A trip to Eden

 We had to take the Mazda to Kings Smash Repairs in Eden as a result of my efforts.  A pretty pleasant drive although there was lots of smoke haze from Habitat Reduction Burns.

The smoke was evident at the lookout over the Bay so we decided not to do a walk there, but to go to Cocora Beach and try the walk to Quarantine Bay.  At the beach the pontoon was well endowed with a range of species of Cormorants.

The holey rock was looking photogenic.

As the walk emerged on to Quarantine Bay Road we came across a boat trailer graveyard.

There were several people cleaning fish and throwing scraps - in some cases quite large items to the team of cormorants, pelicans and stingrays below the tables.  This guy was hand-feeding a very large stingray - I suspect an Eagle Ray.  However, experts on iNaturalist have identified them as Bathytoshia brevicaudata Smooth Stingray (also known as Short-tailed Stingray).

There were 2 rays present.

4 Sooty Oystercatchers watched on!

In a few centuries people will be mining this breakwater for Pelican and Cormorant guano!

At times the competition for food got a little vigorous.

Sometime the eyes hold more than the gullet!

So you have to retreat to shred your meal in peace.

The walk back was a bit of a slog going up 47m to a ridge line!

A Wingan Adventure

 As the weather was pleasant and we felt like exploring a nearby area which we hadn't previously visited we decided to go to Wingan Inlet on 17 September.  Here is the route we took.  According to Google maps this is 85.6 km and should take 1:39, depending on traffic.  We felt it unlikely there would be any traffic issues once we turned off the Princes Highway

The road from the Highway to the campground was 35 km, with occasional distances painted on the trunks of trees.  The road was in quite good condition so I trundled along at about 80kph.  I noticed a marker for the Wingan Link Track and thought that if it was open it would cut off quite a bit of distance.

This water trough was a nice touch at the campground.  Presumably it is gravity fed from a creek somewhere.  A sign did say not potable.

We decided to take a walk to the beach (and once we got there, along the beach).  The walk was rather good, with omly a few bits of timber across it to be inconvenient.

As we walked along close to the water we were surprised to see a bloke fishing in the Inlet.  He seemed surprised to see us as well!  At the end of the track we had a good view out to the Skerries.

They were well endowed with seals!

Also a few Black-faced Cormorants - arrowed.  (Later I noticed a lot of Silver Gulls and Cormorants roosting on the rocks, but didn't take a photo.)

While looking out the fisherman came past us.  He chatted for a while - probably hadn't had anyone to talk to for a few days!  He had been working in the ski fields. but that job had run out so he was off to his next work, in Melbourne.  He was headed to the mouth of the Inlet where he had caught some Salmon on the Saturday.

This is Rame Head.  The walking track goes over the ridge on the inland side.  It was named by Cook as it resembled a feature on Plymouth Harbour.  From Google Earth it appears to be 71m high - but looks a fair bit more than that.

Some of the rocks at the end of the beach.

There were a lot of empty shells washed up at the end of the beach and some live shells on the rocks.  The arrow points to a large, live, Triton just in the water.  The iNaturalist system has identified the shell as Charonia lampas (Knobbed Triton Snail).

There were a lot of Oysters and Sea Anemones on the rocks visible as low(ish) tide.

A cache of washed up, and largely broken, shells.

A selection of shells laid out below a notice.  This would probably piss-off Parks as the shells had been moved from where the ocean had dumped them.

I have submitted this to iNaturalist which as frequently happens proposed an African species.  It is some form of everlasting but I can't sort out which!  The iNaturalist system has confirmed Coronidium elatum White paper daisy.

This puzzled us as the flowers were the colour of Indigophora but appeared to be growing on a vine rather than a shrub.  There I unravelled the vine a little and there were Indigphora leaves.

Back at the picnic area I spoke to some people about the Wingan Link Track.  They assured me it was open and the crossing of the river was on a big concrete bridge!  Here is the view from the middle of the Bridge, looking upstream.

The blue line in this shows the route back along the Link Track.  The red dashes show roughly the way we came.  The green dashes are the Link Track itself.  It took 22 minutes for that section.  According t Google Maps the way back was 81.6km (so saved 4km) but would take 1:36 (adding 7 minutes).  It was certainly slower driving on the track: 40-50kph as it was rather narrow with lots of blind corners: also a lot of fallen branches which made loud bangs on the underside of the car.  West Wingan Rd is the go when we return!

Lotsa photos: many of Animals without legs

 This is mainly about a trip we took to Merimbula, via Green Cape.  I shall begin by commenting on the title: I don't consider 'flippers' to be legs, so we begin early in the day with a few snaps of a seal swimming beside the Broome St Boardwalk.

Check the whiskers.

At the end of the Boardwalk I heard the call of an Australasian Figbird and with a little help from Photoshop Express, here is the male. The female was nearby, but I have too many photos in this post anyway.

So we headed off from home, with our first destination the Disaster Bay Lookout.  This first image is a reverse view of photos I took a few days ago on a trip to Nadgee.  It shows how the Bay Cliff could be considered a sea stack, if the encroaching sand was removed.

The pattern left by waves washing on the beach was intriguing,

Moving on to Pulpit Rock we were greeted by a large circle f white water, signalling that a cetacean (again flippers not legs), had just rejoined the water after a breach.  That didn't happen again but I did get a couple of snaps of parts of whales.

The view looking North.

We had hoped the Shearwater migration might have started but not so. The only ocean bird seen here was a solitary Gannet - by this time about 400 metres away.

I also snapped this Fairywren running around: it is fully off the ground and leaning into a curved path.

Rock platform with descending Frances!

The next photos were taken by Frances as went into the rock platform while I  continued to look for Cetaceans.  Looking back to the steps:

The Southern Wall.

An insertion in the wall.  No idea what it might be.

When the insertions fall out they leave these holes behind.

This shows the complexity of the rock here and a second type of insertion.

The underside of part of the wall.

When the geologising was done we headed off for a walk in the Heath.  Many New Holland Honeyeaters were squabbling in the bushes.

Grevillea lanigera 

Hakea decurrens showing fresh fruit (blue arrow); ripe but still green, fruit (orange arrow; and old dry fruit(red arrows).

Very old fruit and flower!

Euphrasia collina collina: Flora of Victoria notes 8 subspecies occur in Victoria with overlapping ranges.

According to the iNaturalist AI this daisy is Arctotis acaulis.  That has a common name of African Flat Daisy so a BIG HINT that it is not native here!  An expert has identified it as Argentipallium obtusifolium: part of the split of Helichrysum some years ago.

Definitely Bossiaea ensata: one of the few species I am certain of!

We ten moved to the Lighthouse area where a Nankeen Kestrel was taking 5.  The head looks grey, making this a male.

A good sized swell running and washing over the rocks.

Not kelp, but seal fins sticking out of the water

In the larger group I think there were at least 12 seals lounging around in the waves.

A view North from the Lighthouse.

While looking at the seals a young woman called out to us that there was a big Brown Snake between us and the lighthouse.  Frances soon spotted it.  A fine specimen: my guess is about 1.8m long and well muscled.  

It eventually took itself back into the veg so we left the area.  About 10m further up the track there was another of similar dimension.

At Pambula the first business was acquiring lunch at Wild Rye.  A 9.5 rated steak and kidney pie for me.  Despite closing the Cann River Cafe (and ceasing deliveries to Mallacoota) the Pambula operation will continue.  Apparently the problem is getting accommodation for staff.  Then to the small wetland to eat the pie and look for the (now resident) Magpie Geese.