Today’s agenda was a bushwalk at the Clarence Gorge.

First, I had to get there.  The entry point is actually on private property, so I had to call ahead to notify them of my arrival.  Then it was 27km along a dirt track to the house, and the walking track started just a little beyond it.  The path was actually a cattle track – a narrow strip of dirt through the grass.

Nowhere near a gorge yet.  But it’ll get there.

I stepped out of the car to be greeted with this:

I think I picked a good time to walk – there were lots of flowers blooming along the river:

I heard a splash, and glanced into the river.  I thought I saw something moving, so I whipped out the camera, managing to catch this Bell’s Turtle – a rare find.

I heard something shifting and vocalising in the brush, and spotted this Noisy Friarbird living up to its name:

Turns out that when you follow a cattle track, you tend to find cattle:

Have a few seconds of a Spangled Drongo:

The usual landscapes:

What do they all have in common?  Yes, they’re all landscapes, they all have vegetation in them…okay, they have a lot of things in common, but I’m focusing on the lack of trees.  The trees are there, yes, but it’s mostly scrub with no nice, cool shade to walk through.  That made this a very hot and sweaty trek, and I was very glad for my waterbottles.  The hat and sunscreen helped as well, but I mostly remember how great it felt to stop and take a drink of water when I was tired.

I saw a bird circling in the sky as I was walking – it seemed to be riding a thermal, slowly going higher and higher.  I didn’t know what it was, but I got it on film to identify later.

This is out of focus at the beginning, but when it clears up at the 6 second mark, you can see it’s a Wedge-tailed Eagle.  Usually I just let you guys watch the film, but for the first time I’m going to make a recommendation – pause it at about the 16 second mark, to see the beautiful profile without me shaking it around:

People have been mentioning how nice my pictures and videos are, and I can tell you the secret is to take lots of them.  That video of the eagle?  That was one of eight I shot, and the only one that actually had it in focus.  Go for quantity, and at least some of them will turn out to be quality.

Well, that, and have a good camera.

I found this insect when I sat down to take a breather:

A lizard scampered away from me, and I followed it with the camera.

I wish I could be Attenborough and tell you what it is, but I can’t for the life of me find out.  It’s an interesting looking one, though, isn’t it?

I saw a flash of yellow up in the trees and zoomed in, thinking it was a bird of some sort.

Nope, just a flower.

Insects were buzzing and humming all over the place – have a listen:

And have a look at some cows too, because there were plenty of them.  It’s funny how no ‘hot day’ scene seems complete without the sounds of those insects.  Maybe because we link that sound with summer.

At this point, I was walking through a lot of bottle-brush (still too sparse and short to actually give me shade) and I spotted this Brown Honeyeater having a meal:

I wasn’t close to the river, but more like the little pools and tributaries beside it.  There were a lot of dragonflies buzzing around, and I managed to get a picture of one:

I was very proud of myself for managing to snap that.  Of course, I had to wait until it had settled in one spot – there was no chance of getting the camera to focus on it while it was on the wing.

This is the actual river – I said I wasn’t close to it, didn’t I?At this point it really was a gorge, with nothing even approaching a river bank.

I saw something bright green dart through the trees, and my first thought was a rainbow lorikeet, but the green was a little too bright for that.  I used the camera, and found this Rainbow Bee-eater, looking very rainbow indeed:

And it sat still long enough to me to get a good shot!  The second picture is probably unnecessary, but I like the way I caught its wings opening before it flew away.

I heard chirping amidst the bushes and spotted an old friend – the red-browed finch:

But only some of that chirping was the finches – some of it was fairy-wrens!  I got some videos of them.

A male Red-backed Fairy-wren:

And this one has two female superb fairy-wrens, and you can just see a male in the corner:

I didn’t see him when I was filming, but I’m glad I got him!

As I started hearing the waterfall in the distance, the path started taking me over bare rocks and sand rather than through scrub.  I disturbed a lace monitor as it was sunning itself, and took a video as it slowly ambled off:

Finally, I scrambled over some granite outcroppings and came upon the waterfall:

As you can see, there was a lot of water and it was very loud.  Hear for yourself:

Then it was time to head back.  As I was re-tracing my steps, I spotted a female Australasian Figbird:

And another rainbow bee-eater:

Though it could be the same one – it was in the same place along the path.

At this point I was hot and tired, so I stopped for a quick drink and a breather.  The cows came around to see what I was doing.

This one (and a few others) came so close I actually ended up stroking and patting them for a little while.  It was quite relaxing.  Then I pressed on.

I spotted this kookaburra quite close to where I’d parked the car:

And these two rainbow bee-eaters – they seemed to be everywhere out here!  And I keep taking pictures because they’re so pretty.

There was even one on the telephone line as I was driving out:

I also spotted a bit of controlled burning on my way back:

They had some interestingly-coloured cows on the property, but this has to be the best one I saw:

It’s the first time I’ve seen a blue roan cow.

The sun was just starting to set as I headed back:

About an hour later I was finally back at Turtle Shell.  I had a long shower before dinner, though – I was still sweaty and sticky from walking.