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Rainbow Beach and Beyond + Trip Summary, Lists, etc.
The next day, we were off to Rainbow Beach for a couple of days up there. Rainbow Beach is a little resort town located on the Great Sandy National Park. A large national park area that includes world-heritage site Fraser Island and a large chunk of beach property to the south and west of the Island. Rainbow beach is slightly south of Fraser Island and an area we had said we wanted to explore after a brief visit there 2 years ago. Unfortunately, the weather was not cooperating on this leg of the trip at all. Rain was in the forecast on and off over the next 3 days and the forecast was pretty much accurate, we had rain... on and off. Nothing to write home about and not enough to ruin anything, just enough to be a constant consideration and occasional annoyance. I think my biggest problem was not the rain but the dreadful lighting conditions that we constantly faced over the next few days making photography somewhat challenging!
On the way out to Rainbow Beach Lynn spotted two huge Wedge-tailed Eagles in a field. These are Australia's largest raptors.
Wedge-tailed Eagle
Of course, skinks were common in Rainbow Beach but I was a bit disappointed with the variety, this was mostly what we found in and around the area we stayed.
Eastern Striped Skink
Blue-faced Honeyeaters were again common!
Check out the beach, in the summertime down there, on a weekend... I am looking down toward town and where our hotel was. It's about a 3 mile walk to the bluff you can see over my left shoulder. There is NOBODY on the beach... That's one of the great things about Australia. If you are willing to go just a bit out of your way and you like solitude or privacy, you can't beat it!
Looking out to the south east from Rainbow Beach.
One of many different crabs scurrying around above the high-tide mark.
And of course, back at the hotel grounds... More Rainbow Lorikeets, Kookaburras, etc.
Rainbow Lorikeet
Laughing Kookaburra
Unknown skipper
Australia Brush Turkey
We hired a 4WD vehicle for the next day to drive down the beach and hopefully explore some inland trails however when we picked up the car in the morning we were informed that you couldn't drive up the beach do to some severe erosion from recent storms and instead had to take an inland route that came out several miles down the beach. Not a problem but high tide was going to be a factor that day as well, limiting the amount of time we'd have on the beach. (Cars are regularly lost to the ocean here as tide swings are quite dramatic and swift, the sand is deep and if you get stuck, you'd better have time to dig out or the car will be a total loss!) - FYI #2, insurance is a bit different in Australia on rental cars as well and you are usually committed to a fairly large out of pocked chunk, e.g. $2-4,000 if you damage the car unless you pay extra premiums, etc. Car rental in Australia is a HUGE expense, more expensive that lodging. You do not want to loose a car on the beach here so you heed the warnings and there are plenty.
Anyway, back to the story... we picked up the car and were on the 4WD track by 9:00 AM. We stopped at many places along the way including a place where we took a fairly health hike to a lake. The trail seemed to be uphill the entire way! We did spot these cool Woomba Fruit Doves high up in the tree canopy. FYI, it was raining on and off most of the day making it double difficult to take picutres in this rainforest type setting.
Wompoo Fruit Dove
Wompoo Fruit Dove
It took us about an hour to get to the lake, seen here.
Of course, we saw nary a creature out here in the "wilds" but as soon as we got back to the parking lot where we had left our car... well, the wildlife was waiting for us. The largest of the three Lace Monitors we'd see here was walking on top of this fallen log until it saw me photographing it.
Lace Monitor
So, up the tree he goes! This one was pushing 5 perhaps even 6 feet total length...
Lace Monitor
This skink was found "sunning" himself at another roadside stop we made.
Bar-sided Skink - Eulamprus ?
It started to rain more heavily after this and we finally made it down to the beach only to see that the tide was going to prevent us from continuing on down the coast. Other 4WD vehicles were already moving off the beach with the exception of one that was partially buried in the sand. There were a couple of dozed people helping to dig it out and it looked like they were going to be OK. We watched the tide come in a bit and then back-tracked our way to town. Lynn captured this Australian White Pelican at an inlet at Rainbow beach. The area has several inland waterways with little boat harbors and the like including the area that this bird was hanging out.
Australian White Pelican
The rest of the day was uneventful, we had a great dinner at a seafood restaurant and the skies opened up for most of the evening, keeping things cool and making it easy to drift off to sleep as the tropical rain beat down on our hotel room roof!
As I have said a few times, the sun comes up EARLY here this time of year! I was up at the break of dawn and taking a walk around the hotel grounds. This is looking down the beach from the hotel at around 5:30 AM. Note that there are a few people on the beach for a change...
A few shots from around the hotel.
Noisy Friarbird
Crested Pigeon
Silvereye
Noisy Friarbird
Lewin's Honeyeater
We stopped in a town called Maryborough on the way back that afternoon and walked around a small park that was in the middle of town. There was quite a bit of interesting wildlife there including some nice Water Dragons, Ibis, Herons, etc. Here are some shots from there.
Australian White Ibis
Mallard
Eastern Water Dragon - Physignathus lesuerii
Water Skink - Eulamprus quoyii
White-faced Heron
Water Skink - Eulamprus quoyii
Eastern Water Dragon - Physignathus lesuerii
Pacific Black Duck
Little Pied Cormorant
Blue-faced Honeyeater (female)
Blue-faced Honeyeater (female)
Back in Hervey Bay... In Mike's back yard.
Praying Mantis (unkown sp.)
Green Treefrog
The trip was now winding down quickly, tomorrow would be our second to last day and last day in Hervey Bay, we decided to take another quick tour around the area, hitting a few spots that we either didn't get to on a previous trip or wanted to go back to. I got up again at the crack of dawn and went down to the Botanical Gardens for a quick walk-around before everyone else was up then drove back along the beach before picking up Lynn. Here are a few shots from early morning.
Rainbow Lorikeet
Red Kangaroo
Whimbrel
Sacred Kingfisher
Dollarbird
Laughing Kookaburra
Leaden Flycatcher
Olive-backed Oriole
Rainbow Lorikeet
Dollarbird
Golden-headed Cisticola
Mistletoebird
After picking up Lynn and co. we went to a beach that was known for it's sea shells and while Lynn was foraging along the tide lines, I was checking out the sea shore life. These Soldier crabs were out in force, they form large "armies" as many as 10,000 and march across the sand sifting through the mud for bits of food. They are unique among crabs as well with their ability to walk straigt ahead while most crabs can only move from side to side.
Soldier Crabs
There were plenty of shore birds along an extensive mud flat.
Bar-tailed Godwit and Plovers
Gull-billed Tern
Pied Oystercatcher
As well as a lot of life along the brush and trees that marked the high tide line.
Red-backed Fairywren
Shinning Bronze-Cuckoo
Shining Bronze-cuckoo
Shining Bronze-cuckoo
Osprey
Far-eastern Curlew
After leaving the beach we made our way to another, private botanical/tea garden for lunch and a brief walk-about.
Lewin's Honeyeater
Krefft's River Turtle
Black Swan and chicks
Little Black Cormorant
Rainbow Lorikeet
Brown Honeyeater
Pacific Black Duck and River Turtle
Dubious Dtella - Gehyra dubia
The next day we departed Hervey Bay early in the day and drove down to Brisbane, stopping in town for a couple of hours for some shopping before making our last stop of the trip at Mt. Cool-tha, a reserve just outside the city limits. You can see downtown Brisbane over Lynn's shoulder from the lookout at the top of the mountain.
Lynn with Brisbane in the background
We made a stop at one of the picnic areas and chased around several species as the sun set ending our final day in Australia...
Laughing Kookaburra
Scaly-breasted Lorikeet
Pale-headed Rosella
We were up early and to the airport the next day and back in Los Angeles at 7:00 A.M. with a load of memories and a ton of pictures! We ended up with 13,500 photos over the 17 days on the ground. Here's a list of the Birds, Reptiles and Mammals that we saw along the way. Can't wait for the next trip and thanks for letting us share this with you!
- Brad & Lynn
Animals Observed:
Note: I am often asked what a "Life List" is. A Life List in this case is simply a list of all of the animals you have seen in your life of a particular type, like Birds or Herps. Some people keep very simple life lists and others keep track even by location, so they may have multiple life lists such as Birds of North America, Birds of Australia, etc. When you see (LL) next to a name here it means that it is the first time that I have ever seen this animal in the wild hence it is new to my "Life List"
BIRDS
1 Australasian Grebe
2 Australian Brush-Turkey
3 Australian Darter
4 Australian Magpie
5 Australian Pelican
6 Australian Pratincole (LL)
7 Australian White Ibis
8 Australian Wood Duck
9 Azure Kingfisher
10 Bar-breasted Honeyeater (LL)
11 Barn Swallow
12 Bar-shouldered Dove
13 Bar-tailed Godwit
14 Black Kite
15 Black Swan
16 Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike
17 Black-fronted Dotterel
18 Black-necked Stork
19 Black-shouldered Kite
20 Black-winged Stilt
21 Blue-faced Honeyeater
22 Blue-winged Kookabarra
23 Brahminy Kite
24 Brolga Crane (LL)
25 Brown Falcon (LL)
26 Brown Honeyeater
27 Bush Thick-knee (LL)
28 Cattle Egret
29 Chestnut-breasted Munia (Manikin) (LL)
30 Comb-crested Jacana (LL)
31 Common Bronzewing
32 Common Sandpiper (LL)
33 Crested Pigeon
34 Crimson Finch (LL)
35 Diamond Dove (LL)
36 Dollarbird (LL)
37 Double-barred Finch
38 Dusky Moorehen
39 Eastern Reef Egret& | 
