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gemfyre8/3/2011
Hooray! I am back in the swag (but feeling a little less lonely in a caravan park). There is a spectacular tropical lightning storm on the horizon, but I'm assured the chance of rain here in Port Hedland is extremely unlikely. I remember seeing storms like this in Broome. Loads of lighting right across the sky, but it's silent, so far away that you don't even hear the thunder.
And hooray! I am back on the coast. So good to see the ocean (and lots of waders) again.
I slept solidly from about 9:30 to 5am. I decided to not go back to sleep, because then I'd sleep to at least 6:30 and be more tired for it. So I read until the sun rose (about 20 minutes), then went for a walk, didn't see much in the way of birds. Saw plenty in the way of flies and grasshoppers. One particularly large grasshopper sat on my car the whole night I am sure. It was quite beautiful in pastel peaches and greens. I also saw the Hamersley Range lit by the first light. Unfortunately my camera is a piece of crap and the photos do not portray the colours AT ALL. *grumbles*
I managed to get on the road by 7:30am and 'Kate' informed me I should be in Port Hedland by 10am at this rate. Great, that would leave me plenty of time for birding.
I stopped in briefly at a rest stop near Bea Bea Creek. This would be a great place to camp if it wasn't for all the flies (the stretch of road was unfenced cattle country, so there was cow poo everywhere - cow poo = flies), some of them were bitey bastards, and there was still the odd mozzie about too. It was also rather warm and very humid. So I hopped back in the car and headed on my way, in the relatively fly-free, air-conditioned comfort of the car.
On my way to the turnoff to Port Hedland I passed over many creeks. Some were flowing, if only shallowly, in shimmering ribbons over the landscape, and then the next creek was just as likely to be bone dry. I was surprised and delighted to see a Black-necked Stork (that's the proper name of the bird Aussie's refer to as the Jabiru - but that's another story) in one of the flowing creeks.
I investigated the road I had previously planned to take to Marble Bar. At the start at least it looked like a well-kept gravel road. No idea what it would become like, but trucks seem to traverse it regularly and it wasn't closed. But I wanted the ocean, so I stuck to my new plan to head to Hedland. Somewhere along the line a damn road train pulled out in front of me and I had to slow down to about 70kph. I was going to chat to him on the radio to see when it was safe to overtake, but heard nothing on the CB - I realised later I was on the wrong channel (I had switched to 15 when I was in Nallan - as it was the channel to communicate on the station). It didn't matter, not far on the road straightened and was clear ahead, so I overtook him. And was surprised to find he was towing four trailers instead of the usual three. All the way into Port Hedland I saw plenty of these big babies, they obviously go back and forth between some outer mines and the port.
Port Hedland is very large (phone and internet reception here are no issue), and Kate's maps are obviously a little outdated. Many of the roads I took were either aligned about 500m to the right or weren't there at all, and some intersections didn't exist, and sometimes Kate informed me about an intersection where there was none. I got a little lost at first but soon decided to follow signs and maps and ignore Kate. I saw the sign to Finucane and remembered Marie had recommended checking it out, so I did.
The tide was in so I just sat and looked at the ocean for a bit, while a cavalcade of SMSes arrived on the phone (reception finally, after many days) and I updated people as to my whereabouts on Facebook.
I then went around to the boat ramp and wandered beside the mangroves. I found a hermit crab and on closer inspection realised it was a different species to those found around Broome. A lot thinner and darker. I didn't see much in the mangroves, and soon remembered that I hadn't applied sunscreen yet, and better get back to the car before I burned to a crisp.
I then headed into town to find the tourist centre (I so prefer 'centre' to 'beaureau' - so much easier to spell). There I got a map and a tide chart and chatted to Mum and Matt on the phone for a bit. Paid $2.70 for a Frosty Fruits icy pole, but man it was worth it.
I then made my way around to the turtle nesting beaches. Nesting is over for the year, but that doesn't mean the turtles aren't still around, I saw 3 or 4 paddling about. From a look at the heads, I would say these were Green Turtles, which are found in the area, but the turtles that nest here are Flatback Turtles. Seeing as I'm only really familar with Green Turtles - I guess any turtle would look like a Green to me, so it's quite likely these were Flatbacks. I also caught sight of a few waders on a nearby beach.
Now, when I first got to Hedland, I looked at the sky, figured we were in for another rainy night and thought I might bird until 4:30 or so, then push on to Pardoo for the night - where budget motel rooms were $100 for the night. I was informed at the Tourist Centre that storms were in the area (obviously), but rain wasn't forecast for Hedland itself, and that these storms usually went right around the town (hey, I guess it's like Perth!) I still considered going to on Pardoo for a little while, but quickly decided I wanted to just stay in town, do some shopping and birdwatch at a relaxed pace.
So, after seeing the turtles, I thought to myself, it's only 1pm, I should go book into the caravan park and do a load of washing. So that's exactly what I did. All the sites here are powered and are $40 a night (pretty steep, considering the dongas I had been staying in were $60). I did get a 10% discount seeing as I was alone (most caravan park prices assume two people).
While the washing was on I wandered around the caravan park then set up my swag, table and chair. The park is right beside a tidal creek called Pretty Pool, I was delighted to see Rainbow Bee-eaters and a Brahminy Kite wing it's way over. After hanging the washing (I'm gonna need more pegs - lucky there were plenty of other pegs on the line that I used, but I may not be so lucky next time I do washing), I headed back into town do grab a few supplies and a late lunch (I was starting to get a little light-headed). I guzzled down a fishburger and even considered getting an ice-cream from "Hedland Rock" - a clone of Cold Rock Ice-creameries. I decided to forgo the ice cream and grabbed some bread and Gatorade from the Woolies.
Frank O'Connor recommends many sites to birdwatch around Port Hedland - mainly sewage ponds - of which there are many (each 'suburb' seems to have one). One was in South Hedland so I figured out go down there, and at least have a look at South Hedland. On the way I took a detour to the Walkabout Hotel. Marie had told me there were some poo ponds behind the hotel which she had seen various birds at over a series of months. The steep banks, mud and long grass prevented me from seeing much on the actual ponds, but the surrounding grassland had a few pools in it too, and I saw a few waders and ducks on them, along with a bunch of Black-winged Stilts having a good freak-out over my presence and scaring up all the other waders. After about 20 minutes I headed back to the car and onto South Hedland. Not much to report really, it's a large country town - a big shopping centre, schools, houses, other stuff. I stopped off and got petrol, but figured I couldn't be bothered checking the sewer works there, time was marching on, and 6 Mile Creek seemed like a better bet.
It was. 6 Mile Creek is a tidal creek, and the tide was receding, so waders were coming in to feed. I could hear their twittering as they chased each other around the mudflats. Got quite a few species here - including old favourtes like Terek Sandpiper and Ruddy Turnstone. And also saw a white phase Eastern Reef Egret, I had only previously seen the grey phase.
I've started becoming used the fact that I will be slightly damp all day due to sweat. By this time I was quite soggy and decided a swim in the pool would be well earned (better get my money's worth!) The pool was quite warm, but still nice. I chatted with a woman who drives from Perth to Port Hedland on an almost weekly basis (she drives a pilot car for the oversized trucks), then with a precocious 8 year old girl who joined us in the pool. Whilst floating about I was able to watch White-breasted Woodswallows huddling on a nearby aerial, White-plumed Honeyeaters zipping through the trees and Rainbow Bee-eaters gliding overhead. I got out of the pool in time to watch the sunset over the tidal creek.
And that's when I sat down to do internetty things as well as this diary and my daily bird list. Somewhere in there I also heated up and ate dinner. I've used my jump starter to charge the laptop and phone (because the triple adaptor for the cigarette lighter is running so hot I can smell the plastic). I'll recharge the charger tonight off this power I've had to pay for.
It's now quarter past 9 and time to wind down. Pack things back into the car so they don't get nicked or (God forbid) rained on. Have a shower then slip into the swag to enjoy the night breeze and the stars until I go to sleep.
8/3/2011 (Auski Roadhouse, Finucane Island, Port Hedland, South Hedland, Walkabout Hotel Poo Ponds, 6 Mile Creek)
Australasian Grebe
Australian Pipit
Australian White Ibis
Bar-shouldered Dove
Bar-tailed Godwit
Black Swan
Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike
Black-faced Woodswallow
Black-fronted Dotterel
Black-necked Stork
Black-winged Stilt
Brahminy Kite
Budgerigar
Caspian Tern
Common Bronzewing
Common Greenshank
Crested Pigeon
Crested Tern
Diamond Dove
Eastern Reef Egret (white phase)
Great Knot
Greater Sand Plover
Grey Teal
Grey-tailed Tattler
Kingfisher (Collared or Sacred??)
Little Corella
Little Egret
Little Pied Cormorant
Magpie
Magpie Lark
Peaceful Dove
Peregrine Falcon
Pied Butcherbird (H)
Pied Cormorant
Pied Oystercatcher
Rainbow Bee-eater
Red-capped Dotterel
Red-kneed Dotterel
Red-necked Stint
Rock Dove
Ruddy Turnstone
Silver Gull
Singing Honeyeater
Terek Sandpiper
Torresian Crow
Tree Martin
Wandering Whistling Duck
Whistling Kite
White-breasted Whistler (H)
White-breasted Woodswallow
White-faced Heron
White-plumed Honeyeater
Willie Wagtail
Yellow White-eye (H)
Yellow-throated Miner
Zebra Finch
See more of today's photos here.
Hooray! I am back in the swag (but feeling a little less lonely in a caravan park). There is a spectacular tropical lightning storm on the horizon, but I'm assured the chance of rain here in Port Hedland is extremely unlikely. I remember seeing storms like this in Broome. Loads of lighting right across the sky, but it's silent, so far away that you don't even hear the thunder.
And hooray! I am back on the coast. So good to see the ocean (and lots of waders) again.
I slept solidly from about 9:30 to 5am. I decided to not go back to sleep, because then I'd sleep to at least 6:30 and be more tired for it. So I read until the sun rose (about 20 minutes), then went for a walk, didn't see much in the way of birds. Saw plenty in the way of flies and grasshoppers. One particularly large grasshopper sat on my car the whole night I am sure. It was quite beautiful in pastel peaches and greens. I also saw the Hamersley Range lit by the first light. Unfortunately my camera is a piece of crap and the photos do not portray the colours AT ALL. *grumbles*
 |
Morning over the Hamersleys To get some semblance of the natural light I have to turn the auto-flash off, and so instead I get blurriness. This really isn't too bad though. |
I managed to get on the road by 7:30am and 'Kate' informed me I should be in Port Hedland by 10am at this rate. Great, that would leave me plenty of time for birding.
I stopped in briefly at a rest stop near Bea Bea Creek. This would be a great place to camp if it wasn't for all the flies (the stretch of road was unfenced cattle country, so there was cow poo everywhere - cow poo = flies), some of them were bitey bastards, and there was still the odd mozzie about too. It was also rather warm and very humid. So I hopped back in the car and headed on my way, in the relatively fly-free, air-conditioned comfort of the car.
| Bea-Bea Rest Stop A pretty rest stop by a creek. |
 |
On my way to the turnoff to Port Hedland I passed over many creeks. Some were flowing, if only shallowly, in shimmering ribbons over the landscape, and then the next creek was just as likely to be bone dry. I was surprised and delighted to see a Black-necked Stork (that's the proper name of the bird Aussie's refer to as the Jabiru - but that's another story) in one of the flowing creeks.
I investigated the road I had previously planned to take to Marble Bar. At the start at least it looked like a well-kept gravel road. No idea what it would become like, but trucks seem to traverse it regularly and it wasn't closed. But I wanted the ocean, so I stuck to my new plan to head to Hedland. Somewhere along the line a damn road train pulled out in front of me and I had to slow down to about 70kph. I was going to chat to him on the radio to see when it was safe to overtake, but heard nothing on the CB - I realised later I was on the wrong channel (I had switched to 15 when I was in Nallan - as it was the channel to communicate on the station). It didn't matter, not far on the road straightened and was clear ahead, so I overtook him. And was surprised to find he was towing four trailers instead of the usual three. All the way into Port Hedland I saw plenty of these big babies, they obviously go back and forth between some outer mines and the port.
Port Hedland is very large (phone and internet reception here are no issue), and Kate's maps are obviously a little outdated. Many of the roads I took were either aligned about 500m to the right or weren't there at all, and some intersections didn't exist, and sometimes Kate informed me about an intersection where there was none. I got a little lost at first but soon decided to follow signs and maps and ignore Kate. I saw the sign to Finucane and remembered Marie had recommended checking it out, so I did.
The tide was in so I just sat and looked at the ocean for a bit, while a cavalcade of SMSes arrived on the phone (reception finally, after many days) and I updated people as to my whereabouts on Facebook.
 |
Finucane Island - Port Hedland OCEAN!!! Ocean!! Ocean!! Ocean!! *love* |
I then went around to the boat ramp and wandered beside the mangroves. I found a hermit crab and on closer inspection realised it was a different species to those found around Broome. A lot thinner and darker. I didn't see much in the mangroves, and soon remembered that I hadn't applied sunscreen yet, and better get back to the car before I burned to a crisp.
| Finucane Island Mangroves and rock (and a hermit crab!) I was stupidly overjoyed to be by the coast again. I hate being too far from the ocean. |
 |
I then headed into town to find the tourist centre (I so prefer 'centre' to 'beaureau' - so much easier to spell). There I got a map and a tide chart and chatted to Mum and Matt on the phone for a bit. Paid $2.70 for a Frosty Fruits icy pole, but man it was worth it.
I then made my way around to the turtle nesting beaches. Nesting is over for the year, but that doesn't mean the turtles aren't still around, I saw 3 or 4 paddling about. From a look at the heads, I would say these were Green Turtles, which are found in the area, but the turtles that nest here are Flatback Turtles. Seeing as I'm only really familar with Green Turtles - I guess any turtle would look like a Green to me, so it's quite likely these were Flatbacks. I also caught sight of a few waders on a nearby beach.
Now, when I first got to Hedland, I looked at the sky, figured we were in for another rainy night and thought I might bird until 4:30 or so, then push on to Pardoo for the night - where budget motel rooms were $100 for the night. I was informed at the Tourist Centre that storms were in the area (obviously), but rain wasn't forecast for Hedland itself, and that these storms usually went right around the town (hey, I guess it's like Perth!) I still considered going to on Pardoo for a little while, but quickly decided I wanted to just stay in town, do some shopping and birdwatch at a relaxed pace.
So, after seeing the turtles, I thought to myself, it's only 1pm, I should go book into the caravan park and do a load of washing. So that's exactly what I did. All the sites here are powered and are $40 a night (pretty steep, considering the dongas I had been staying in were $60). I did get a 10% discount seeing as I was alone (most caravan park prices assume two people).
While the washing was on I wandered around the caravan park then set up my swag, table and chair. The park is right beside a tidal creek called Pretty Pool, I was delighted to see Rainbow Bee-eaters and a Brahminy Kite wing it's way over. After hanging the washing (I'm gonna need more pegs - lucky there were plenty of other pegs on the line that I used, but I may not be so lucky next time I do washing), I headed back into town do grab a few supplies and a late lunch (I was starting to get a little light-headed). I guzzled down a fishburger and even considered getting an ice-cream from "Hedland Rock" - a clone of Cold Rock Ice-creameries. I decided to forgo the ice cream and grabbed some bread and Gatorade from the Woolies.
Frank O'Connor recommends many sites to birdwatch around Port Hedland - mainly sewage ponds - of which there are many (each 'suburb' seems to have one). One was in South Hedland so I figured out go down there, and at least have a look at South Hedland. On the way I took a detour to the Walkabout Hotel. Marie had told me there were some poo ponds behind the hotel which she had seen various birds at over a series of months. The steep banks, mud and long grass prevented me from seeing much on the actual ponds, but the surrounding grassland had a few pools in it too, and I saw a few waders and ducks on them, along with a bunch of Black-winged Stilts having a good freak-out over my presence and scaring up all the other waders. After about 20 minutes I headed back to the car and onto South Hedland. Not much to report really, it's a large country town - a big shopping centre, schools, houses, other stuff. I stopped off and got petrol, but figured I couldn't be bothered checking the sewer works there, time was marching on, and 6 Mile Creek seemed like a better bet.
It was. 6 Mile Creek is a tidal creek, and the tide was receding, so waders were coming in to feed. I could hear their twittering as they chased each other around the mudflats. Got quite a few species here - including old favourtes like Terek Sandpiper and Ruddy Turnstone. And also saw a white phase Eastern Reef Egret, I had only previously seen the grey phase.
 |
|
| 6 Mile Creek - Port Hedland The best wader watching spot on the whole trip (due to conditions not being ideal at Broome). |
I've started becoming used the fact that I will be slightly damp all day due to sweat. By this time I was quite soggy and decided a swim in the pool would be well earned (better get my money's worth!) The pool was quite warm, but still nice. I chatted with a woman who drives from Perth to Port Hedland on an almost weekly basis (she drives a pilot car for the oversized trucks), then with a precocious 8 year old girl who joined us in the pool. Whilst floating about I was able to watch White-breasted Woodswallows huddling on a nearby aerial, White-plumed Honeyeaters zipping through the trees and Rainbow Bee-eaters gliding overhead. I got out of the pool in time to watch the sunset over the tidal creek.
And that's when I sat down to do internetty things as well as this diary and my daily bird list. Somewhere in there I also heated up and ate dinner. I've used my jump starter to charge the laptop and phone (because the triple adaptor for the cigarette lighter is running so hot I can smell the plastic). I'll recharge the charger tonight off this power I've had to pay for.
It's now quarter past 9 and time to wind down. Pack things back into the car so they don't get nicked or (God forbid) rained on. Have a shower then slip into the swag to enjoy the night breeze and the stars until I go to sleep.
8/3/2011 (Auski Roadhouse, Finucane Island, Port Hedland, South Hedland, Walkabout Hotel Poo Ponds, 6 Mile Creek)
Australasian Grebe
Australian Pipit
Australian White Ibis
Bar-shouldered Dove
Bar-tailed Godwit
Black Swan
Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike
Black-faced Woodswallow
Black-fronted Dotterel
Black-necked Stork
Black-winged Stilt
Brahminy Kite
Budgerigar
Caspian Tern
Common Bronzewing
Common Greenshank
Crested Pigeon
Crested Tern
Diamond Dove
Eastern Reef Egret (white phase)
Great Knot
Greater Sand Plover
Grey Teal
Grey-tailed Tattler
Kingfisher (Collared or Sacred??)
Little Corella
Little Egret
Little Pied Cormorant
Magpie
Magpie Lark
Peaceful Dove
Peregrine Falcon
Pied Butcherbird (H)
Pied Cormorant
Pied Oystercatcher
Rainbow Bee-eater
Red-capped Dotterel
Red-kneed Dotterel
Red-necked Stint
Rock Dove
Ruddy Turnstone
Silver Gull
Singing Honeyeater
Terek Sandpiper
Torresian Crow
Tree Martin
Wandering Whistling Duck
Whistling Kite
White-breasted Whistler (H)
White-breasted Woodswallow
White-faced Heron
White-plumed Honeyeater
Willie Wagtail
Yellow White-eye (H)
Yellow-throated Miner
Zebra Finch
See more of today's photos here.
