Walking sticks and sleeping dragons
What a great day! We started by going to the Daintree Entomology Museum which houses the largest private insect collection in Australia and is owned by Steve Lamond. It is indeed an impressive collection, of butterflies and beetles mainly, from all over the world. There are some spectacular specimens there that photos in books or on the internet just can’t do justice to. Some of the metallic wings are just so beautiful and a few of the butterflies have the kind that change colour when you look at them from different angles. Then there are the wings which, especially on the beetles, you would swear someone got out their model painting kit and painstakingly added the intricate patterns on. After spending quite some time marvelling over the display we went to look at the small collection of live butterflies in the shade house and finally at the stick insects outside on the plants in the garden. There were some Extatosoma tiaratum (McLeay’s Spectre) nymphs on guava plants and some Pandanus plants with what are commonly known as Peppermint stick insects since they spray a peppermint pheromone at would be attackers. We didn’t touch but looked down the lengths of leaves to see the light green nymphs and the dark
er, bluish green adults. Fantastic!
Leaving the bugs behind we headed toward Cape Tribulation, stopping on the way at Thornton Beach Cafe for a quick bite of lunch. I was a tad cold because I thought it was going to be a lovely sunny day, judging by the sun before we left, and wore my shorts but there was a sea breeze and it was quite overcast. Next we went to the Dubiji Boardwalk through the forest and mangroves that comes out at Myall beach. It was far better for birdlife than the Daintree Discovery Centre which, although it has impressive canopy tower etc, has a lot of noisy tourists which obviously make the wildlife wary and hard to spot. We saw so many birds among the forest surrounding either side of the walkway but what I was also excited about was that there were plenty of Pandanus plants along the way and now that we knew how to find the Peppermint stick insects, we found quite a few among plants that we could see had been chewed upon. It was so cool to find them in the wild like that even though all we could do is look and not touch. The boardwalk ends at the beach or you can go straight back to the picnic area and car park. We had a quick look at the beach then continued on our way to Cape Tribulation. It turned out to be not too far along where the lookout was but we didn’t realize that and ended up on dirt road for quite a while until the car in front of us which wasn’t four-wheel drive, stopped, then started to back up. It is then that we noticed the sign saying Four-Wheel Drive Vehicles Only Ahead We bravely went past the car in front around the corner to find a wider area with some road workers trucks then a creek. It was then that we realized this was the way to Point Cook and we must have missed the Cape Tribulation Lookout. We went back, found it and parked, only to find that the Lookout is closed for repair work until October! Ah well – we took a walk down to the beach anyway then drove back to our cabin.
er, bluish green adults. Fantastic!Leaving the bugs behind we headed toward Cape Tribulation, stopping on the way at Thornton Beach Cafe for a quick bite of lunch. I was a tad cold because I thought it was going to be a lovely sunny day, judging by the sun before we left, and wore my shorts but there was a sea breeze and it was quite overcast. Next we went to the Dubiji Boardwalk through the forest and mangroves that comes out at Myall beach. It was far better for birdlife than the Daintree Discovery Centre which, although it has impressive canopy tower etc, has a lot of noisy tourists which obviously make the wildlife wary and hard to spot. We saw so many birds among the forest surrounding either side of the walkway but what I was also excited about was that there were plenty of Pandanus plants along the way and now that we knew how to find the Peppermint stick insects, we found quite a few among plants that we could see had been chewed upon. It was so cool to find them in the wild like that even though all we could do is look and not touch. The boardwalk ends at the beach or you can go straight back to the picnic area and car park. We had a quick look at the beach then continued on our way to Cape Tribulation. It turned out to be not too far along where the lookout was but we didn’t realize that and ended up on dirt road for quite a while until the car in front of us which wasn’t four-wheel drive, stopped, then started to back up. It is then that we noticed the sign saying Four-Wheel Drive Vehicles Only Ahead We bravely went past the car in front around the corner to find a wider area with some road workers trucks then a creek. It was then that we realized this was the way to Point Cook and we must have missed the Cape Tribulation Lookout. We went back, found it and parked, only to find that the Lookout is closed for repair work until October! Ah well – we took a walk down to the beach anyway then drove back to our cabin.
That night we had booked a Night walk tour with dinner at the Wilderness Centre nearby beforehand. The guide would be starting the tour at the Wilderness centre, which provides accommodation as well as the restaurant. We had a very nice meal ending in just nice time for the tour. We were all given a large torch and I took my camera hoping to get some record of the experience even if it was really grainy. Mick, our tour guide, was absolutely amazing! He knows so much about what is out there in the rainforest and has sharp eyes that see tiny clues to an animal when he is scanning his torch around and then focuses on that spot to show us. We saw, by my count, twenty-four creatures during the two hour walk starting with a bandicoot running along the path at the start of our walk and ending in a young sleeping dragon lizard hanging on the trunk of a tree holding on by only its front legs with its back legs dangling. It must have had a hard day! I spotted two stick insects which Mick said were nymphs of the “giant stick insect” which would be the “Titan” or Acrophylla titan for those interested in its correct name. I also found two small crickets with very long antennae on a leaf and we saw a bumpy looking weevil on a tree growing bracket fungi. There were two saw-shelled turtles swimming in the creek and we found another out of the water on the rocks that Mick said would be coming out to lay eggs. There were several birds perched on vines or branches with their heads tucked under their wings and two tree frogs also perched precariously on vines way up high but they were quite big with whitish bellies and easy to see if you knew they were there of course! Mick spotted them; I guess he just knows what he is looking for. We saw a striped possum way up high among the canopy as well but too far away to get a photo and about three white-tailed rats but I missed seeing them
each time, they move fast but Fin got to see one.
each time, they move fast but Fin got to see one.It was a busy, tiring but interesting and enjoyable day we decided as we went back to Epiphyte for a cuppa before collapsing into bed.
Information on visiting the Daintree,Cape Tribulation area can be found here.
No comments:
Post a Comment