Category Archives: reptiles

Cape York – Day 2 – Revisited

This morning we leave Haggerstone Island, then see downed aircraft, crocs up and close, Captain Billy Goat Waterfall and finally we land near a WW2 wreck of a P39 Aircobra which crashed on its way to Papua New Guinea.  Flying up the coast we see bauxite deposits, sands, rivers and finally hover over the tip of Australia. Then an aerial trip around the Torres Strait, we did not land as you can wait for hours before customs turn up (they work on Island time). Last stop Punsand Bay Campgrounds to stay.

Day 2 was as stunning as Day 1 – Revisited here.

Click on an image to a slideshow. Enjoy. Viva Cristo Rey.

Morning

Northern Cape York – eastern side

The Tip and Torres Strait

Punsand Bay after sunset

Corroboree Billabong – the Sony A9III in the field

The Doc took the Sony A9III out into the field for its first use. A few test photos on the ground at Bullo River Station, but the first proper test was the helicopter trip around the property. Report coming, with images, in due course.

With any new camera there is learning curve concerning how to best set it up and use it. A few mistakes were made and a few images lost, but no disaster. The Doc was worried at setting the frames per second (fps) too low in the helicopter, but the culling of images showed that not to be the case.

The camera can go up to 120 fps in High Plus speed mode. 120 fps was not used on the helicopter, but it was on the Corroboree Billabong cruise, when The Doc had limited time to get images, including the old saltwater crocodile. The camera was amazing and this feature will come in useful for action shots. You must use it sparingly and cull images cull images, hard.

Having visited Corroboree Billabong before with Wetland Cruises, The Doc knew it would be a good day trip out of Darwin. Corroboree Billabong has the highest concentration of crocs in the world. It has both fresh water and salt water crocodiles. Corroboree Billabong is located on the Mary River floodplain.

The landscape images were being taken by the Sony P&S, not the A9III, as the A9III was fitted with a 135mm lens.

The harsh light in the middle of the day meant no brilliant images from the billabong.

The roadtrains and billabong images first, followed by the crocs close ups.

Now the croc images. The croc was getting close to 5 metres in length, so very dangerous to the stupid and unwary.

West MacDonnell Ranges – The Red Centre

It took some time but The Doc has finished his Guide on the West MacDonnell Ranges. The Guide starts and finishes at Alice Springs in the Northern Territory. The Guide is here.

You can then do the East MacDonnell Ranges, that Guide is here.

The Guide on the West MacDonnell Ranges has detailed maps, location notes and images. The number of images meant The Doc had to use high compression and so there are some artefacts in some images. It is a very detailed Guide. You could easily spend 2 or 3 weeks doing the West MacDonnell Ranges and another week doing the East MacDonnell Ranges.

Cape York revisited

The Doc revisited his Cape York images – the 4 Day Helicopter trip around Cape York that is. Bungie was the copter pilot. Enjoy.

AWC – Wildlife Matters Spring 2015

In this issue:

  • Historic partnership in the Pilliga forest and at Mallee Clfifs
  • Restoring the lost mammals of central Australia at Newhaven Wildlife Sanctuary: the planet’s largest feral cat eradication project
  • Historic return of endangered Woylies to Mt Gibson
  • Securing the Northern Quoll
  • Piccaninny Plains bird surveys to unlock wet season secrets of Cape York
  • Ground-breaking feral cat research extended to Cape York

Read the latest Issue here.

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AWC Sanctuaries

The Doc has managed to visit quite a few AWC sanctuaries now, including:

If you would like to know more about the Australian Wildlife Conservancy (AWC) and the great work they do, visit here.

Cape York – Day 3

Probably the shortest day of the trip in the air, from The Tip to Weipa. The geography is not was varied on the west coast of the Cape, but plenty of rivers and lakes. Report and pictures here.

Cape York – the magic continues

The magic continues, Day 2 of the Cape York Helicopter Trip. Report and photos are here.

The croc in the tannin coloured water is a 14 foot long!

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Or a WWII Bell P-39 Aircobra, recently discovered after going down over 70 years ago.

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