Living and Birding Gratitude: Kutini-Payamu NP Iron Range: Part Three

First some words about Kutini-Payamu, Lockhart River and Portland Roads.

To finally behold the stunningly beautiful red bellied, blue chested Papuan Pitta was the carrot on the end of the stick for me to travel to Kutini-Payamu NP in January, full stop. That magnificent visitor from New Guinea was the main reason for my trip. There were no other possible life birds for me in the region, but there were other wondrous things to see, as well as many excellent birds that I wanted to see again.

This is not an easy thing to explain, but the rainforest jungles of the Iron Range are more than their flora and fauna. Lockhart River and Portland Roads are unique places. Not to over-use a theme, but it truly is ‘the vibe’ up there. It is different. It is also very, very me, in both good, and perhaps not so good ways. There’s a relaxedness with life in general that I find wonderful and I embrace. It can be mad dashing about whilst birding, herping and trying to look at everything when you only have a week. But... there is an undercurrent of ‘chill.’ And that is the vibe. I treasure that feeling, not everyone feels it. I am grateful that I do.

As told in “An Australian Birding Year” I first went to the Iron Range (Kutini-Payamu NP) in October of 2015. I met a young man with long dread-locks named Cal at my favourite restaurant in the world (Out of the Blue Café Portland Roads, more about that later in the blog). He lived in Lockhart River and ended up taking Lynn, Robert and me in his boat up the Claudie River where we saw Spotted Whistling Ducks. They were not as ubiquitous back then as they have become in the years since. But I digress (as I am want to do).

Cal and his boat October 2015

I remember sitting and talking with Cal. There is quite an age difference but he is a kindred spirit. We bonded in our dislike of big cities. I will never forget his exact words, “I loathe Melbourne.” Me too, mate and that also applies to Sydney or any big city. I completely avoid them if I possibly can. Cal said that not many people could live up there in the Iron Range. He said it takes a very unique type. And then he paused for several seconds, looked me in the eye and said, “You could.” It was a statement of fact, I have always remembered those exact words as well. Because, I could too. I’ve heard Cal is now off somewhere living a life of a fishing guide. However I will never forget his, “You could.” I took it as a compliment because it was.

I live where I do because I am married and I have step-children and grandchildren in this part of Victoria. Don’t get me wrong, I do not hate it here (Although I would hate it if I had to live in Melbourne). But my heart lives in a lot of places that I do not get to visit very often.

This third blog entry about the adventure in Kutini-Payamu NP will feature some amazing snakes, frogs, bugs and people. I will do at least one more post that will focus on the birds and a few other critters. First I will share the snakes because seeing the phenomenal Green Tree Python was one of my targets for the trip. I had seen photos so many times and I wanted to see the emerald beauty-noodle live and I did. My first view of one was this baby yellow version. I want to thank the delightful, Jasmine Zeleny of Faunagraphic for sharing it with us. And so was my second, which James spotted from the vehicle. But of course we did end up seeing quite a few mature Green Tree Pythons.

Speaking of pythons, I saw my first Scrub Python as well. The can reach up to 8 metres in length. We saw at least two, but neither of them were 8 metres long.

Scrub Python head

A crazy old man and a Scrub Python

Brown Tree Snake in the roof over our veranda

Then there were the more dangerous snakes. I saw my first Coastal Taipan as well as my first Northern Death Adder. Thank you Doug Herrington for sharing the Death Adder with us. He spotted it crossing the track up near Portland Roads. We had the Taipan crossing the track in the daytime. We looked at it, but really kept our distance. It is the most venomous snake I have seen in the wild. It kept moving and I grabbed some photos.

Costal Taipan moving on

Northern Death Adder

Doug Herringon's photo of the Northern Death Adder crossing the road.

We also had very cool frogs and bugs. My knowledge of them is limited to say the least, but here are a few. I think I have identified them correctly (I will get James to check them for me). Other critters will be included in the next 'bird' post.

White-lipped Tree Frog

Cape York Graceful Tree Frog

Water (Wood) Frog

Mr Rhinocerous Beetle

Gold Christmas Beetle

Although we do have them in Victoria, this was my first Blue-banded Bee (thank you James for finding it for me).

I will close (did someone say, “finally”?) with the incredibly wonderful, Portland Roads Out of the Blue Café. I could write an entire blog entry just on that place. Sheree and Greg have created a wondrously unique, utterly delightful, restaurant with the best view and food possible. I have fantastic memories of eating there in October 2015 with Lynn and Robert (see photo). We went several times for lunch. So I was not going to be up there and not eat there! And as it turned out, I did it twice!

Lynn was tired of me taking photos haha. October 2015

On Friday night our group of four had made a reservation and I had a delightful dinner. I adored their prawns in 2015 and Sheree remembered me from 7 years ago (I honestly felt honoured that she did). Although it wasn’t a menu item, she cooked them for me that night (with chips and salad as you do). And then... on Saturday, I ran into my dear friend, Laurie Ross with my dear friend Tony Pallister (the reader might remember him from Chapter 20 of MABT) and dear friend, Geoffrey Jones. Laurie invited us to join them for dinner. David and Clint had food to cook at the house so James and I went. I was so glad for James to get to hang with truly great guys who happen to be true legends in birding. Also that night, at the table behind us were more birding royalty, Margaret and Richard Alcorn and another of my favourite people, Doug Herrington. He took one of my favourite selfies of the trip of him and me at the airport in Lockhart River. I like that guy! I have also been using the word favourite a lot, because there are not really any appropriate synonyms for ‘favourite.’