2023 Austrailia Boris Yammy

We made or way over to the coast. And what a change. Things are greener, it seems less hot, the people not as friendly, harder to find free camping sites . Despite all that we have seen some interesting stuff. The bird life here is a little more prolific and we have been ramping up our bird list. We were lucky enough to spot a cassowary walking along the beach . According to the locals these beasts can get a little aggressive at times.  We spent a morning walking along Cairns sea promenade. We got to see a few shorebirds that make it it to the Yukon. Everything in its dull winter plumage. I was a little lost at first but some local birders pointed out the different species. Anyways we are not much for the big cities,  so we headed north . Now we are at a paid campsite on the lower Daintree. Tomorrow we head off on a river trip. And to get you in the mood.

We are in Charleville in the middle of the Queensland outback. We have survived two incidents.  While driving into the setting sun we narrowly missed hitting an adult kangaroo and her Joey. I jammed on the brakes and missed them by about 2 meters.  The other incident involved stopping for a quick rest break . I pulled on to the shoulder which appeared to be red gravel and which turned out to be red sticky mud. We got good and stuck. Our only resource was pulling the mud away from the wheels with our hands and stuffing tufts of grass behind the wheels.Two local women stopped and offered advice and then slopped into the mud to help push the vehicle on to firmer ground. Luckily there was a free campground nearby where we were able to remove the mud from ourselves and the car.

Mostly sleepless night, then two hour fight to Vancouver, then 12 hour wait, then 15 hour to Brisbane where we arrived two days later and not feeling too bad.  We are staying at the Brisbane Manor  built in 1900, an old rooming house located pretty close to downtown and a few hundred meters from a big park.  We marched downtown to get the bugs out of my new sim card , then a quick nap and then in the heat of the day we explored the park next door. Right away we saw some hot birds. Various locals befriended us. I think they thought we needed protecting as we stumbled about gazing at birds oblivious to speeding bikes and scooters. Sulphur crested Cockatoo and Galahs Bush thick knee Masked Lapwing Austalian Magpie

Here is Yammy testing some our recently acquired expedition gear. We have heard that the flies can be troublesome.

 It was a bit of a convoluted trip from Nong Khai to our last destination Pak Chong and nearby Kao Yai Park. After two cities , two minibus trips and an ordinary rail trip with endless stops, we arrived at Pak Chong and were picked up by a driver and brought to our simple guest house. From here we took a couple of tours into and around Kao Yai Park. It was our last little bit of birding and we were fortunate to see some good birds and quite a bit of wildlife.  The last hour before we left the park we were fortunate to see 5 gaur run across a field into the forest. They are a very large water buffalo like creature, the toughest thing in the forest. When the plunged into the forest they flushed out 8 asiatic elephants. Despite their size elephants are not that easy to see.    Gibbon Great Hornbill This picture does not capture it. This is a stream of 2 million bats leaving their cave for an evening outing. Anyways we had a great time at the park and then it was off to ...