Our Favourite Cemetery

Friday Sep 23

Too early for breakfast, we set off at 7.15, driving to The Gap along Gap Creek Road which is newly metalled. On our first visit here,in our ignorance,  we drove it when it was gravelled, very twisty and climbing. Mike was horrified, he hadn't tackled it in the 4x - and gravel driving is not allowed by car hire firms. It's much more direct and misses out a lot of urban bits. We'd succeeded in making Martina (SatNav) lose her voice, which was irksome. I eventually managed to sort her out in a layby, being provided with an instruction book would have helped as I've never used one before. She is now fully functional and takes a lot of the navigation pressure off me.

We arrived at Samsonvale Cemetery soon after 8.30, set up our chairs in the shade looking into the wood and ate breakfast. Crackers, cheese, strawberries and yoghurt. Lovely. A hungry looking male Brush Turkey came too close for comfort - and my lens - we had to stamp our feet at him.

Sara hates them, she thinks they're ugly and they make a mess in the garden. They're members of the Megapode family and build heaps of soil and leaves in which to lay their eggs - and then walk off to keep a general eye on things returning to kick on more soil etc. I rather like them.

We stayed in the wooded area adjoining the small cemetery overlooking the extensive Samsonvale lake until early afternoon, me photographing the newly arrived pair of Rainbow Bee-eaters which will nest in the cemetery and Pam locating the birds. Unfortunately, I discovered that my camera mode switch was on Aperture priority, achieving a sharp image of moving birds became rather difficult - I discovered when I downloaded them. I loved it though.
The lake was deeper an more extensive than we'd ever seen it. Caspian and White-winged Black Terns fished distantly, Pied Cormorants, Australian Pelicans, Australasian and Great Crested Grebes, Darters, Black Swans, Intermediate Egret and Wood Ducks scattered around. Whistling Kite and a Fish Eagle patrolled the far shore.

Here are a few of the acceptable photos.

Rainbow Bee-eaters

Noisy Friarbird at the partially completed nest.

After lunch, we paid a short visit to Kobble Creek picnic area, just up the road, before the return journey. We've seen some good birds here in the past, not to-day, it was deserted. The only notable sighting was a large, coiled Carpet Python at the side of the road. Pam established that it was newly dead, a probable road kill - through her binoculars. Not harmful to humans, it's a squeezer and swallower of small mammals - including cats and dogs.

Martina guided us home via  a cake stop at Brumbies (Aus bakery chain) in Samford.
Harry was still out, Sara not home from work and Mike and Josh took Mojo for a walk. Lucky we were there to let Matt and mum in. He's staying the night and mum wanted to make sure that his vegetarian needs would be met. Five minutes later, Mike arrived with a very soggy Mojo. He'd chased a bird into the creek and had to be hosed down in the garden. He was devastated that he wasn't allowed into the house and whined piteously. I'd have given in.....
I have now added some of Pam's pics to earlier postings.