After a morning tour of Paronella Park, we drove to the Mena Creek hotel slightly down the road for brunch. I camped at some dubious spot near the hotel/restaurant, and asked a man who parked nearby whether this was a reasonable place to park. He smiled and said “You’re all right mate. Park wherever you want – you’re in Mena Creek…”. Unfortunately, the restaurant was out of the “Tastes of OZ” special – skewers of Kangaroo, Crocodile and Emu – so we had to settle for ordinary battered barramundi and cheeseburgers. At the bar I asked to try one of the ales they had on tap which I didn’t know. This prompted a friendly remark from the local who was standing next to me – “All beers taste like horse piss. I drink only Scotch, Tequila and Rum”. I agreed with him that scotch was better, but ordered my ale nevertheless.
We picked up our forgotten sandals from Etty Bay, and ordered coffee at the kiosk. The moment we sat on the balcony to drink our coffee, a very large lace monitor suddenly appeared on the beach. Leaving the coffee behind, we raced to get a closer look and take pictures. While we were focusing on the goanna, Etty the Cassowary appeared, and we were faced with the problem of which to photograph first. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get them both in the same frame… We finished our (by now cold) coffee, and prepared to leave, when out of the blue (quite literally) someone emerged above the treetops and landed on the beach in front of us. He was the first in a large group of paragliders who landed on the beach one after the other. Daniel was mesmerized, and we had to wait for the last of them to land safely before we could move on.
We thought about taking a day trip to Hinchinbrook Island – a large and supposedly beautiful Island close to the beach near Cardwell. The one company which we knew about and called only offered either long guided trekking trips, or very short ones, so stopped in Cardwell to check whether there were other options. The kids went with Lilach to a nice playground next to the visitor center, while I went to make inquiries and found the visitor center closedas of ten minutes earlier. But when I started making my way back an elderly man, bespectacled and slightly hunched, opened the door and called after me whether he could help me. He said there were two companies offering transportation to the island, and referred me to a plaque near the pier bearing their details. He proceeded to warn me about the dangers and difficulty of the hike, emphasizing that we should take lots of water, insect repellent and sunscreen, wear long trousers and sleeves, and look carefully where we step, because we could easily step on a crocodile. After that informative introduction he asked me where I was from, and at the answer his eyes brightened – “I’m watching a movie in which the son of a Israeli General tells all the truth about Israel. I’m afraid I have to tell you that bad things are in store for Israel!”. I couldn’t disagree with that, but simple assent was not enough. Till that point we were standing at the threshold of the information center, but now he dragged me in, to see his computer screen which was indeed showing a talk by Miko Peled (Matti Peled’s son, as it turned out), in a YouTube video titled “An honest Israeli Jew tells the Real Truth about Israel“. He then proceeded to tell me all about how he had predicted the six-day war with astounding precision several days before it started (while he was dating a Jewish girl), and how he has since then performed many other acts of prescience that would have clearly put old Nostradamus to shame. All this was accompanied by much frowning and glowering, and was altogether very dramatic.
My attempts to steer this peculiar exemplar of a tourist information agent away from global politics and obtain some actual information about the local fauna and hiking opportunities proved totally ineffective. Cardwell is the heart of the Mahogany Glider territory, a fact which was emphasized in large plaques around the information center. This endangered glider species was thought to be extinct until it was rediscovered in the 1980’s, and is currently the focus of intensive conservation and captive breeding programs. I was curious whether there were any “hot spots” where one could have a chance of spotting one, to which the answer was “No one sees them. I’ve lived here for seventeen years and never saw one”. Well, I must admit that “Tourist Information Center” doesn’t exactly specify the type of information one gets… We parted as friends and I decided we should put some distance between ourselves and Cardwell.
So we made up our mind to skip Hinchinbrook Island and head straight to the Paluma Range. On our way there we made a dump stop near the Tyto Wetlands, where Daniel and Tamar enjoyed chasing some Agile Wallabies on the grass. Ducks and curlews were also abundant. We camped in Big Crystal Creek, and after dinner I went out so see if there’s anything interesting that could be spotted. I didn’t have to go far – 15 meters from where we parked, my headlight caught the eye-shine of a Tawny Frogmouth perched on a low branch over the brook. Unlike Frogmouths seen during the day, when they are asleep, this one had its eyes wide open, and was even more impressive than usual. Daniel and Lilach provided expert lighting services while I took some photos.
In the morning we watched some fantails and other birds around the caravan, and went to swim in the “Paradise Swimming Hole”. Despite the name, we gave it a relatively low rating in our swimming hole list, but it was still fun. Daniel found and caught a little frog and was very satisfied (and justly so!). We planned to have lunch in the small town of Paluma, up in the mountain range. On our way up the winding road, I saw a large lizard crossing the road. It was clearly a large agamid, and I thought at first that it was a Bearded Dragon (Pogona barbata). With some difficulty, and help from Lilach in blocking the road behind, I backed up to a stopping bay and went to examine the roadside to which it ran. I saw no sign of it and thought it was gone, but then I suddenly saw it right next to me, beautifully camouflaged on the rocky ground. It was even more exciting than I had thought, being not a Bearded Dragon but a Frilled Lizard (Chlamydosaurus kingii), with its large frilled collar folded neatly back. I grabbed it, and when I picked it up it showed its full beauty, collar wide stretched and mouth gaping in a threatening pose. The photography team took some pictures before we released the beautiful reptile.
On the way further up the road became rather narrow and winding, and when we reached the crest a light fog started drifting in. Paluma was shrouded in mist and looked completely deserted. We checked the Tea House, where we were hoping to have lunch and see some riflebirds, and it was closed. Another restaurant was also closed, as was everything else, it seemed. Eventually we found a local lady walking her dog in the street and asked her where everyone was, and she explained that most businesses in the town were only active during the weekend – “it’s very quiet here during the week”…
Fortunately, we didn’t have to rely on others for our meals. While the kids played in the local playground, Lilach conjured up wonderful pasta in no time and we enjoyed an excellent lunch “at home”. While I washed the dishes and Lilach went out with the kids to look for an interesting walking trail, another local approached her and asked if we would like to come look at some birds in his back yard, where he regularly feeds them. We gladly accepted the invitation, and followed him to his house. In the front, an old microwave served as a mailbox (“it keeps the rain out of the post”), while in the back, there was a lot of vegetation, and some assorted junk. Our host Bruno entered the house and came back with a pot of porridge (with honey, he told us), and a banana. Within seconds, birds started flocking into the backyard. Several species of honeyeaters, and then a pair of magnificent Victoria Riflebirds – the female with her buff coloration, and the male with its metallic purple-black colors, both adorned with large curving beaks, and making a unique rustling noise in flight. Finally, we saw several Satin Bowerbirds – again, the males dark and metallic and the females less spectacular but still beautiful in buff-and-olive patterns, and both sexes with striking purple eyes. Unfortunately the fog became so thick that it was hard to capture the beauty of the birds – especially the male Bowerbirds and Riflebirds which for the most part kept their distance and stayed hidden in the thick foliage of the higher trees. We spent a good while with Bruno, and in the meantime learnt that he came to Australia as a boy from Latvia in 1948. “Australia is a very good place” he succinctly said, and we wholeheartedly agreed.
The way down was slower than the way up, due to thickening fog that limited the visibility. Eventually we emerged below the fog, and made our way to the Jourama Falls section of the park, where we wanted to spend the night. A sign in the entrance, just before a creek crossed the road, said “If it’s flooded, forget it” and explained that floodwater can wash cars off the road. The only question was which depth was considered “flooded”, as the road was clearly meant to be under some amount of water whenever the creek was flowing. Further examination discovered a wide open metal gate with another sign on it saying that the road was closed when flooded, so we decided it was safe to pass. We hoped it wouldn’t rain heavily during the night, as that could mean spending an extra day (or two, or three) in there, but we figured that in the worst case scenario we have sufficient provisions for several days if needed. Upon entering the camping ground, we found that we had the place all to ourselves. After Tamar and Daniel did some tree climbing and we had dinner, Lilach went out with a flashlight to explore the camp area. She returned excited and informed us that the place is full of active nightjars – elusive nocturnal birds that hunt insects during the night, and spend the days hidden on the ground, camouflaged so well that you can miss them even if you nearly step on them. Indeed, we quickly saw a couple of them, standing at the ends of branches and calling to each other. We made some partly successful attempts to photograph and record them. A final find for the night was a group of microbats that inhabited the ceiling in the restrooms.
Family Trips 
אחד הפוסטים המעולים ביותר. קראתי שוב, והתפעלתי שוב מהקולות, המראות והכתיבה. כל הכבוד טוביק, אתה בדרך להוסיף תרומה חשובה לסוגת הסיפורת המתבוננת בטבע ובאדם. השאלה היחידה היא – מי יתרגם לעברית
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