On Walkabout

          It looked as if the Weather Prognosticators were correct. Just like yesterday, and as predicted, the day dawned cloudy, gloomy, and there was visible rain on the horizon…. over the land. And to the Land is where we were headed.

                                                Cairns, Australia.

                                                Pronounced “cans”.

                             We did not have any set plans for the day, and we were not sure if Mick Dundee was going to show up as rumor had it that he had a might too many coldie’s down at the pub last night.

                             While we waited, we strolled the Esplanade, a very pretty area of this port.

But sure enough, both surprised us, the Weather Stooges were wrong, and Mick showed up (a little hung over and a bit late, but that’s how he works best).

                             We piled into Mick’s old rattly Land Rover and hit the M1 north until we came into Mick’s stomping grounds, a tiny town in North Queensland called Wujal Station. As we drove down the main drag it was obvious that the locals either worshipped Mick or despised him… at time it was hard to tell the difference. What was also obvious as we ventured farther and farther into the bush, was that Mick not only knew his business, but he also knew most of the creatures that inhabit this little section that he chose for us to do our walkabout. We were not in the Outback, that part of Australia is way far away, we were just in the local bush, complete with many billabongs and streams. I had my new 15,000,000 mm lens with us, so as close as Mick could get us, the lens got us even closer, as you will soon see!

We crept quietly through the bush, trying to be as stealthy as we could be. The mosquitoes were fierce, and the croc’s were even fiercer! He brought us down to a large billabong where he had a boat moored to a tree stump. Climbing in, we shoved off, and when we had drifted a bit, he took a chicken carcass out of his tucker bag and hung it from one of the oars. “Watch this mates! he said with a somewhat sly, evil (?) grin. It didn’t take long!

Well, THAT was enough excitement to last us for a while. Mick got a charge out of our reactions. He guided his now way too small rowboat to shore, and we hastily clambered out, scanning for any more of his “mates”!

Begging him for something just a little less exciting, he brought us deeper into the bush to get away from the billabong and the croc’s.

It didn’t take long for us to come upon some koala’s resting sleepily in the trees. These guys sleep about 20 hours a day and could have cared less if we were there.

As we meandered about there were a myriad of birds that were quite cooperative as the mid-day heat kept them down under the canopy and therefore nice and close to us. Mick knew most of them which helped a lot! Plus, my 15,000,000,000,000 mm lens came in handy!

Begging Mick to get us out in the open a bit, hopefully to an area that had less bugs and mosquitoes, he led us through the trees until we came to a bit of a clearing. “Now ‘ere’e a spot for the like’s of you! We should be able ta spot some ‘roo’s ‘ere!” Sure enough, as we stood still, Mick gave a few “calls’ and soon we had some ‘roos about us!

A little further away from the wooded area and more out in the open, he led us to an area that the local lizards and wombats liked to frequent.

By now the day was getting on and we did not want to be in the bush as it was getting dark. So, Mick had us retrace our steps back the way we came, up the trickle, past the billabong, and eventually back to his truck.

We chanced upon some emus and cassowaries, all the time pretending that we didn’t see them, especially the cassowaries, who can be fierce and have legs and claws to pound an unsuspecting victim into submission! All these birds are “flightless” which just means that they can run you down if you are not careful!

Not wanting to tempt fate and cross the billabong again, we skirted the edge of it and worked our way around. We did meet and see some of Mick’s acquaintances again, but this time they kept to themselves.

We finally got back to Mick’s flat in Wujal Station where he invited us in to have some photos taken with his pet koala, Daisey and his little joey Abbie! Isn’t she cute? Not the koala…… Paula!

And last but not least, here at Jurassic “Down Under” Park, we found this little guy. Unfortunately, we could not locate any Velociraptors to pose with!