Animal Action, Australian Outback, Beach, Big Lap, Discover Australia, Explore Australia, Journey Narrative, Kids Travel, Location, National Park, Natural World, Photography, TAS, Tasmania, Travel, Travel Adventure, Twitcher, Walks | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Eddystone Point and Deep Creek

Posted on December 7, 2014 by Fifty Toes Walkabout

On the far eastern point of Tasmania, above the Bay of Fires, within Mt. William national park is Eddystone Point. Our new home was the Deep Creek campsite several kilometres away, where a handful of fishing shacks line the shoreline. A short walk from the campsite up the shallow creek takes you to a large deep pool that would be great in summer but given the weather we have been experiencing no-one was up for the challenge to jump in.

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A quick visit to the lighthouse built at the end of the 19th century was followed by a visit to nearby Larc beach. Recent storms had laid bountiful piles of seaweed on the beach, but on closer inspection one pile turned out to be a particularly gruesome seal carcass. The kids loved this, though were a little disappointed that it wasn’t a Thylacine (extinct Tasmanian Tiger). It was so badly decomposed all we saw at first were the big canine teeth and fur. With storm clouds approaching we had a quick look at the Bay of Fires beach, recommended as being one of the whitest sands to be found, before returning to camp. When we returned the following morning Xavier found a Hooded Plover nest with two eggs in it.

Categories: 4WD, Adventure, Animal Action, Australian Outback, Beach, Big Lap, Camper Trailer, Discover Australia, Explore Australia, Journey Narrative, Kids Travel, Location, National Park, Natural World, Offroad, Photography, TAS, Tasmania, Travel, Travel Adventure, Twitcher, Walks | Tags: , , , , , | Leave a comment

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