A day at the ranch

We began the morning on the deck with the owner of the Rose Gum as she set out seeds for the area King Parrots and beautiful Rainbow Lorikeets. As soon as she put the seeds out, the birds came swarming from the trees. These are truly spectacular birds (many Parrot Lorikeets were also seen along the boardwalk at Cairns as they return in the evening). After a brief stop and unsuccessful search for platypus at Millanda Falls, we headed towards the Outback for a visit to Woodleigh Cattle Station.  We had a tour of this working cattle station and the original homestead from the 1800s. The farm has been in the owner, Kate’s, family since 1913. After an Aussie barbecue we received a quick explanation of what happens at the station after a cattle muster. We also tried a few macadamia nuts from the tree on the property. From here we traveled back from the grassland regions to the Nyleta Wetlands and Hastings Swamp. Here we viewed birds and ducks from a hide and came upon a large flock of Magpie geese. After leaving the swamp, we made our way to the Atherton area for a surprise visit to the Tolga Bat Hospital. Luckily, Jenny had just taken a break from her computer and was pleased to welcome unexpected guests. We also luckily arrived at feeding time. Jenny gave us a great explanation of the work that the bat hospital does and we were able to get up close and personal with many bats. Visit http://www.tolgabathospital.org/ for more information. After a farewell to Jenny, the bats, and her lovely dogs, we headed towards our next stop with Phil and Pat of the Ngadjonji aboriginal tribe. Phil and Pat host students on their property for overnight camping and a demonstration and explanation of their culture. They also show the students how to create and play a didgeridoo. Phil observes the participants and assigns a totem animal for them. In our short visit, he assigned each of us a totem and offered a boomerang with our totem painted on them. I must say, with Phil’s description of why he chose a lizard for Yvette, a dolphin for Marylin, and a butterfly for me — he was eerily right on. We left Phil and Pat, and headed for our last chance to see a platypus. We bypassed the 'tourist spotting spot' and made our way to Martin’s special pools. After a few minutes, a platypus appeared. It only came to the surface for a short time before diving back under to forage for food. We were lucky enough to see three platypuses during our short visit. Come on: You see him in the photo, don’t you? One final stop before dinner offered me the opportunity to recreate one more photo from my 1985 visit as we stopped at the Curtain Fig – another iconic 500+ year old strangler fig.