The plants made fantastic shapes in the spotlight. Here an ancient species, Bunya Pine Araucaria bidwillii is lit dramatically from below. Will, our guide, pointed this out as a special tree, of the genus Araucaria. The 'nuts' are edible and valued by aboriginal people. Another ancient species, the famous Wollemi pine Wollemia nobilis, is glowing in the spotlight below.
Next came the highlight of the evening. we were wandering past the Acacias towards the Eucalypt lawn when one of the group were startled by a large bird sitting right by the path. The bird flew up into a tree and there he sat for us to watch him for a while. It was a nocturnal bird I hadn't seen in the wild before and I was very excited to see one as it is such a very unique being - the Tawny Frogmouth Podargus strigoides. Will switched to a red spotlight so as not to bother the bird too much and I was able to get some lovely shots.
After that we came across a little mob of Kangaroos on the Eucalypt Lawn. A couple of them were mothers with little joeys in their pouches. I had no idea there were so many Kangaroos in the gardens, Ive only ever seen one or two at a time so I thought that was all of them!
We carried on through the gardens, looking at plenty of acacia which are coming into flower - it won't be long before the gardens are ablaze with their yellow blooms. The moon looked down on us as we passed under Eucaplytus trees, we learnt how to tell where South is from the Southern Cross, tasted some native plums, smelt some Lemon Myrtle leaves and all the while we were trying to spot the elusive little Sugar Glider Petaurus breviceps which are extremely cute little things we were really hoping to see.
So, did we see an elusive Sugar Glider? Yes, we did!! We heard a noise just before we went for our hot chocolates and a sharp-eyed member of our group spotted him. We couldn't get close enough for a picture as he was high in a tree, he looked like a tiny possum from a distance. Here is a link to an image someone else has taken of one of these cute little things, though maybe it is an image from the USA, as I believe you can keep them as pets over there (certainly not in Australia). I was so happy to see all the creatures I had hoped to see tonight, it was really worth a year to wait, I just wish they ran these events more often. There are two more tours on this week, so if you are free on Thursday or Friday evening sign up!
Thanks Hazel, great photos, so glad your wait was worth it.
ReplyDeleteWow fantastic photographs Hazel!
ReplyDeleteWhat a great experience! Had a similar night tour in Kingfisher Park Birdwatchers Lodge (Julatten) - replace the tawny frogmouth with Papuan Frogmouth, and your possum with a striped one, throw in a few tropical frogs and that was our tour!
ReplyDeleteHappy travels!