Riding Down Under - Tropical Cairns Australia

[RockerGuy]

Took this last year....why you don't go near the water's edge.

This was mama croc protecting her nest.
She was entirely invisible a second before this....the guide tapped a stick on the shoreline.

and she launched like a cruise missile.

Her nest is the leafy mound in the background.

This one is good eating, right?

I tasted one, tasted like fish.

I tried 'roo too. Tasted a bit gamey

 

[RockerGuy]

Re: Down Under on a KLR 650 & ST1100 ...third season

That guy in the background... I know what he's thinking

 

[MacDoc]

Re: Down Under on a KLR 650 & ST1100 ...third season

Yeah crocs and roos are both good eating.
Croc farms are big biz. The croc pics are from a big croc farm that is also a tourist attraction.

http://www.crocodileadventures.com/history.html

 

[RockerGuy]

Re: Down Under on a KLR 650 & ST1100 ...third season

Yeah crocs and roos are both good eating.
Croc farms are big biz. The croc pics are from a big croc farm that is also a tourist attraction.

http://www.crocodileadventures.com/history.html

I used to think they only used them for leather

 

[MacDoc]

Re: Down Under on a KLR 650 & ST1100 ...third season

Yeah the big market is leather and that's where most of the income is but the rest gets used as well and even bits for souvenirs.

••••

Waiting on a baby cyclone that is heading ashore to the south of us....quite nice right now - bit of wind - bit grey
Bird Wings are mating and laying eggs like crazy in the back yard.

Got very lucky as getting a pair of these in decent light and any sort of focus with a long lens is random big time.

Good look at the male with open wings as well. Cairns Birdwings - huge butterflies and mating and laying eggs all over today.

and the female closed wing....odd the male is glorious with the wings open and the female the opposite

 

[xfactor]

Good read. The gilles road sounds like my stroll through south Queensland/NSW. Glen Innis to Grafton through the Washpool National park, Mind blowing! Australia has it's fair share of it's roads for sure. I'm here till maybe end of this year and am really thinking hard about picking up a bike while I'm down here. As you mentioned, insurance and resale is such a breeze. Enjoy the roads and looking forward to reading more.

 

[MacDoc]

Make you a good deal on the ST1100

I'm away from Aus for 15 months starting May as we are doing a Northern Lights chase n Norway next Jan/Frb so I hate to park the ST for that period even tho buddy will start it etc.
I'm thinking of a lighter off road and then turn the KLR650 into the road bike.

 

[MacDoc]

Daintree 2014

Snuck in a 250 k ride up to the Daintree despite it being wet.
World Heritage forest - right out of the dinosaur age.

Finally got to see a croc in the wild ....a baby and one capable of having me for lunch easily.

SPeaking of lunch....

Pig out at the cafe up the road.

Then down to the launch area where I was lunch for bjillion mozzies ( Aus fo mosquitos ).
Was okay on the boat but damn they were thick waiting.

Of course everyone follows directions...

This is a fresh water creek/tidal estuary that is ideal for crocs and mangroves that line the banks on either side. Knowledgeable guide gave us interesting info on the types of mangroves and their role in the ecology.
This area is one of the few where rain forest meets the ocean.

This two footer would be about 2-3 years old

Fiddler crabs looked colourful jousting along the mud banks.

No idea what the one with the chrome headlights top right was. Only noticed when I got home.

no way to tell from the shot but this was the resident male in the 4 meter range - he would slip under water if we got too close and was huge.

Not a lot of croc action compared to Hartley's croc farm but still was worth the modest amount to see them in a natural habitat and learned a fair bit.

These herons are very bold and I've seen one snag a chicken bit from right beside a 3 meter croc at Hartleys

These huge pidgeons are all over

Fancy name too....Imperial Torres Pidgeon
( Torres Strait is north of us )

Male and female Birdwings the size of your hand dancing in the back garden.

Female is dull on top of the wings but glorious when they are folded

RIding buddy here got in the deluge yesterday and almost lost the Burgman on some slick pavement on the James Cook Highway.
Lovely twisty fun when it's dry but brutal when wet as there is construction and different pavement conditions to deal with.

He rides 50 km each way every day to work.

Drivers are good here and stay in their lane but do like to tail gate at times tho a warning flash of the brakes will usually back them off.

Hmmm speaking of wet....glad I brought the umbrella for the walk home.

Our main internet is out and I'm using the connection at my fav cafe.
Great food.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Ozmosis/485425778143245

Terrific coffee

 

[xfactor]

Make you a good deal on the ST1100

Sweet bike, but might get a chuckle from the crowd on track days

 

[MacDoc]

Hey you've seen Yellow Wolf .

[video=youtube;VxHNnOHuikI]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VxHNnOHuikI[/video]

Bloody wet just now....1" of rain in the last 90 minutes....2" total in the last 4 hours. Need a seadoo not a ST.

 

[RockerGuy]

Re: Daintree 2014

This two footer would be about 2-3 years old

I don't want to destroy your thread but couldn't help it. It reminds me of...

 

[MacDoc]

Re: Daintree 2014

Hehe - no worries...those are not crocs but funny non the less. They are goannas which I've seen but not photoed.
Pretty wary and they shift around the other side of a tree. Can be big and are very fast.

That baby croc is just about right for the handbag trade when farmed but he's protected in the wild and the population has bounced back tho it makes some areas more dangerous.

Just recently a big croc pulled a person out of a tent. They figure the croc watched for days - getting the pattern of activity sorted and then crawled up to the tent and grabbed one of the campers. There are many reports....lots of them with unhappy endings.

Here's another one a while back
Brave woman....bloody hell 14' croc that likely weight half a ton and she jumps on it's back !!!!

http://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2004/s1217800.htm

•••

These guys are fierce - will take on a snake bigger than they are. They can be hand fed ...fun to watch them beat a strip of bacon to death.

Could not decide between these two photos so why not blend them. Blue Winged Kookaburra

He was soooo fierce and alert - much more so than his mellow laughing cousin.

Watching for prey in the trees and the cane field across the road.
His blue wings were brilliant. A total treat.

 

[RockerGuy]

Nice, loving the wildlife!
What are the fatalities like in regards to wildlife? It seems like most of these things can either poison you or rip you to shreds.

We have it easy here in North America. I'm not even sure we have poisonous creatures in Canada

Sent from my tablet using my paws

 

[MacDoc]

People are pretty savvy.

There are lots of nasties( the world's most poisonous snakes )

Various poisonous spiders.

Sharks, crocs.

It's a big place the size of the continental US with only 23 million people so there is lots of wilderness and that does not include the Great Barrier Reef offshore for some 2000 km and houses some nasties there too.

For instance wading in the ocean the wrong time of year can kill you right quick and you'll never see what gotcha.

Box jellyfish – Chironex fleckeri a Box jellyfish with many tentacles arising from each corner of its clear bell and the smaller Irukandji, a box jellyfish with a single tentacle arising in each corner – are among the world's deadliest creatures.

In Australia, these species are found along the coast of tropical northern Australia from Gladstone in Qld across to Exmouth in WA, during the wet season from the beginning of October until the beginning of June, although stings can occur at any time of the year.

Around 80 people have died from box jellyfish stings in Australia over the last 100 years.

Lethal jellyfish could have killed 120
ninemsn staff 2:15pm January 24, 2014
Lifeguard Tori Demopoulos with the two lethal box jellyfish that washed up onshore at Balgal Beach. (Supplied)

Two giant jellyfish captured off the Queensland coast would have been capable of killing 120 people, according to an expert.

even a broken bit of stinger inside a stinger net ( safe swimming area ) can send you to hospital.
There are bottles of vinegar to treat stinger wounds at ocean access points in FNQ where I am.

January, 2014 9:23AM AEST
Stingers close North Qld beaches
By Sharnie Kim and Isaac Egan A number of Queensland's northern beaches could stay closed over the weekend due to concerns about lethal jellyfish.PrintEmailPermalinkShare
1
Col Sparks from Surf Life Saving Queensland says Palm Cove, Kewarra and Clifton beaches north of Cairns have been closed this week after two children were stung by Irukandji inside stinger nets.
"One child was seven years of age and the other was 11. Fortunately it looks like they haven't copped a really strong dose of the venom so they were released from hospital last night," he said.

good article here on the crocs

http://theconversation.com/croc-attacks-a-new-website-with-bite-20671

and spiders and snake bites.

Hot weather followed by rain can provide perfect conditions for funnel-web spiders

These are the nasties - don't stick your hand under rocks....

http://www.australiangeographic.com.au/news/2013/03/snake-and-spider-bites-boosted-by-weather/

and more snakes..

Australia is known for its dangerous snakes, and we have many, but in reality few people die from bites.

WHEN IT COMES TO self-defence, Australia's snakes have got things pretty well covered. We share our continent with about 140 species of land snakes, some equipped with venom more toxic than any other snakes in the world.

But bites are actually quite rare in Australia and, since the development of anti-venom, fatalities have been low - between four to six deaths a year.

"This is in contrast to India, for example, where bites may reach one million a year, with over 50,000 deaths," says Associate Professor Bryan Fry, a herpetologist and venom expert at the University of Queensland. "Snake bites are very, very rare [in Australia] and often the fault of the person being bitten. Most bites occur when people are trying to kill a snake or show off."

http://www.australiangeographic.com.../10-most-dangerous-snakes-in-australia_image1

I've seen one black snake slither across the road - was maybe a meter long and they tend to flee and are not very poisonous and sort of landed on a tiny snake falling off in some mud.
Did not notice him until I saw the photos of the mud hole....really tiny. Ring necked something.

There are some ginormous spiders about but they are not a problem - there are some pics further back

 

[MacDoc]

I'm not even sure we have poisonous creatures in Canada

We have rattlesnakes and black widow spiders.

I've got a photo of a tiny little rattlesnack that could have fit in the plam of my hand I saw in Pennsylvania ...he was gorgeous and sooo fierce. That's a baby Eastern Diamondback. Photo does not do it justice..it just glowed. And he hissed and opened his mouth wide....not in the least afraid.

 

[RockerGuy]

We have rattlesnakes and black widow spiders.

I've got a photo of a tiny little rattlesnack that could have fit in the plam of my hand I saw in Pennsylvania ...he was gorgeous and sooo fierce. That's a baby Eastern Diamondback. Photo does not do it justice..it just glowed. And he hissed and opened his mouth wide....not in the least afraid.

I've seen a few snakes on hikes but very rare.

I'd hate to camp in Ozz for sure

 

[MacDoc]

Buddy does it all the time but then he knows the country and has lots of exit strategies including EPIRB

See how small this guy is

Likely the dwarf version of this

White-crowned snake Cacophis harriettae
Warning: Venomous. Not dangerous to humans

The white-crowned snake is dark grey above, with a light grey belly and a broad white band across the neck, sweeping forward around the side of the head and across the snout, creating the 'crown'. The crown surrounds the black scales on the top of the head. It is considered to be one of the most common snakes in Brisbane, even occurring in the inner city. It inhabits compost heaps and damp areas of gardens. A similar species, the dwarf crowned snake, has a thinner white band around the top of the head and is slightly shorter in length (i.e. 0.35m). This species grows to an average length of 0.4m.

Camping out is very popular here and there are lovely national parks all over but some popular sites are hard to get a camping spot in the dry season ( it's the wet season now so no one camps out ).

Takin' it easy....this big roo has no threats to him as he's protected and would be a brave dingo, dog or human that took him on mano a mano...

They will drag a man or canine to a billabong ( water hole ) and drown them.

Very confident animals. Unfortunately so common on the highways at night that I can't ride safely tho likely could along the coast.

ST looking pretty along a river.

Nice ride to Skybury coming up in a few hours....gonna take the KLR as someone wants to view the ST and buyers are hard to find so I'll leave it home.

Then over to the Cathedral Fig....hopefully with working Scalas.

 

[RockerGuy]

When you see this chap, give him a high five for me

[video=youtube;myeXMuGJAB8]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=myeXMuGJAB8[/video]

 

[MacDoc]

Hehe - Aussies are pretty casual about such things....Jude and daughter picked up a python skin from near the house that was 4m long....

Had a long day out with Bruce yesterday…. met at Skybury Coffee then caught a couple of areas new to him
He’s same age and rides the same Burgman here I ride at home.

We have ScalaRider comm sets and chat away the day when riding - makes the time go quick as we had lots to catch up on .

Stopped for lunch at Lake Barrine which is a volcanic crater and famous with birdwatchers.

I want to go back and take the little cruise around the lake and do some bird photos. Gorgeous day we had and was nice to kick back on the veranda over the lake.

The grounds are lovely - easy to spend most of a day just relaxing and photographing - a fav destination = what looks like red flowers are actually leaves.

Main goal was the Cathedral Fig but we ended up with a twofer….the Curtain Fig which I had not seen and the Cathedral thanks to a GPS muck up.
Strangler figs are amazing - they start tiny and then engulf a tree which then dies and they can twist around in incredible shapes.

The curtain fig is cool - when the original tree died it fell and took down it’s neighbor which fell at an angle. And the curtain grew down….now we’re talking trees that are 120m + - these are huge.

and it truly is a curtain - hence the name and the park designation - nice boardwalk around this one…

The Cathedral Fig you may have seen some of my pictures before….it’s just too huge to try and encompass. a 2,000 sq meter canopy, 130 meters high and 500 years old

those epiphytes that look like hairy catepillars are the size of a queen sized bed….maybe bigger.

Step inside and you feel like you are about to be eaten by an Ent.

This is looking straight up the inside.


Really love the area up around Lake Tinaroo which this is part of - it’s an enormous manmade lake that feeds irrigation for hundreds of square KMs around if not thousands.

It's at the top of both the Gillies ( 219 turns - 19 KM ) or the Palmerston range roads and then the way home includes the Kuranda or the Rex - all most fun even on the KLR - the tire set I have is the best yet and feels good on road and off.

The ST up and down these roads is a work out....an enjoyable one. Shoulders and hands a bit sore earlier in the day but drugs do wonders. 300km on a KLR set to dirt is slowish. Bruce is patient and made it easy to chat tho the tire drone could be heard by both.

Many good photo ops etc over the last few years around that lake including my dinged shoulder :-(
Some pics further back of that "adventure" tho was worth it given the size of that tree that came down. Truly jaw dropping.

Ken is 6' 1"!!!!

 

[MacDoc]

for some of you not familar with thread....this was a highlight last year

I will be retiring here with GF in about 4 years.
Meanwhile we travel 2 months together and I'm here 3 months in NH winter.

The full blog is here

http://www.gtamotorcycle.com/vbforum/showthread.php?151439-Down-Under-on-a-KLR-650-second-season

I did not post on the Burgman site before as the photos were limited to 800 pixels wide and too much work to convert.

Very photo friendly now.
Try and get here if you can.

It's tucked between two World Heritage sites....100 million year old Rain Forest and the Great Barrier Reef.

This bird's ancestors were strolling the same region when the dinosaurs were around.

This was wild and about 15' away....they are pretty fearless as they are well armed and almost as tall as us.

They can disembowel a human.

This big male was caring for a chick and he nailed the teddy bear a couple of times just to be on the safe side

He was just outside the lodge at the Daintree and one of the loviliest places we've stayed and GF and I are VERY well travelled.

The cassowary was a total ife treat as they are rare to see let alone photograph in the wild.

There was food out for them but none had been seen for 3 month.