WEDNESDAY 8 JULY KALPOWAR CROSSING
It was a hot day again, with no cloud at all.
Despite the other campers around, this is a blissfully peaceful place and we slept in until 8.30am!
After breakfast, drove up to the Ranger Station and left a note – it was unattended – about the large croc we’d seen at Seven Mile Kennedy Waterhole. They ask one to report any sightings.
Back at camp, we walked the 4.5km supposedly circuit track – it is really out and back. We saw a few birds and got some exercise, but it was hot and dusty.
We had another look at the Kalpowar Crossing. The ford certainly does not look like anything we would want to tackle, even apart from the crocodile warning signs. Anyway, the grapevine has it that the man who owns Kalpowar Station is armed and most unfriendly towards any travellers who try to go through his place towards the coast and Cape Melville.
Warning sign at Kalpowar Crossing
The ford across the Normanby River at Kalpowar Crossing
After lunch, I did some washing, and made bread dough, which we shaped into rolls and John cooked them in the camp oven – a first, and quite successful. We will master all these new skills eventually.
John with the camp oven bread rolls he cooked for me in the camp oven
While I was kneading the bread, became aware of a close, low, dull, repetitive noise. Just in front of where I had the table, was a tangle of trees and vines – and a close look revealed an owl, which we identified as a Papuan frogmouth. It was brilliantly camouflaged, to the extent that in the photos I took, there is a plenty of vegetation, but it is really difficult to see the owls – plural, because a little later we realized there was another one! Presumably we have a pair with their home in the thicket by our tent? It was just wonderful to be able to watch them – they certainly seemed to be secure about the efficacy of their hiding!
There is a large, well-camouflaged Papuan Frogmouth owl in there! (just left of centre)
John did a little fishing in the river near our camp – no luck.
We managed to grab early showers, just ahead of the members of a tour group that came in – by the method of very fast walking to the amenity block, while they were still getting off their transport.
The camp area was about half full, by late afternoon.
Some Fisheries and Wildlife people came to have a look around Kalpowar – just checking up? They confirmed that Park staff were aware of the large saltie at Seven Mile Kennedy. They also said there is a 12 foot long one living in the pump dam at the Ranger’s residence! They are not moving it because another one would just move in and take its place! Obviously, Lakefield is a very “croccy” place.
Tea was sausages – in bread rolls. The rolls were yummy.
This Adventurous Age 