Mum and Dad came down for a visit, and we all stayed in Bellingen!

Dad hired a little cottage up on a hill, but we arrived before check-in time, so we spent a few hours exploring the town.

This is a crazy-looking tree we found outside the tourist information building:

This is a monument to David Helfgott, who apparently lived in Bellingen for a time.  You probably know him as the piano guy from the movie Shine.

Another weird tree.  Well, it’s more like a tree and a strangler fig that tried and failed to take it over.

I’m not sure whether this is inspiring or creepy.

We had lunch in the old grocery store, that is now a fresh food/café place.  Dad and I both had sushi, Mum had a burger, and we all tried their fresh juices.  We bought some food supplies, including lemonade (very necessary for summer holidays).  Eventually, it was time to go the cottage, and we settled in quickly.

The place had a great view from the back verandah – I took some photos:

Mum was pretty tired, so she had a nap while Dad and I went back into town to pick up some stuff we’d forgotten about – like ice cream, which is very important for making spiders, also necessary holiday food (for those foreigners reading this blog, spiders are also known as ice cream floats).  Then Dad and I went down to the Bellinger River for a swim.

Here are some photos of the river, courtesy of Dad’s camera:

This is from the bridge:

There had been rain recently, so the river had a fairly strong current as all the water raced downstream.  There was also a small pile of debris under the bridge, like a little dam:

Dad and I swam up past it, and noticed a whole bunch of bird nests beneath the bridge, and some lizards basking on the log pile.  We weren’t sure if they were water dragons or not, and none of us brought a camera to record them, so they are forever lost to the mists of history.

The swim really helped us cool off – after Armidale, Bellingen is pretty hot and humid.  We went back and spent some time on the verandah with Mum, mostly just looking at the view and checking out some of the birds that appeared in the garden.

This is a female Satin Bowerbird:

 

Both a picture and a video of a Spotted Dove:

 

A White-headed Pigeon I spotted on the roof of the house behind us:

 

Pretty striking, huh?

This is a Western Gerygone which, in spite of the name, also occurs in the east.

 

Little Wattlebird that helpfully hung around some trees close to the verandah for quite a while:

 

We walked into town to have dinner at the Federal, which was an absolutely beautiful meal!  Seriously, they could be charging so much more for that.

This is a pic of me and Mum on the bridge, courtesy of Dad:

After dinner, we stopped on the bridge to see the flying foxes.  Bellingen is home to one of the largest colonies of Greyheaded Flying Foxes in Australia, and it was amazing to watch them coming out, flying over the river and into the night.

These photos are also courtesy of Dad:

As you can see, the air was thick with them, and they just kept coming!  We didn’t even see the end of them, because we started to walk back before they actually stopped.

At the cottage, we watched a movie, I had a spider, and then we went to bed.

The next day, our first stop was a walk through the flying fox colony.  Here’s a picture of Mum on the path down to the colony:

It was pretty amazing – they’re very used to people, so they didn’t fly away from us, and they were much more active than you’d expect during the day.  I figured we’d see them sleeping, but instead they were scrambling over the trees, flapping in place, and screeching like someone had just insulted their mother.

Now, prepare for more flying fox pictures than anyone ever asked for or wanted:

I took this picture to try to capture how dense their population was:

As you can see, every tree was seething with them.  This is a maternity colony, hence all the babies.  I spotted this one with a particularly dark-coloured baby:

I also took a bunch of videos.  First up, a video of one of them climbing through the tree – they did this a lot:

 

This one is flapping one wing.  A few were doing this, Mum thinks to cool themselves down.  I haven’t read anything that would contradict this, so I’m thinking she’s right.

 

This is a bit of a long one, but I caught a squabble at the end of it:

 

You can hear how loud they were – in some places, it was difficult to talk over them.

This is one of a mother and baby, rocking side to side:

 

We followed the path for a while, and the map said it looped around, but eventually we hit a point where we couldn’t find the path anymore, so we doubled back.  Then we headed into Bellingen itself to check out the old butter factory, now converted into a café and whole bunch of craft shops.

We parked the car and walked, passing the golf course on the way.  No one was around, but they had some crazy spiky trees on the border, so I took a few pictures:

I wouldn’t be trying to climb that.

There was also a Blue-faced Honeyeater eating…something.  I don’t know, I’ve looked at this picture for ages and I can’t figure out what it is:

Some crazy-looking flowers near the entrance to the old butter factory:

Another blue-faced honeyeater, because there were a lot of them around:

We had a look around the various stores, particularly a woodwork gallery and a leather shop.  After the butter factory, we went back home for lunch.  Close to the road leading up to the cottage is this brilliant letterbox:

Not entirely sure about the pitch-fork, but it’s working for them.  We also spotted this little monster:

We watched another movie while we waited for the worst heat of the day to pass.  Then it was off to the Dorrigo Rainforest Centre, for a stroll along their skywalk.  It wasn’t a very long one, just a short trot out to a platform, but it had a great view.  Here are some pics:

I even took a video:

 

These are photos I took of the drop on either side of the skywalk.  It made my gut feel funny.

Then we set off for a brief walk through the rainforest.  The full circuit was over six kilometres, but we just didn’t have that kind of time, so we just wandered a little way and then turned back.  I took plenty of photos and video, though – we found a lot of birds.

But first, the usual landscapes:

The path was well-maintained, but there were places we had to duck to get past the lianas.  It was pretty wild.

Another photo of a white-headed pigeon:

I like the unfocused leaves around it.  Makes it look very artistic.

A video:

 

I particularly like its impression of the headless horseman.

This one might be hard to see.  It’s a Bassian Thrush, in the centre of the photo, hidden behind a bunch of unfocused branches:

There was no good photo of this one.  It was scurrying about in some dense bushes, so that’s one the best I got.  I tried to take videos, but they were even worse.

Mum, giving perspective to a gigantic liana:

This one might take a bit of spotting – a tiny dragon amongst the leaf litter (don’t worry if you can’t see it, I circle it in the next pic):

Now, with the answer key:

That file is actually saved in my computer as ‘circle lizard’.  I feel it gets the point across.

A slightly fuzzy shot of a yellow robin – these guys are everywhere:

Dad with another wild-looking liana (and Mum in the background):

An incredibly tall tree covered with ferns and crow’s nests:

Dad looking up through that little hollow in the centre (not so little, really):

We spotted a Brush Turkey by the side of the path, scratching in the dirt:

 

That wasn’t a zoom – it really was that close, and that uncaring.  The indifference was strong with it.

Mum wanted a photo of all the crow’s nests up in the trees, so I obliged her – this is for you, Mum:

We also spotted some logs growing mushrooms:

There must have been some kind of insects active in the forest, eating little holes in the leaves.  This tree was a particularly extreme example:

Another little dragon, this one easier to see because it’s looking at the camera:

Now, for a rather dark video of some Yellow-throated Scrubwrens:

 

And a very young brush turkey we spotted in the undergrowth:

 

As you can see, it hasn’t even got its adult colouring yet.

Then it was back to Bellingen.  We’d passed several waterfalls on the way up, and this time we pulled over in a small stopping bay near one to get a better look.

This is Newell Falls:

And with sound:

 

It was named after Hugh Newell, the Commissioner for Main Roads.

This is the view from the stopping bay:

There was a currawong in the trees while we were there – I took a picture:

Then we all went back to the river for a quick, cool-down swim, then back to the cottage for dinner and a movie.

For the final day, we packed up at the cottage and headed off along Waterfall Way.  We stopped at Ebor Falls, and just hopping out of the car we spotted this White-throated Treecreeper:

You can tell this is a female because of the orange patch on her cheek, like she’s wearing blush.  It’s more obvious in the video:

 

We took a stroll down the road to the lower falls first, and on the way Mum spotted some native raspberry:

We ate some, and it was pretty tasty.  Smaller than the commercial raspberry, and more seeds, but still quite nice.  When we reached the campsite at the lower falls, we had a look around and Mum found this clever little hotplate:

We also found this tree:

Yes, that’s one of its branches twisted to the point that it’s actually touching the ground.

The view from the lower falls lookout:

Both the lower and the upper falls:

Close-up of the lower falls:

Mum and Dad, at the lookout:

Then we strolled along the path to the upper falls:

All the layers to the waterfall almost make it look artificial – like a sculpture for a garden.  I also took a video, for the sound of the rushing water:

 

Then it was on to Point Lookout.  Mum and I had already been there, but we wanted to show Dad.  There were birds around this time, so none of the eerie silence I experienced, but it was still pretty amazing.

I spotted this little critter near the carpark:

It took me a while (and some judicious Googling) to figure out what it was.  It turns out this is a juvenile eastern yellow robin – they don’t get that distinctive grey and yellow colouring until they’re fully mature.  I also got some video:

 

Along the path, we managed to spot a lyrebird:

 

That whistling is Dad trying to coax it into responding.  We didn’t hear much from it, but at one point it was making an odd ‘click-click-pop’ noise, but I have no idea if that’s a genuine call or a mimicry of something.

Finally, we made it to the lookout.  Dad was very impressed.  Here’s a picture of him and Mum with the spectacular view in the background:

I also spotted what is either a brown or striated thornbill (seriously, Google Image them and you’ll see – there is practically no way to tell these little guys apart):

 

And a white-browed scrubwren:

 

At the carpark, we spotted a crimson rosella:

Then we all headed back to Armidale.  We got lunch at a little pub, and then Mum and Dad headed back to Brisbane.

Bonus: some birds I found in Armidale.

A nankeen kestrel – these guys are always around on the farm:

A brown falcon – also quite common: