May 18, 2005
Oz trip part 9 - Mission Beach
As you can imagine, I was pretty satisfied with all the birds I'd seen so far, so was more than happy to kick back and relax in the wonderful Sanctuary Eco-Lodge near Mission Beach. Set on a hill surrounded by rainforest, a short walk gets you to a beach you can have completely to yourself...
... well, not completely. While walking down to enjoy the sunrise I was thrilled to see a Beach Stone-Curlew at close range.
Doesn't look too pleased with me, does it?
To burn off all the delicious food we'd been eating, we decided to take a sea kayaking trip to Dunk Island, about 11km roundtrip.
Our guide Atalanta was very knowledgeable about the local wildlife, including birds, and we had great views of Mistletoebirds on the island. She also pointed out a Green Ant's nest woven out of leaves.
The sea is very clear and shallow here, so we spent the best part of an hour snorkelling around the reef.
Back in Sanctuary, we discovered that a White-lipped Tree Frog had moved into our cabin.
I thought it best to evict him, but when we returned from dinner, there were two of them in the room! I then decided it wasn't such a bad idea to leave them be - after all, they might eat any creepy crawlies which ventured in during the night! We were also lucky enough to spotlight a Striped Possum right outside the cabin.
A trip to the bathroom was always interesting - a variety of colourful moths were usually on display...
... as was this leaf-mimic cricket.
Sanctuary sunrise.
There were plenty of fruiting trees around the hilltop lodge, affording eye-level views of Figbirds...
... and splendid Wompoo Pigeons.
I must have been a bit sweaty, as this butterfly kept returning to my hand (ID anyone?)
There were some truly enormous spiders around...
... and this Praying Mantis kept thwarting my attempts to photograph it by continually landing on me!
One of the most spectacular insects of the Wet Tropics must be the huge Cairns Birdwing.
Goodbye Cairns.
