Wildlife Shore Excursion — Mammals in the Rain

Today's tour was not an easy one. We met our guests at the cruise terminal at 9:30am for a day trip of the area, with instructions to be back no later than 5pm. Our target species were Lumholtz's Tree Kangaroo, Platypus, Pademelon, and a Southern Cassowary on top. Our guests had expressed interest in focusing on mammals, and I explained that most are nocturnal in our area and that the tour was going to sit at the difficult end of things, but I was confident we would get at least one of the four. The weather was unseasonably wet and cloud hung heavy over the Tablelands to the south, but we headed off to try our luck.

Our first stop at White Rock got us up close to a mob of Agile Wallaby grazing in a vacant plot. Above us, flocks of Rainbow Lorikeet and Double-eyed Fig Parrot whizzed by, while Masked Lapwing, Willie Wagtail and Bush Thick-knee patrolled the ground.

We tried our luck for Southern Cassowary at the top of the Gillies Range, to no avail, and as rain set in at Lake Barrine we couldn't find the peculiar Musky Rat-Kangaroo either. We did get a great view of a Wompoo Fruit-Dove nesting in the mid-storey, and a solitary Australasian Grebe on the lake.

Our guests were keen to see a Tree Kangaroo, so we set off for Nerada Tea House. Rain made the next stop difficult, but we were fortunate enough to find a sleeping Green Ringtail Possum which, on closer inspection, had a joey on her back. The rain continued through Malanda Falls, and only began to ease once we reached Yungaburra.

Shortly after making our way to the big bend, we spotted our first target: a pair of Platypus. They surfaced at various points as we worked down the creek, emerging briefly before scurrying up into a burrow. Along the way we also had good views of Spectacled Monarch, Pied Monarch, Pale-yellow Robin and Orange-footed Megapode. On the way back, a side track took us to a Red-legged Pademelon, which bounded briefly across the path and behind a big tree. Another target achieved, and time to move on for lunch.

With limited time and a preference for making the most of it, our guests opted for a snack lunch, so we made a quick supermarket stop before heading towards Kuranda to complete the circuit.

It was good to feel a bit of sunshine in the savannah at Mareeba, but by the time we reached Kuranda the mizzle had set in again. Fortunately, a small colony of Spectacled Flying Fox had set up a roost along the Barron River, giving us great views of another of the region's mammals.

We drove up Black Mountain Road for one more try at a Cassowary, but with time running short we began our descent back to Cairns.

With the little time remaining, we stopped at the famous Cairns Esplanade, which never disappoints. Straight away we had wonderful views of Sacred Kingfisher, Varied Honeyeater, Little Heron and Eurasian Whimbrel. Now only minutes from our 5pm target, we made our way back to the cruise terminal in good style, to the praise of two very happy travellers who got to see some remarkable animals during a short stopover in our lovely city of Cairns.