What a day! Some people went off in helicopters and others went on Zodiacs, but all got to experience a place that time forgot. There are few places that are considered to be “untouched,” but there are some pockets left around the world. Today we were travelling through one of those places, up the Hunter River and along Prince Frederick Harbour.
Hunter River certainly didn’t let anybody down. The red colors of the sandstone, the green belts of tree canopies, the browns from the mud and the flowing water looked like a living piece of art and we were cruising through it. We were able to see crocodiles instantly and they didn’t stop popping up the entire time. We saw them warming up on the mud or in the water before they disappeared. I have no doubt that many more were watching us, unknown to us. We were also able to find a huge number of birds with the ospreys, brahminy kites, white-belly sea eagles and azure kingfishers being the highlights! There were also a lot of mud skippers (fish that live out of water up on the mud) that put on an endless show, as the males displayed their “sailfins” and fought each other for dominance.
Throughout the day, people returned from their helicopter flights with smiles from ear to ear. Everyone used similar words such as “amazing” and “extraordinary,” so I’m going to trust they had a good time!
In the afternoon we went off on a Zodiac expeditionary cruise, where we spotted an osprey’s nest with a breeding pair of birds in it. The naturalists were pretty sure the birds either had chicks or eggs in the nest at the time from their behavior. The highlight of the trip was a sandstone tower aptly named, “Thor’s Hammer.” The geological processes that created it were hard to imagine, but it was a sight to behold!
