Billabong cruise and Wangi Falls
Late last night we couldn’t decide whether we could hear the wind in the palm fronds in the courtyard or if it was raining. Fin had a look out and said there were a few drops of rain out there. By the morn
ing it was evident that there had been quite a bit of rain during the night and after dressing in shorts and sleeveless top I decided it was a bit cool for the top anyway and maybe I should at least wear a T-shirt. It was so cool out that we both grabbed our jumpers from the car and put them on when we left to go on our tour. We drove through Litchfield National Park to LaBelle Homestead where we were to go on a Billabong Cruise. It rained pretty much all of the way there and when we got there the cruise operators and other tourists were huddling on the veranda out of the rain. Most people were the same as us and had expected the weather to be much warmer like the day before and there were even a couple of people wearing thongs on their feet. I had the good sense to wear my sneakers. So off we went on a four-wheeled drive tour bus; first to the cattle yards as it turns out that they give you tour of those also. The guy explained how they put through 3,000 head of cattle a year and so they have had to try to make it more efficient and possible for less people to do since they have trouble getting enough workers. They have devised some very clever gate and yard type systems and they don’t use sticks at all but utilize what they know about cattle behaviour to get them where they want them. They only use a stick with a bag hanging off a string to dangle at the cattle to make them go the way they want. It sounded like they have put a lot of thought into what they do in their farming. The only problem was that we had trouble hearing because the rain was so loud on the tin roof!
After this we were take
n for a fairly long drive to the billabong. To make the ride shorter and give us some more information they had a video screen at the front and we each had cordless headphones so we could watch a doco that Ben Crop has been making about the wildlife on and in the billabong. It was very interesting and the photography was fantastic. When we glanced out the window as we went along we noticed lots of little wallabies grazing or hopping around; apparently they are Agile Wallabies - very cute little fellas I must say. Once at the billabong, we got onto the boat which had a soft canopy roof which was dipping down with the weight of the rain on it. We pushed it up and let the water pour over the edges and all over the already wet seats along the sides of the boat. Hmm, I guess we won’t be sitting down this trip!
We got underway with some misgivings but were pleasantly surprised when we saw a beautiful billabong with lilies and other plants populated by many water birds. Within five minutes of motoring along we saw our first crocodile. We saw quite a few during the trip, both the smaller fresh water kind and the big estuarine ones also. We went down several tributaries (I guess you call them that when the river is no longer flowing still, that is has become a billabong) and we saw so much wildlife. The rain did ease off and we got really close to many of the creatures; certainly close enough for my 70 – 300mm zoom lens most of the time. The one exception would be the prey birds because they were either on the wing or sitting on a high branch but I still got a few decent shots of them anyway including this sea eagle that was rather damp and windblown.
After the tour which took about 3 ½ hours we went to a cafe along the way back through the park and then stopped at Wangi Falls (pronounced Wongy) It is two waterfalls cascading down into a natural pool and there were even some keen people swimming there. We took the walk around up above the falls and back around which was lovely and good exercise since it involved quite a lot of walking up rough rocky steps. There were some nice views from up higher and we saw a little wallaby along the way as well as quite a few butterflies. Following this we trudged back with our muddy shoes to our car and drove back to the motel since it would be almost dinner time by the time we got there. An enjoyable day!
ing it was evident that there had been quite a bit of rain during the night and after dressing in shorts and sleeveless top I decided it was a bit cool for the top anyway and maybe I should at least wear a T-shirt. It was so cool out that we both grabbed our jumpers from the car and put them on when we left to go on our tour. We drove through Litchfield National Park to LaBelle Homestead where we were to go on a Billabong Cruise. It rained pretty much all of the way there and when we got there the cruise operators and other tourists were huddling on the veranda out of the rain. Most people were the same as us and had expected the weather to be much warmer like the day before and there were even a couple of people wearing thongs on their feet. I had the good sense to wear my sneakers. So off we went on a four-wheeled drive tour bus; first to the cattle yards as it turns out that they give you tour of those also. The guy explained how they put through 3,000 head of cattle a year and so they have had to try to make it more efficient and possible for less people to do since they have trouble getting enough workers. They have devised some very clever gate and yard type systems and they don’t use sticks at all but utilize what they know about cattle behaviour to get them where they want them. They only use a stick with a bag hanging off a string to dangle at the cattle to make them go the way they want. It sounded like they have put a lot of thought into what they do in their farming. The only problem was that we had trouble hearing because the rain was so loud on the tin roof!After this we were take
n for a fairly long drive to the billabong. To make the ride shorter and give us some more information they had a video screen at the front and we each had cordless headphones so we could watch a doco that Ben Crop has been making about the wildlife on and in the billabong. It was very interesting and the photography was fantastic. When we glanced out the window as we went along we noticed lots of little wallabies grazing or hopping around; apparently they are Agile Wallabies - very cute little fellas I must say. Once at the billabong, we got onto the boat which had a soft canopy roof which was dipping down with the weight of the rain on it. We pushed it up and let the water pour over the edges and all over the already wet seats along the sides of the boat. Hmm, I guess we won’t be sitting down this trip!We got underway with some misgivings but were pleasantly surprised when we saw a beautiful billabong with lilies and other plants populated by many water birds. Within five minutes of motoring along we saw our first crocodile. We saw quite a few during the trip, both the smaller fresh water kind and the big estuarine ones also. We went down several tributaries (I guess you call them that when the river is no longer flowing still, that is has become a billabong) and we saw so much wildlife. The rain did ease off and we got really close to many of the creatures; certainly close enough for my 70 – 300mm zoom lens most of the time. The one exception would be the prey birds because they were either on the wing or sitting on a high branch but I still got a few decent shots of them anyway including this sea eagle that was rather damp and windblown.
After the tour which took about 3 ½ hours we went to a cafe along the way back through the park and then stopped at Wangi Falls (pronounced Wongy) It is two waterfalls cascading down into a natural pool and there were even some keen people swimming there. We took the walk around up above the falls and back around which was lovely and good exercise since it involved quite a lot of walking up rough rocky steps. There were some nice views from up higher and we saw a little wallaby along the way as well as quite a few butterflies. Following this we trudged back with our muddy shoes to our car and drove back to the motel since it would be almost dinner time by the time we got there. An enjoyable day!
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