Roaming the Bush Looking for Night Tigers

Christmas holidays start just after heavy rainfall across the region from ex-cyclone Owen.

We drive to Mt Surprise on a 39 degree day with a warning beeping which we work out to be the inverter fan packing up with a nasty smell of burning. Bedrock Campground in Mt Surprise is green and full of birds after the recent rain. Currawongs improvise trio melodies above the refreshing pool. 

Next day we head for the evening bat cave tour at Barkers Cave in Undara National Park. Just four of us show up at Undara Lodge to be taken by Derek the guide on a minibus trip through the twilight bush. Derek spots feral black pigs, and a host of bouncing macropods: pretty-faced wallabies, eastern grey roos, caramel-coated antilopian wallabies, and wallaroos which are a distinct species, not a hybrid of roos and wallabies. A frilled lizard defends itself in the twilight and displays its characteristic hindleg stance and frilly neckpiece.

We arrive at the cave and immediately see dozens of microbats whizzing past us like jetfighters. Bats instantly shy away from white torchlight but are fine with red filter. 

Standing at the entrance to the cavemouth we spot brown tree snakes, also known as night tiger snakes, hanging from foliage as they try to lunge at their microbat prey.

Deeper inside the cave, we see huntsman spiders, and a much fatter brown tree snake that has obviously had more success with his hunting.

Returning to the minibus, we pause to see our first snake in the foliage has fellow snakes entwined above and around the foliage, all dangling their heads in a potluck hunt. Derek says the snakes can take two weeks to digest a hapless bat, so their strike rate is poor, but good enough to keep them fed.

We leave the lodge to drive with lights on full beam the half hour back at slow pace dodging cows.

Next day we return to the park to do a lovely rim trail walk of the Kalkani Volcanic Crater, one of many in the park which were active as late as 20,000 years ago. Currawongs serenade us in large flocks along the walk which has shade, breeze, and attracts wallabies to stare at us curiously.

Our place to stay for the night is Woodleigh station which has a lovely entrance gate and shade trellis at the front.

We are assigned a type of ensuite shed and fenced paddock (to keep out the goats) behind the outbuildings.

It is a perfect spot beside the river to laze away the hot midday hours before a cool shower and a dive into the eskie for ice cubes and chilled white wine.

Up early next morning to drive to Hypipamee National Park, a jewel of a volcanic habitat in a lush, high altitude rainforest setting.

We walk to the lookout where the circular ancient volcanic walls drop into waters hundreds of metres deep and many thousands of years old.

The walk continues down through thick rainforest to Dinner Falls, where we see the magnificent wild rushing headwaters of the Barron River which flows past our house in Kamerunga 50 miles away.

For the night, we drive deeper along logging roads into the Tablelands to the far side of Lake Tinaroo and camp at School Point.

Beside the campsite a native tree is fruiting and attracting currawong, fig bird, cuckoo, silvereye and black faced monarch to the fruits and the insects themselves attracted to the ripe berries.

Small mobs of bush curlews stand and stare in immobile expression which they suddenly break with high decibel screams - not the best neighbour in the middle of the night because they are also insomniacs.