More Kuri Bay life...
I'm going to start this edition by telling you where I am while writing this missive.
I'm sitting on my verandah, looking out over the valley and into the bay, ginger beer to one side (Bundaberg of course). It's the afternoon, the sun is shining. The temperature is probably around the mid twenties, comfortable enough for me to be just in shorts.
Yeah, I think I'm doing okay.
Okay, enough gloating.
A while ago I promised you an email about some of the wildlife out here. I didn't forget and I wasn't (for once) being slack. I was just waiting to until I managed to take a photo of the local croc. This cute little fella has a nest somewhere in our bay and can be seen most afternoons hanging out on our water raft (used for filling boats with fresh water I believe). We're not sure if it's a he or she but we do know it's about two and a half metres long. The photo I took was of it sunning itself on our wharf. One time while flying back to Darwin, as we we coming into land at one of the other farms, I spotted a croc in a small estuary from the plane. This thing was a massive beast. It would've been three to four metres long. The chippies (as the guys who work on the water are called) see crocs every now and then while out working. There's a few stories of them being near the boat for hours, watching and waiting.
Kuri Bay's "guard dog" chilling on the wharf
Every afternoon, the old man of the man, Fox, takes out all the food scraps out in a boat for the "kids". The "kids" are various large fish, "sleepy" sharks, reef sharks and plenty of birds including kites and a seas eagle. Feeding time at the zoo has nothing on this. "Sleepy" sharks are docile things. More like water bound vacuum cleaners than sharks really. As you can see form the photo you can touch them. How many of you can say you have pet a shark? I can.
:)
Fox shaking hands with a "Sleepy" Shark
As you can probably imagine of the Australian outback, there's a fair few snakes out here. People have seen Taipans and King Browns. Fortunately the most common snakes are Olive Pythons. They can be a little scary as they can grow to a fairly decent size. There is apparently an older resident called "Monty" who is a good four or five metres long. He hasn't been seen yet this year. Olive Pythons are also fairly docile and you can actually just pick them up and they're happy to hang off you for a while. They move pretty slowly, except when they have a meal in sight. They normally feast on bush rats or similar animals. After catching and swallowing their prey, they stay in the same spot for a couple of days while it digests a bit. We had the one in the photo was under the bar for about three days after one meal. I should note, that you DO NOT pick one up while it is eating or digesting.
Olive Python
There's plenty of other animals out here as well. In the toilet block, it's a rare night that I count less than five geckos if I turn my head around while washing my hands. Quolls and bush rats love to eat any food people are silly enough to leave in their rooms. Owls have also starting coming out as it's becoming colder at night. As we head further into the dry season, dingos are coming closer to camp. The farm manager, Sam, saw one wandering up through the farm one night and you can hear them howling most nights.
Just because we're in one of the most remote parts of the Australian coast (co-ordinates for Google Earth geeks: 15°29'11.94"S 124°31'23.41"E) doesn't mean that we don't have visitors. Every now and then you can see a cruise ship go past the bay. We had a guy in a little tinny run about drive 45 minutes from his prawn trawler on a mission to get cigarettes for the crew. He ended up leaving with a smokes and a carton of beer. He paid for them with a box of fresh caught prawns. Who do you think got the better end that bargain?
The most interesting (crazy is probably more apt) visitor we had was a German woman, Freya Hoffmeister. She's on a mission to kayak around Australia. Solo. Yes, I'm serious. She left Melbourne back in late January (the 18th from memory) and has gone up the east coast and around the the top end so far. Crossing the Great Australian Bite is going to be a little hectic I imagine. She's had a few encounters with sharks bumping the kayak already, but there's massive great whites down that way. Most nights she camps on shore but she also has a sea anchor so she can sleep in the kayak. If she makes it, she'll be only the second person to have done it.
Crazy arse German Kayaker, Freya , and her transport around Australia
As I mentioned a few times, we're flown in and out of the farm. Paspaley have three Mallard seaplanes. These things are fairly old, dating back to just after World War 2 I believe. They've been converted with new engines and refitted to better transport people and supplies. The engines are quite loud. Everyone wears ear plugs or earmuffs, sometimes both. Most of the flight time is spent sleeping and you normally have to be ready to fly pretty early in the morning.
Mallard seaplane
I'll leave you with a pretty landscape shot.
Kuri Bay Dawn as seen from the mess balcony (half the time I've already been up for 4 hours working by dawn)
I'm sitting on my verandah, looking out over the valley and into the bay, ginger beer to one side (Bundaberg of course). It's the afternoon, the sun is shining. The temperature is probably around the mid twenties, comfortable enough for me to be just in shorts.
Yeah, I think I'm doing okay.
Okay, enough gloating.
A while ago I promised you an email about some of the wildlife out here. I didn't forget and I wasn't (for once) being slack. I was just waiting to until I managed to take a photo of the local croc. This cute little fella has a nest somewhere in our bay and can be seen most afternoons hanging out on our water raft (used for filling boats with fresh water I believe). We're not sure if it's a he or she but we do know it's about two and a half metres long. The photo I took was of it sunning itself on our wharf. One time while flying back to Darwin, as we we coming into land at one of the other farms, I spotted a croc in a small estuary from the plane. This thing was a massive beast. It would've been three to four metres long. The chippies (as the guys who work on the water are called) see crocs every now and then while out working. There's a few stories of them being near the boat for hours, watching and waiting.
Kuri Bay's "guard dog" chilling on the wharf
Every afternoon, the old man of the man, Fox, takes out all the food scraps out in a boat for the "kids". The "kids" are various large fish, "sleepy" sharks, reef sharks and plenty of birds including kites and a seas eagle. Feeding time at the zoo has nothing on this. "Sleepy" sharks are docile things. More like water bound vacuum cleaners than sharks really. As you can see form the photo you can touch them. How many of you can say you have pet a shark? I can.
:)
Fox shaking hands with a "Sleepy" Shark
As you can probably imagine of the Australian outback, there's a fair few snakes out here. People have seen Taipans and King Browns. Fortunately the most common snakes are Olive Pythons. They can be a little scary as they can grow to a fairly decent size. There is apparently an older resident called "Monty" who is a good four or five metres long. He hasn't been seen yet this year. Olive Pythons are also fairly docile and you can actually just pick them up and they're happy to hang off you for a while. They move pretty slowly, except when they have a meal in sight. They normally feast on bush rats or similar animals. After catching and swallowing their prey, they stay in the same spot for a couple of days while it digests a bit. We had the one in the photo was under the bar for about three days after one meal. I should note, that you DO NOT pick one up while it is eating or digesting.
Olive Python
There's plenty of other animals out here as well. In the toilet block, it's a rare night that I count less than five geckos if I turn my head around while washing my hands. Quolls and bush rats love to eat any food people are silly enough to leave in their rooms. Owls have also starting coming out as it's becoming colder at night. As we head further into the dry season, dingos are coming closer to camp. The farm manager, Sam, saw one wandering up through the farm one night and you can hear them howling most nights.
Just because we're in one of the most remote parts of the Australian coast (co-ordinates for Google Earth geeks: 15°29'11.94"S 124°31'23.41"E) doesn't mean that we don't have visitors. Every now and then you can see a cruise ship go past the bay. We had a guy in a little tinny run about drive 45 minutes from his prawn trawler on a mission to get cigarettes for the crew. He ended up leaving with a smokes and a carton of beer. He paid for them with a box of fresh caught prawns. Who do you think got the better end that bargain?
The most interesting (crazy is probably more apt) visitor we had was a German woman, Freya Hoffmeister. She's on a mission to kayak around Australia. Solo. Yes, I'm serious. She left Melbourne back in late January (the 18th from memory) and has gone up the east coast and around the the top end so far. Crossing the Great Australian Bite is going to be a little hectic I imagine. She's had a few encounters with sharks bumping the kayak already, but there's massive great whites down that way. Most nights she camps on shore but she also has a sea anchor so she can sleep in the kayak. If she makes it, she'll be only the second person to have done it.
Crazy arse German Kayaker, Freya , and her transport around Australia
As I mentioned a few times, we're flown in and out of the farm. Paspaley have three Mallard seaplanes. These things are fairly old, dating back to just after World War 2 I believe. They've been converted with new engines and refitted to better transport people and supplies. The engines are quite loud. Everyone wears ear plugs or earmuffs, sometimes both. Most of the flight time is spent sleeping and you normally have to be ready to fly pretty early in the morning.
Mallard seaplane
I'll leave you with a pretty landscape shot.
Kuri Bay Dawn as seen from the mess balcony (half the time I've already been up for 4 hours working by dawn)