Wednesday, Nov 9 - Birding the Tari Valley

We had breakfast at 5:30 and set off in the bus at 6:15,  this time heading downhill towards the Valley and its many tiny settlements. 

(pic:  clay wall protecting a settlement)

 There is one main road in the area and small dirt lanes lead off it.  The Valley has quite a bit of cultivated land, mostly growing sweet potatoes and sugar cane in private lots and coffee in more commercial areas.  Almost all land in New Guinea is owned by the many tribes, rather than by the federal government; outside commercial interests, such as timber or oil, have to deal with the land owners and can be kicked off if the tribe finds their actions disrespectful or unpleasant - it would be fun to be able to do that to Exxon!  One’s land and pigs are the most valuable thing one owns and permission is needed to go anywhere.  The small village settlements are surrounded by 5’ high red mud walls, some very old by the size of the vegetation growing on it, to keep pigs and non-villagers out and are entered through elaborate woven gates.  Fortunately with David, who has been traveling in PNG since the 70s, and Joseph getting permission to bird these areas doesn’t seem too difficult.

We stopped at a patch of uncut forest and immediately got two fabulous birds: the male Superb Bird-of-Paradise who was puffing out a large flat disc of iridescent blue-green feathers around his neck - I’d seen photos of him displaying, but didn’t expect actually to see it - and the male Blue B-of-P who had a black head and back, blue wings and tail and extraordinary large white eye ring with a  line through it.

We drove to a lovely riverside area to see some water specialists such as the Torrent flycatcher and Salvadori’s Teal, but neither was present.  A friendly group of villagers gathered around us and when asked if they would mind us taking pictures, broke into big grins and started posing!  With digital cameras it was easy to show them shots of themselves which they enjoyed very much.  They wear a mixture of native dress and western clothes. 

 Several men were wearing leafy wreaths on their heads, some women wore gathered skirts made of natural material (tapa cloth?) and a couple of little kids were wearing short grass skirts, similar to hula skirts except open on the sides. Many of the women have facial tattoos and some had yellow and white face paint.  Almost everyone we come in contact with is very friendly and quite a few are knowledgeable about birds and happy to show you them.  Feathers are still gathered for ceremonial dances, but not enough individual birds are shot or trapped in any one area to damage the population.

We were driving back to the hotel when Joseph was flagged down by a young man who somehow knew that we wanted to see the Papuan Frogmouth.  We clambered out of the van and walked a short way down and through a stream and up the other side a couple of times and found ourselves by some small fish ponds.  Sitting above the ponds on a small branch was the well-camophlaged Frogmouth!  It hunts insects at night, scooping them up with its huge mouth; during the day it sits very still on a branch and with its brown, mottled colors blends completely with the wood on which it is sitting.  A very difficult bird to find!  (pic:  Papuan Frogmouth)

We returned for a lunch of vegetable lasagna and chicken empanadas - very good!  We had until 3:30 of free time so I washed my hair as, with no hair dryers, I didn’t want to go to bed with wet hair and Bob went out and hiked down to a small river valley below the hotel. 

At the set time we took off again in the bus and drove up to the Bailey Bridge.  It was overcast and drizzling off and on which made for poor birding as the birds, sensibly, like to take shelter in the rain.  We did get some more good views of the King-of-Saxony which was great.      (pic:  Long-Tailed Shrike)

We returned to the hotel in the late afternoon and  I bought some locally-made woven hot pads and we changed for dinner.  We met at the bar for wine and the List, and had yet another very good dinner of fish kebabs and roast beef with cabbage.  After dinner we watched a David Attenborough film about his early days in PNG looking for and filming various Bs-of-P - especially exciting to see now we’ve seen quite a few!

Tuesday, Nov 8 - Birding the Road to the Tari Gap

We walked over to the dining room and had a delicious breakfast at 6:00.  Warm porridge, yummm, for me and eggs for Bob.  We met David and the others at 6:30 and due to a change in plans, climbed aboard the bus and drove up to road to above the Bailey Bridge to about 8700’.  The temperature was a very pleasant 60 degrees; a nice and refreshing change from the “green hell” (Bob’s description of the lowlands)!

We stopped frequently and David and Joseph, our new local guide, got us onto some pretty terrific birds!  One of the most impressive was the King-of-Saxony Bird-of-Paradise, a bird about the size of a robin with a black back, white front with an apricot blush in the middle of the breast, and most amazingly, with two long plumes with a serrated edges, more than twice his body length, emerging from his forehead.  He can manipulate the plumes independently and whips them around his body while calling out a machine gun-like rattle.  We were able to watch him for quite a while.

(pic:  King-of-Saxony Bird-of-Paradise)

Another great bird was the Papuan Lorikeet, a medium-size parrot who has a brilliant red head, neck and breast with a blue and black on the back of the head, a green back, and a very long tail, which was feeding on small, equally red, flowers.  He flew up into the air and gave us a great show of his wonderful red colors and his long trailing tail feathers.

We came back to the hotel for a delicious lunch of macaroni with a veggie sauce, lentil salad and a curry.    (pic:  Painted Tiger Parrot, a rare bird!)

We re-assembled at 3:15 and drove past the bridge up to the Tari Gap at 9200’ where we found paramo-like grasslands which actually are the result of logging in the past.  The area is very beautiful with scattered tree ferns and lots of flowers.  We saw a Island Thrush, a large thrush with an orange bill.  As we started down, I saw some movement in a thick tree and got onto a beautiful golden yellow and black bird that turned out to be the Regent Whistler! We continued back to the Lodge with several more exciting sightings.  Bob got ~25 new life birds today!

We assembled for the List at 6:30, munching home-made sweet potato chips and drinking some good red wine, and when the gong for dinner sounded, had some tasty lentil soup, spicy beef on rice and passion fruit cream pie.

(pic:  Ribbon-Tailed Astrapia)

Monday, Nov 7 - Flying to Tari

We were able to sleep in late this morning until 5:15 and joined the other at the bus at 6 for a quick run up the road to KM 17 again. We immediately started walking into the forest on a nice raised stone path lined with big river rocks, that Sam had had constructed to lead birders to a bird-of- paradise lek (an area where some bird species males gather to display in dance and feather movements for females). The birds return year after year to the same lek, but these birds-of-paradise had been disturbed by people trying to photograph them and had found a new lek. Sam led us there and we managed to get good views of the Regganio B-of-P strutting and waving his gorgeous russet tail feathers and some got views of the Great B-of-P, which is similar except his tail is pale yellow.

We had to leave as we have a charter plane to catch at 11, so we returned to our Guest House, had a quick breakfast, returned to our rooms to pack and clean up, and got on to the bus with our luggage at 10:45. Ten minutes later we were at the tiny Kiunga Airport. It was very hot - in the high 90s - and very humid, and we sat there sweltering for an hour watching planes land and take off again. Finally our ten-seat single engine plane arrived. We had to wait while a large load of mattresses was unloaded (seems as if the charter company was double dipping). Then the seats had to be installed - we brought out our luggage and we sheltered under the tail to be in some shade. Our pilot, Kevin, an older, very thin Brit, loaded our luggage and hand luggage and then we got on….but the seat nearest the door wouldn’t sit in the grooves in the floor. Kevin, assisted by David, who was standing with the sun full on his back, struggled to get the damn thing to work. Finally it seemed as if it was attached properly, and Barry gingerly sat in it and promised not to move very much, at least, until we took off! We zoomed upwards and over the lovely serpentine Fly River and her tributaries, the town of Kiunga and then miles and miles more of unbroken, undeveloped jungle forest. The plane’s interior gradually began to cool, but we were still all soaking wet from our ordeal at the airport.

Kevin steered us around the many clouds and suddenly we were in the foothills of the southern highlands. The forest here was a lot more cut over as most of PNG’s population live in the highlands. We flew over our next hotel and curved around and came in on a gravel uphill strip, expertly landed by Kevin. We hopped off and onto a small bus and drove five minutes to the lovely Ambua Lodge, set on a hill side overlooking the Tari Valley and the home of the Huli people. The hotel has a main dining building and 40 small huts built of reed and split bamboo with modern conveniences inside. We had a late lunch and went to our rooms to settle in. The spacious huts are circular with conical roofs and have 180 degrees of windows set so everyone’s view is private.

We heard drums beating and returned to the dining room to see a SingSing, greeting dance, of some of the Huli men. They were dressed with woven bands around their waists with leafy branches inserted into the bands. Their faces were painted bright red and yellow and, most distinctively, they were wearing elaborate wigs made out of their own hair! As young unmarried men, they live apart from the other villagers and grow their hair for the purpose of making their wigs under the instruction of “wig masters”. The women do the practical stuff of everyday living while the men concentrate on their elaborate costumes, growing their hair, property disputes and some tribal warfare still.

A very noisy helicopter landed very near our cabins - turns out there are three landing sites near the hotel as the resource extraction interests are being catered to by the hotel- unfortunately more than eco tourism. Very clean-cut guys in uniform blue shirts seem to be all over about the hotel, and the Lodge is building a large addition to house them.

We birded a little from one of the ‘copter pads, overlooking a deep lovely valley where we’ll walk tomorrow, and saw a spectacular black and bright red Red Collared Honeyeater.

We had a pleasant dinner of carrot-ginger soup and roast pork and went to bed.

Sunday, Nov 6 - A Day on the Fly and Elevara Rivers (from Hell to Heaven)

(pic:  Blythe's Hornbill)
We got up at 4 AM and saw by looking at the swimming pool, that it was raining …bad sign for a day in an open boat! We joined the others for breakfast and then gathered our gear - everything wrapped in plastic bags and assembled at the front door of the hotel….no bus! So we grabbed our gear and boxes of lunch supplies and umbrellas, and set off down the dark main street for almost a mile in the rain until we came to the river and messy small port of Kiunga. Sam was waiting there with a 20’ open skiff with five wooden benches set inside. I put down the box of sandwiches I was carrying and my pack. David told Bob and me to get on board which we did to flash light illumination and sat down on wet seats in our rain jackets. I couldn’t find my umbrella which apparently I had left on shore in the confusion of loading up the boat, and faced a long day of being very wet!

Sam started up the outboard at 5:30 and we took off up river in the dark. Bob, Charlie and I were crammed onto one seat as there were nine of us for four benches. We used our life jackets for relief against the hard wooden seats, but it was pretty crowded! Gradually it got lighter and we could see the mighty Fly River in all its swollen glory. The river and its tributaries are flooding and great trees were submerged in several feet of water and the river full of logs and debris.

By a miracle, the solid grey sky that I thought might rain all day and possibly dump a deluge on us, started to break up and the rain lightened about eight.

We left the Fly River and turned onto the Elevara. After three hours of cruising and birding we reached Sam Kepuknai‘s little river resort. With difficulty, we all got safely out of the boat and climbed up steps to a small clearing and a lovely split black palm house with sago palm thatch roof, consisting of a dining porch and six small rooms with two sleeping platforms each. There is a nifty bamboo outhouse nearby and a kitchen hut. We took a break and rested and explored, and admired Sam’s pet Dwarf Cassowary which we can’t put on our lists, but loved seeing anyway!

(Pic:  Sam's Dwarf Cassowary)

After a couple of hours we took off in the boat for a ways up river before returning to Sam’s. Ginger reached under our seat and there was my umbrella!! Yeah! I don‘t have to buy yet another one.

Sam and his assistant, Thomas, led us into the forest; Bob and I were in our Tico boots and had an easier time walking through the water and mud than the others. We were trying to see the fabulous Southern Crested Pigeon which is about the size of a small turkey and has the most amazing curly feather topknot. Sam could hear one calling and with his and Thomas’ amazing eyes, they found one sitting in a tree, but off the trail so we slogged through vine-y, slippery, muddy undergrowth and finally most of us got wonderful looks at, at least, the head and breast. Barry and Cindy missed it, however, so we couldn’t celebrate as we otherwise would have as they were so disappointed - but what a sight!

(pic: Southern Crowned Pigeon from "Birds of New Guinea" by Brian J. Coates)
We took off in the boat and discovered that tiny leeches, that looked and acted like inch worms, were hitching themselves along on some of us, and Charlie found that one had already engorged itself on his leg and enlarged hugely! We flicked it overboard and found several more but got rid of them before they started to feed!

We finally left and started back - it was 3 PM already and we had three hours to get to Kiunga. The river was flowing so strongly that for quite a while we could cruise down river with the motor off which was lovely. Thomas suddenly pointed out a bird and we shut the motor off and found that he had somehow discovered another Southern Crested Pigeon sitting hidden in the shade high up in a tree. I can’t imagine how he saw it, but now all of us had had good views of this most extraordinary bird!

We continued home, the sky clearing with beautiful clouds, their undersides turning yellow, pink and finally violet in the setting sun. Just as it was getting really dark, the lights of Kiunga appeared and we pulled up to a trash-covered shore and were helped out. Sam and Thomas were just amazing: running the boat in swift-running water full of pieces of wood, spotting birds, and working hard for the 13 hours we were out!

We staggered back to the hotel, once again in the dark, and washed up for dinner, gathering for dinner and reviewing the great day!

Saturday, Nov 5 - Birding around Kiunga

David had ordered breakfast for 5 AM, so we staggered out of bed at 4:15 and made it into the dining room for fried eggs, tiny bananas and papaya. David told us a bit about how he came to be such an expert on New Guinean birds. He left England at the age of 22, after deciding not to continue in his career of being a policeman (actually very good training for guiding bird tours!) and took his savings and came to PNG to explore his interest in birds and nature in general. He spent several years here and in other parts of SE Asia, I think, assisted Jared Diamond in his research and gradually got hired guiding birders. He has excellent ears and eyes and enthusiastically gets his clients onto the particular species of the moment. An excellent leader!

We loaded on the bus and left at 5:30 for a 30 minute drive to Boystown Rd, passed the vocational school and headed into the forest. We parked and birded from the side of the road for a couple of hours, and saw, among many other birds, good views of several Flame Bowerbirds, stunningly beautiful birds with bright orange heads and golden yellow bodies with black wingtips and tail. Really lovely birds whose vivid colors could be seen from a great distance whereas most birds look like black dots from far away!

We took off on a trail which was quite muddy. Bob and I had brought along our old Tico boots that we had bought in Costa Rica 25 years ago, and with a little tire patching, are still very comfortable. Everyone else had to pick their way through the puddles, but we could march right through! With great difficulty, we all saw a pair of Emperor Fairywrens, lovely tiny wrens of iridescent cobalt blue for the male and russet and blue for the female. Then it finally started to rain. It had been incredibly humid all morning, quite miserable, and the rain felt good even when it started to pour! We headed back to the bus and returned back to our Guest House for clean-up and lunch of beer, Shepherd’s pie and chips (French fries)!

We were given 90 minutes to rest and I collapsed into a deep sleep and when I awoke decided I was too wasted to go out and stand for another three hours, so I rested and attempted to get on the internet. I was told that I could use the office computer, but it was so slow that I could just barely get to my mail, let alone the blog!

Bob came home at 5:30 and told me that three others had stayed behind to rest, so I felt better about cancelling out.

We had a good dinner served by our charming hostess, Barbara, who brought us soup, main and dessert. To bed early as we are to meet for breakfast at 4:30 AM for our day in Sam’s boat!!

Friday, Nov 4 - To Kiunga

(Note:  We're back in Port Moresby today and have internet connection, so I'll send out the posts one by one....)

We got up at 5:00 AM and had our checked bags outside our door by 6:00, and then went up to level seven for breakfast by the pool. We had a very nice buffet of all sorts of cereals, nuts, fruits, pastries and meats, and assembled at 6:30 by the front door to get on our bus for the five minute ride to the airport.

David herded us through the airport check-in line and security and we all sat in a very crowded lobby for the call to go to our gate. There were signs warning against smoking, and against chewing betel nuts and spitting the juice! 

Our plane was to leave at 8:00 for Tabubil, a small town in the western foothills rather than directly to Kiunga, our destination, due to an error by the Victor Emanuel Nature Tours staff, and David had arranged to have us driven the two hours to our next hotel in Kiunga on the rainforest river plains. In short order the flight was delayed to 11:55, and so we sat and sat. Then came the announcement that we wouldn’t depart until 5 PM!! - effectively losing an entire day.

David said that was unacceptable and dashed back to the ticket counter and came running back to say that Airways PNG had a flight directly to Kiunga at 11:15... but only six seats were available. Barry and Cindy volunteered to stay behind with David, but then more seats became available. (It turned out that the Airline, with the prospect of all these sudden customers, kicked two people off the plane! David paid them ~$50 each to appease them.) We transferred our luggage from Air Nuigini to Airways PNG, and dashed through Security once again and onto a DeHavillan Dash 8, and took off from Port Moresby and over the Gulf of Papua. After about an hour we reached land and the huge Kikori River Delta. We flew over mile after mile of untouched rainforest with the river and its tributaries winding all over in every direction as the land is so flat. It was just stunning to see so much wilderness. As we flew lower we could see that the banks of the river were flooded and the whole area was very wet.

We landed at ~1:45 and were met by Sam, David’s local assistant and a bus for the short ride through town, a very messy typical jungle town. We pulled up to a little store, and found that the Kiunga Guest House was located right behind it. Bob and I got assigned Room 23, by the small algae-filled swimming pool. 

A nice very plain room with A/C and two twin beds. We dashed over to the dining room and got some good chicken soup, beer and spaghetti with meat sauce for a late lunch, before setting out again in our bus. We drove 10 miles from the center of town to KM 17 and parked off the road in an opening where we could get a nice view of tree tops and started logging in birds. Several beautiful doves, parrots and birds of paradise came by and we saw a bamboo orchid and several butterflies. It was only 85 degrees but very humid and everyone looked pretty sodden by the time we returned at 6:15.

We showered and gathered at the dining room for more soup, fish and chips, and ice cream.

Thursday, Nov 3 - Birding around Port Moresby

We got up at 4 AM, and staggered around getting our field gear on and meeting the others at the lobby at five. We piled on the bus which drove out of town in the dark. We climbed up and up on progressively narrower roads until we got to Varirata National Park (given to the country by a local tribe) at an elevation of ~2700’.

It was good to leave the messy city outskirts and climb into hill forest and see some unspoiled land. The hotel gave us boxes of sandwiches, fruit and pastries, so we were well provisioned. We parked and walked down a trail hoping to see the Raggiana Bird of Paradise, a beautiful chestnut and yellow bird with fantastic plumes. The males only display at dawn and stop when the sun is up, and we happened to get a bright horizon and no displays, but we saw a flash of the bird and Leonard, our local guide, picked up a handful of beautiful feathers that the birds had molted. We took off on another trail that followed a lovely stream. This was birding speed: we walked 3.6 miles and it took us over seven hours! Quite an exhausting day, but we saw some marvelous birds, none of which were easy to photograph. Lots of beautiful butterflies that were even harder to catch! We saw five kinds of Kingfishers - iridescent blue with chestnut breasts on some!      (pic: Brown-headed Paradise-Kingfisher-from "Birds of NewGuinea", by Brian J Coates)

We returned at two and met for a light lunch by the beautiful pool, and were to meet again at four for a drive to see the highlights of Port Moresby, but we all decided that we needed the afternoon off. I tested the pool which was bathwater warm and dashed down for my suit and spent an hour lounging in the water..

PNG is, unfortunately, the second fastest growing country in the world. When David started coming here in the seventies, there were 1.7 million people; now there are over 7 million! Progress in health care, but not on family planning.

There are 800 languages spoken and the terrain is so rugged that people in nearby valleys have distinct languages as they have no contact with each other. Everyone communicates by speaking Pidjin English as a second language.

Tomorrow we fly into the interior where birding and culture should be very interesting. I have no idea if they will have internet, but, so far, it’s been great. Bob and I went up to the dining room for dinner and instruction for tomorrow. We had drinks, did the List, and had a very good meal from the buffet of Thai pumpkin soup, sushi, lamb curry and an array of desserts.

Suitcases out by 6 AM!

Wednesday, Nov 2 - Going to Papua New Guinea

We got up at 5:30 and our room service breakfast arrived at 6:00 - breakfast for one which was ample for the two of us. We left our two rolling suitcases with the concierge to hold and packed most of our stuff in two folding lightweight suitcases that we had brought as we are going to have some flights on small planes in PNG. We caught a taxi to the International Brisbane terminal and checked in with Air Nuigini. We saw several other couples dressed in field clothes like ours and figured correctly that these were our traveling companions for the birding tour: three couples from Georgia, Florida and Seattle. We settled down to wait for the flight; I bought some Tim-Tam cookies as I know David Bishop, our tour leader and also our leader on our Thailand trip, loves Tim-Tams! We took off and flew over the land north of Brisbane before starting over the ocean. Suddenly gorgeous reefs and bits of island began to appear and we realized were flying over the Great Barrier Reef! What a treat!

We landed at 1:15 and went through the very slow process of paying for our visas and having them inserted into our passports. I had admitted on the customs form that I was carrying cookies and there were some very severe warnings about bringing any food into the country, so I thought I would have to jettison my present but the customs agent laughed them off and we greeted David who seemed thrilled to see his favorite Aussie treat.

We all piled into a spacious but rather disreputable van which will be our car for the next two days. We got to the hotel, which is on a hill overlooking the airport and is cool and breezy rather than the very expensive hotels downtown. The recent discovery of natural gas has everyone very excited and Exxon and others are pouring into the country to develop it unfortunately, which among other things has inflated prices quite a bit.

We got our room assignments in this very attractive and tropical hotel and were given 30 minutes to organize our stuff before setting out to bird.    (pic:  mural at Customs)

We climbed into the bus and drove past some rather grubby roadside markets to the campus of a little religious college and started to get down to business. Our New Guinean driver and assistant are very keen birders and really know their stuff, as does David. The birds came thick and fast.

(pic:  Purple Swamphen)

This was birding on open ground and considered “easy”. We walked around for a couple of hours and finally got a Tim-Tam and water break, thanks to me. We saw some great birds and even the bower of the Fawn-breasted Bower Bird who weaves a complicated tunnel of grass and decorates it with berries…this is just to attract a female…she builds the actual nest if she approves of his work!

We returned to the hotel at 6:15 and David gave us 30 minutes to change and meet in the lobby! Yow! I managed a quick shower and found that I had not packed any trousers except two pairs of field pants…oh, well…

We met in the lobby and David led us on the circuitous route up to the restaurant…up seven floors in an elevator and across a bridge to a platform containing a swimming pool and the fancy restaurant.

You order a meat or fish and then go into a small buffet which actually had so many interesting dishes, sushi, relishes, soups that tomorrow I’ll just eat that! I got a nice piece of fish wrapped in banana leaves to go with my buffet dishes. Then we did The List: David reads off all the birds we have seen that day and we dutifully record them.

David says we are to meet tomorrow at Five! Yikes!

Tuesday, Nov 1 - Returning to Brisbane

We got up at 5:30, did the final packing, ate a few of Helen’s delicious cookies and set off for one last drive in the Monster. Over the hills and down onto the Adelaide Plains on a freeway, bypassing the city, and getting to the airport in 40 minutes. Since we had plenty of time, we waited 30 minutes while Europcar washed off several layers of red dirt so they could determine if we had damaged the car, and then we entered the lovely new airport. We checked in to Jet Star (Qantas desks looking normal, once again) and went through security - shoes ON, water OK, even visitors OK!

We split a delicious toasted eggplant on Turkish bread sandwich with cappuccinos and settled at our gate until we were loaded at ten….the flight was quite crowded, but we got an empty seat between us and had a comfortable flight. We passed over downtown Brisbane at 11:45, landed and got a taxi to the Marriott in downtown Brisbane, where we had strayed with Hilary ~four years ago.

We had to reorganize our gear and planned to leave two rolling suitcases at the hotel with our nicer city clothes and carry our field clothes and gear in lightweight bags that we had brought folded up, as the small planes we will be taking in New Guinea have severe weight requirements.

I must have left my tiny fold-up umbrella somewhere on the trip, and as it is absolutely necessary in the wet rain forest we are going to, I had to find another, and with the help of the yellow pages found a travel store nearby. So I went out shopping while Bob stay at the hotel to rest his foot which continues to bother him. I walked down to the Queen Street Mall which was jammed with people. Today is the Melbourne Cup horse race, and while it is taking place in Melbourne about 1000 miles away, it is celebrated all over the country as a great excuse to party and wear big hats! I passed all sorts of people in very fancy dress and women with large hats of all shapes and colors Very festive! I did get the umbrella and a jumper (sweater) for Bob, who had been wanting to get another light-weight Aussie sweater!

At seven we set out to have dinner at Il Centro, a nice Italian seafood restaurant on the fabulous walkway that runs along the riverfront. We got a great table overlooking the promenade and had a good dinner with great people watching: every restaurant packed and people partying everywhere!

We split a crab lasagna and I had scallops on squid ink risotto and Bob, grilled shrimp on white bean puree. We finished with a warm almond pudding cake with gelato and sliced apricots, and strolled home.
Off tomorrow to New Guinea...hope we can blog from there, but not sure. XXX

Monday, Oct 31 - Exploring the Adelaide Hills Area

I opened the blinds at seven and we could bird watch right from our bed! We finally got up at a leisurely 7:30 and had a pleasant breakfast of home-made bread (carefully toasted in the bathroom with the fan on !), fruit, delicious local yogurt, and cereal. This is quite a place now we are rested and a bit more oriented. Bob went out birding while I went over to see Helen and try to use the computer…our travel computer has Works instead of Word, so I couldn’t figure out how to transfer the blog on my memory stick to Helen’s computer. Bob finally got the Adelaide Rosella, a parrot with a peachy breast and blue wings, that we have been looking for for some time.

We took off in our car a couple of miles to the Petaluma-Bridgewater Mill winery/restaurant, supposedly one of the best places in which to eat in this area. It is located in an old stone mill with a huge water wheel built in the 1850s. We made a reservation for lunch at noon and set off on a wonderful trail running along the mill stream. Kookaburra were flying around, and also a pair of Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoos, very large black parrots with yellow cheeks and tails - really spectacular. And then a flock of Adelaide Rosellas cooperated and settled in a tree so I got a really good look at them! A pair Australian Wood Ducks swam by with six cute ducklings.

(pics:  Aussie Wood Duck, Superb Fairy Wren)
At noon we returned to the winery and settled into their small restaurant. I had an amazing starter of local venison tataki (barely seared, sliced paper thin) with shallots, jalapenos and ginger dressing. Bob had duck breast with shaved abalone and dashi-braised daikon for his main and I had bouillabaisse with a whole crayfish and crab in a very rich fish stock which we washed down with glasses of two kinds of Shiraz.. A really great lunch!

We went back to our B&B to nap and reorganize our gear for flying tomorrow. Helen had folded and delivered our laundry; she also got her computer fixed so I could use my computer on her network and send my blog! Pretty cool!

We took a quick drive up to Mt. Lofty (2300’) for a walk and view over Adelaide and the ocean beyond. There was an obelisk in the middle of the viewing area with a rim above a conical base of smooth marble about 4’ off the ground. A small boy ran up to Bob and asked to be put up on the rim. Bob, who has never lifted a small child in his life, obliged and we walked away. Suddenly an older man with a Sean Connery accent yelled out, “What are you doing up there, Bert? Who did this to you??“ And the boy, to his great credit, just said, “A man lifted me up”, and didn’t point out Bob, so we managed to escape!

We then found a deli and bought tomatoes, Adelaide blue cheese. capacolla, and drank the bottle of wine we had purchased at the winery for supper. The TV promised a new episode of Big Bang Theory, but so far it hasn’t appeared, so we’re going to bed.