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All animals on this page were photographed in the wild unless stated. All images can be clicked to view a larger version.

Crocodile

Whilst we were in Queensland, where they predominantly live, it was winter so they were quite inactive. This meant that we were not likely to be eaten when we went looking for them. We managed to see 5 cruising down the Daintree river, and a couple of smaller boys when we went on our lone fishing trip up the river in Port Douglas.

"Looking" for Crocs

Daintree Croc

Koala

These were pretty elusive creatures. Our best chance of seeing then in the wild, we were told, was in Lemon Tree Passage, NSW where there was a colony there near a campsite called Koala Shores . So after a couple of walks with our necks bent skywards we managed to spot a couple. They did absolutely nothing except sleep, but they were cute. The picture below is the best I could get, the other pictures are taken in a zoo.



Platypus

Jo and Clive, the people who we bought our Combi from, had told us to visit Eungella NP, and we had also heard that Platypus were up there. Each morning at dawn and at dusk, we would stalk these odd animals. You could tell where they were by the bubbles emerging from below and suddenly they would flop to the surface. I managed to get some pretty rare footage of a couple fighting, which I submitted to ABC Television for a documentary. They had been there for 8 months and failed to film it.

 

Eastern Grey Kangaroo

Our first encounter with wild roos was at Jervis Bay in NSW - one actually attacked me as I had some food on me. He chased me around a tree like a cartoon sketch, but I got away with my lunch. Broken River, Eungella NP also had its resident population of kangaroos, who would fight almost daily. They balanced themselves with their tails (almost standing on it), and kick each other before going in to strangle and eye-scratch. One smaller one kicked a larger one off its feet who went crashing down on his face. Nasty, but funny as hell.


A Bald Joey

At Kuranda, Dr Roscoe a mad scientist type person showed us a Joey he was rearing by hand. It lived with him in his caravan and he woke three or four times a night to feed it. He wrapped it in a jumper type thing that pretended to be the mother's pouch. It was fascinating to see a roo that you would not ordinarily see. It could not even hop yet, but tried to on the table and ended up in a heap.

Rock Wallaby

We saw this couple at Cape Bowling Green NP. We also befriended on one in the evening by our van. He managed to give us ticks - we woke up with small black animals that looked like a ladybird burrowing into our flesh. This campsite was an oasis of wildlife and we returned on our way down to Airlie Beach for lunch.

Possum

In New Zealand, because they were an introduced species (there are 80 million eating an estimated 21,000 tonnes of vegitation a night) they were treated as pest and battered to death with anything to hand. We saw this attempted with a kayak oar. Consequently, when I encountered my first one hassling us for food one night by a river, I had a bad attitude, but I quickly grew to like them. We would frequently be awoken to the sound of one of them rifling through our rubbish outside the van. They were very common and saw them fighting and eating all the time.

Dingo

Fraser Island is the only place left where Dingos are pure. On the mainland they have been interbred with the common dog. We saw many of them - they usually were after food from the camping area. We had been told to be weary of them as they had been known to attack after becoming so used to humans.


Red Bellied & Frilled Lizard

Lizards were everywhere in NSW and this great specimen was photographed in the Blue Mountains. This was not the largest, but was dwarfed by the Goannas in Queesland. We only saw one frilled lizard - however frightening I look, he did not get puff himself into attack mode, just sunned himself in Cape Trib.

Goanna (Monitor Lizard)

Ever since I had read "Life On Earth" by David Attenborough I had been intrigued by Komodo Dragons. Going to Australia was going to give me the chance to see the next best thing. Monitor Lizards. There were some impressive lizards in NSW, but seeing these boys walking around like dinosaurs was incredible.

Shark

We saw some sharks in the water, thankfully from quite a distance (one blurry image is shown). At Bryon Bay, we saw one wandering into a pod of dolphins who were giving us a spectacular display. The only time I was really scared of sharks was fishing off Fraser Island. All the fishing boys had long beachcaster rods to fish off the beach - I didn't. So, having invested in my bait, I was determined to use it, but had to wade in a fair way to cast over the waves. By myself, I just imagined a surging wave, a fin and a set of teeth. Fortunately, the bait never stayed on and my session turned out to be short.

 

Dolphin

We saw quite a few dolphins in the water. Those I will never forget are those off Bryon Bay. They were surfing the waves, not like surfers, but inside the waves. They would then jump clean through the back of the wave. Simply incredible! We fed a dolphin in her own backyard in Tin Can Bay which was a great experience.
View the Video Clip (416 kB)

Frogs

The infamous tree frog - I first saw one of these in our power socket plug at Cairns campsite. It was there sheltering. The other frog (I can't remember its name) was one discovered (apparantly) by Dr Roscoe and is only native to a part of Queensland near Kurranda.

Peppermint Stick Insect

The Peppermint Stick Insect has a very small and patchy distribution along some beach areas in Cape Tribulation, Innisfail and Mission Beach. It feeds only on a few species of Pandanus plants and these spikey-leaved palms also provide some shelter from predators. The Peppermint Stick Insect spends all its time on the Pandanus, feeding, sheltering, mating and laying its eggs on the leaves where they roll down to the tight-fitting leaf axil to 'incubate'. it is called the Peppermint Stick Insectv because as a defense mechanism, it sprays an irritating fluid at any predators (which include us tourists) and this fluid smells like peppermint.

 

Echidna

We never managed to see one in the wild (this pic was captured in a park). They are from the Monotreme family of mammal (the other being the Platypus) and lay only one single egg, carries her young in her pouch and can live to 50 years old.

Long Nosed Bandicoot

After nighttime nature walk with the clinically mad Dr Roscoe at the Kuranda campsite, we heard some kind of snorting going on outside the van. When we investigated, we found the source to be a weird creature going nuts sniffing around. I was able to get some video, but no stills as it was too dark.

Pademelon Laughing Kookaburra
Halfway up Queensland, I was getting obsessed with these damn Pademelons. I had heard of them but had not seen any at all. I heard they were in Eungella and on one of the many walks thought I had glimpsed one hopping low in the forest, but I could not be sure. Damn. Then, in a field as we left Cape Bowling Green, I spotted a few in a field. From then on, I managed to spot quite a few more.
This boy was a complete star. I first heard one in the Blue Mountains - I could not believe that one bird could make such a weird racket. I found out they were from the Kingfisher family - I thought it was a make of cricket bat.

Flying Foxes


Flying Foxes were basically a damn nuisance. The ones pictured on the right were in the Sydney Gardens and they had been trying to get rid of them for years. There were literally thousands of them and the whole area around them stank.

Superb Lyrebird (Not photographed)

On a walk in north NSW, one of these scampered across our path. We were both stunned as we knew how rare these birds were. It was just a pity it didn't stop for us to take a picture and to get its legendary plummage out.

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