Yeees!!

Friday Oct 7

Well, we did deserve it. Awake at 5 and walking at Inskip by 6.15 a.m.

Inskip Point and its environs

Neither of us really believed that we'd be successful but that didn't stop us from trying hard. Again plenty of platelets to be seen.

Scanning the beach for waders produced a lone Bar-tailed Godwit. Pam spotted a couple of delightful White-breasted Wood-swallows cuddled up on a dead mangrove tree.

White-breasted Wood-swallows

We reached the far end in time to see the morning Barge to Fraser Island go past, from its overnight mooring.

The Manta Ray - Fraser Island in the background, it's not far.

A distant sand island held Pied Oystercatchers and a mass of terns, including Caspian, Great Crested and probable Whiskered. Lone Fishermen were silhouetted against the morning sun, high tide again.

As we were admiring the view, a Canadian woman appeared from the bush, saying that she and her husband had been viewing a pair of Black-breasted Button-Quail for 15 minutes but had just lost them. We approached the area of bush where they were last seen and crept around as stealthily as we could - in dead leaves and brittle twigs and branches. I spotted a movement and there they were, little beauties, only 17-19 cms. I spent the next 10 minutes trying to get a clear view for a photo. They were either under thick bush or rushing from one bit of cover to another. This is the best I managed. Rubbish.

Can you see it?

Here's what they really look like.

Unlike the Canadian man, I was not prepared to hassle them any longer. I did see the male spin on the spot to produce one of the platelets. The male sits on the eggs and is the dingier of the two. The female is handsomely black striped.

Inskip parking place and the entry to the maze of tracks through the trees.

Very happy indeed with our experience, we drove back to Rainbow to buy breakfast ,which we ate in a picnic site recommended by Trevor. Not good. 3 kilometres of badly corrugated gravel road which Pam hated, culminating in a very small and dark parking area surrounded by enormous trees and thick bush. Typical rain forest, damp with a  dank smell and a myriad tiny mosquitoes. We didn't stay long....

Next stop, Fairhill Botanical Gardens/Native Plants Nursery near Yandina, south of Gympie and Noosa. Good old Martina. It's got two lakes in the grounds which are set on a hillside, the owner's house is at the top of the hill, forest leads up to it and the gardens and tea room are at the bottom. Just as lovely as we remembered it being.

We bought Sara some ground cover plants for her garden, a Kangaroo Paw for the front and a raspberry pink belled climber called Roaring Meg. Tina had one and we loved it. The name's rather good too.

After Banana Bread - me - and Raisin Toast - Pam,  we walked up the hill but only had Little Friarbirds, no Noisy Pitta nor Green Catbird like the last time. We had our first Spectacled Monarch here too.

A small section of a spectacular 30 metres tall flowering tree in the forest

An easy journey back to Brissie, short cut negotiated without a problem. We called in at the newly opened Bellbowrie shopping centre (closed since the floods) finding a very nice Coles, a deafening steel band, a woman on stilts and someone making bendy balloon hats for kids !!

No-one in as we'd expected. Mike was collecting Josh from school, Sara's entertaining a prospective client to-night and will not be back until later (she Emailed me on Tues) and there was a large skip parked outside. Mike's done some more hedge chopping and it's already full.

I've been bringing my Blog up to date and chatting to Josh,  Pam's been playing sticks with Mojo and doing the chores and now Mike's taken the dog for a walk. Over a 100 Emails to sort.........