Long Weekend Darwin & Kakadu Escape

Don't really know why, but as the long weekend approached I started feeling jittery. The last few weekends I had tried to re-explore Sydney, which had been fun, but I was running out of ideas; stalking Albatrosses is hard work and slightly boring when you are alone .. and since the wind had dropped predictions were that even if I sat down at Long Bay alone for 3 days I could very well end up seeing nothing of interest. Jarrod and Adelle were back in town, but counting on them throwing another wedding was probably a bit optimistic - guess it will take a while before Jarrod puts the "dancing legs" back on again :-)

I wanted to go camping, but weather was not looking promising around Sydney and even with an extra day you can easily end up using more time in the car than on the ground. By absolute coincidence(?) Qantas had sent an email proclaiming how incredibly cheap you can fly in Australia - obviously the cheap prices that makes you start daydreaming are near impossible to get and since they are one way there is a good possibility of Qantas earning what they need on your return ticket. However, the possibility of minimizing the need for using extra days off work was very tempting and I realized that if I left Sydney Thursday night after work - Friday would be way too expensive - and took the insanely early (but cheap) flight out of Darwin Tuesday morning 1.45am I would be able to have 4*24 hours in Darwin/Kakadu for the price of 1 day off and without being slaughtered economically.

I had an amazing trip! There was a bit of everything; snakes, crocks, camping, vistas and birds(!) It was very tempting to want to see it all .. so I tried! However with only 4 days and a rented Toyota Yaris that was not the supersonic speed prepared version - I obviously chose the 1.3L since it was the cheapest - I realized that something would have to be saved for another trip ... how sad :-)

I have only just made it through my photos and I will need a couple of days to get some pictures online and make up a couple of stories to go along with "the artwork" so stay tuned and it will all happen here at this site in the next couple of days :-)

The numbers were: 1596 photos, 98 hours in NT, 25 liters of water (I was a bit "damp"), 2 gas canisters lost in Sydney airport (you are not allowed to fly with them), 800km in the Yaris, $80 for petrol, 3 campsites, 2 boat cruises, 32-34 daytime temperature - good solid winter performance!, 1.5kg of gnocchi, 1000 mosquito bites, 1 rufous owl and a minimum of another 51 previously unseen birds

After going through my photos it looks like the list of birds below constitute the feathered wildlife I do not recall having seen previously. There are still a few pictures where some ID help could result in an addition or two to the tally.
Orange-footed Scrubfowl
Magpie Goose
Wandering Whistling-Duck
Plumed Whistling-Duck
Radjah Shelduck
Green Pygmy-goose
Pied Heron
Cattle Egret
Intermediate Egret
Black Bittern
Glossy Ibis
Black-necked Stork
Brolga
Comb-crested Jacana
Whiskered Tern
Banded Fruit-Dove
Pied Imperial-Pigeon
Partridge Pigeon
Red-collared Lorikeet
Varied Lorikeet
Red-winged Parrot
Rufous Owl
Barking Owl
Azure Kingfisher
Blue-winged Kookaburra
Forest Kingfisher
Large-billed Gerygone
Helmeted Friarbird
Silver-crowned Friarbird
White-gaped Honeyeater
White-throated Honeyeater
Bar-breasted Honeyeater
Rofous-banded Honeyeater
Dusky Honeyeater
Grey-crowned Babbler
Mangrove Robin
Lemon-bellied Flycatcher
Northern Fantail
Leaden Flycatcher
Shining Flycatcher
Spangled Drongo
Yellow Oriole
Olive-backed Oriole
White-winged Triller
Varied Triller
White-breasted Woodswallow
Little Woodswallow
Torresian Crow
Zitting Cisticola
Long-tailed Finch
Crimson Finch
Yellow-rumped Mannikin

Another Swarm of Alabatrosses

You all know the drill by now - strong Easterly winds during winter gives Sydneysiders the possibility of seeing some of the most impressive seabirds on the planet. The only thing you have to do is to get your lazy ass out of bed and make it to a good positioned headland. Normally you are quite lucky if you get action happening within binocular range and it is recommended to bring a scope - my lens and camera combo gives me probably something in between, which means I can get the shot and it can be used for identification (if I am lucky), but it is not something you print in poster size and give your potential sweetheart for Christmas :-) This morning looked slightly less impressive than the morning of my previous pelagic excursion, windy alright but nowhere near as strong as last time, however it had been blowing for nearly 2 weeks - wonder if those birds were still there(?)

It was absolutely swarming with good seabirds and they were flying closer than I have ever seen before; Gannets hanging more or less above my head and terns actually choosing to fly behind(!) me instead of sticking to the water.

1100 pictures, 3 types of Albatrosses, a Giant Petrel cruising by, a White-bellied Sea Eagle! Crested and White-fronted terns galore and much more.

Birds were amazing, but hard work with the camera! Light was difficult shifting from being nearly dark during heavy rain to blistering sunshine when the sun broke through. Because of the amount of pictures I had to shoot a lot of jpg ... raw would have been better, but would also have given much more time editing in front of the computer :-)

Hopefully this will be enough to convince the rest of the gang to come along next time there is a bit of pelagic action - I am nearly getting afraid that some of the BWs are not taking their "sport" that seriously :-)

Pelagic, Long Bay 2

Fish and Chips in Watson's bay

When I arrived in Sydney nearly 4 years ago, I was armed with roughly 30'ish years of life experience (one thing I have noticed other young people lack these days) and the 6th edition of "Turen Går til Australien" - a travel guide boasting the massive equivalent of 70 A4 pages where all you need to know about "The Land Down Under" is put in writing, from the Bungle Bungle in WA - apparently the pride and joy of WA tourism(?) - to the 10 things you have to do in Sydney. After my pelagic excitement the day before I took a liking to number 9: Fish and chips in Watson's bay ... the book suggested taking the ferry from Circular Quay, but the author has obviously never had the pleasure of being transported in a Magna, so I went with style ;-)

Living and working in Sydney you fall in the trap of forgetting how nice a place it really is. Watson bay is one of the not too shabby places and neither is the fish and chips ... there is also a nudist beach :-) - mostly men though :-( ... and no pictures from there :-( ... this time :-)

For the BWs I can reveal that it is a top spot for Peregrine Falcons, there are at least two.

As usual I have put together a little album on my Picasa account and you are very welcome to take a look by pressing the little picture below. I have included quite a few panoramas again - and I know you all sit and think "if just I could do that" ... and you can! Thanks to a little program Dr Simon Iremonger once showed me called Autostitch, there should be a link in the right hand side of the blog. As the "Auto" part of the name suggest it is super easy to use and it is free! If you as me do not have any lens options below 50mm (75mm FF equivalent) you will absolutely love it :-)

Watson's bay

Windy Weather Equals Albatross Action

Sydney has been blasted with terrible weather the last week - terrible weather means lots of rain and strong Easterly winds. However Easterly winds are not all bad and Saturday morning I set out to take advantage!
The BIG seabirds live most of their lives on their wings, just hovering along following the winds of the sea ... as stated above those winds have lately been coming from the East pushing those giant albatrosses in towards the coast - in towards Bigma range :-) My prediction was that there should be a good chance of getting some pictures of some seriously big birds, without risking being seasick :-)

Weather was very rough! The combination of huge waves and blasting winds gave terrible camera conditions at the clifftop. Only at the very highest points of the cliff the camera was safe from the spray of saltwater, but these elevated positions meant being totally exposed to the blasting winds, which made it near impossible for me to keep my balance while handling the camera. I was constantly trying to keep the lens clean, but saltwater is poison for a front element! I actually gave up twice - started to walk home - just to hesitate, stop up and realize that it was way to good action to miss and then walked back :-) In the end it took a direct hit of saltwater onto my camera and lens before I decided that it was time to head back home - with 400 photos in the camera I was actually quite happy with the outcome of the day ... which was lucky since the rest of the evening was used cleaning camera, lens and front filter :-\

All in all an amazing day at the coast, with quite a few birds I do not recall having seen before. I still have a stack of raw images that I have not processed yet, but I have uploaded a few jpgs to my Picasa account, which you are welcome to access by pressing the little picture of the gannet down below. I must warn the readers, particular those of you who are not so much into birds (e.g. my grand mums). I have tried hard by adding a few landscape pictures and some panoramas, however, it is hard making an album of birds - that all look like seagulls - very "action packed". It does not help either that the birds look tiny and the pictures are grainy, due to the fact that the "action" took place 200 meters off the coast: So if small seagulls are not your cup of tea, when please wait for my very touristy next blog entry, which will soon be published and contain some "fish and chips"-bonanza from Watson's bay :-)

Pelagic, Long Bay

Powerful Owl Action in the Capertee with The Yiing

With an absolute frantic push Thursday evening, a camping trip was arranged in less than 5 minutes. Yiing had invested some of his hard(?) earned $$$ in a tent and the Magna was more or less still packed from my last trip - I told you in a previous post that winter laziness had hit me hard! - how convenient :-)
Did the good old full-speed-out-of-Sydney-Friday-after-work routine only deviating from the usual procedure by a quick pick-up stop around Canonland where a very well packed Yiing had changed from his "I earn +200 kilo dollars a year"-suit to something much more colorful and camping like.

It was windy and it was cold, but boy did the Capertee deliver this time! :-)
One of the amazing things about camping in Australia during winter is the possibility of exploring the darkness - lots of Australian wildlife is only active during the safety of the night - and that was why we headed into the darkness armed with spotlights and Yiing's bird-call knowledge as soon as the tents were pitched.
We had little luck at first, but when we returned to the campsite a, what we believe to be, powerful owl was sitting in a tree approximately 20 meters away from our tents overlooking the camp ground - decent start to the weekend ;-)

Saturday ended up producing some proper tramping - did a good long walk into the deep end of the valley and ended up being on our legs most of the day - you do not freeze when you move :-)

Yiing is apparently a quite keen BW, so I did what I could to help him by taking a few pictures. You are very welcome to follow the link to my Picasa album further down. There was a few feathery species I do not recall having seen before, such as:

Speckeled Warbler, Turquoise Parrot, a few Robins; scarlet, flame and hooded.

Also I will need to take a closer look at the Song- and Bushlarks; I think there was two types seen, but those guys are hard to distinguish - hopefully I will have decent pictures of both, and finally Yiing will try to listen to a few owl-calls on the internet and let me know what the final verdict is on the campsite owl.
Any of you guys have the "Field Guide to Australian Birdsong"?
Update: After having visited "The Owl pages" http://www.owlpages.com/sounds.php there is no doubt left, It was indeed a Powerful Owl we heard and saw :-)

Yiing's tent magically grew in size during the weekend? It was such a nifty little package when he jumped into the car Friday evening, but by Sunday morning I took all his engineering skills to get that fat bastard down into that tiny little bag :-)

Capertee Valley with The Yiing

Best Dural Wedding-Camping Combo Ever!!

Jarrod and Adelle's wedding was an absolute stunner! A party that start with 40 minuets of dancing, cheering and clapping simply has to be one of the most life-affirming thinks a farm boy from the dark end of Jutland has ever seen! Unfortunately I do not have any pictures from the dinner, but can produce a few shots from a nearly equally exciting church ceremony.



It all ended up being an absolutely lovely day. Lots of happy people and great fun. I even had a little go at the dance floor, guess it could be linked to the intake of "Dancing-water". Adelle's dad had generously supplied each table with a bottle of whiskey and I thankfully used the opportunity to meet up with two good old friends of mine; Chivas and Regal. Just about when the good old feeling of "I'm Superman and I can drink all the whiskey in Australia" started echoing in my brain a little voice of age and experience reminded me of the chunk of Kryptonite built into the bottom of every whiskey bottle I have ever emptied ... wonder if that makes me old and boring?
Old and/or boring? I still had a trump card on my hand - I had pitched the tent at a campsite ca. 500m from the establishment where the venue was held. As the party fizzled out a very joyful, but seriously slow flying Superman made his way up the road to find his "Fortress of Solitude" aka the good old proven tent.
All in all an absolutely amazing day; super duper wedding followed by one of the most solid sleeps I have ever had in the tent - great wedding+camping combo :-)