Field trips and social events: Wildlife Tourism Workshop 2013
(Note: there will also be three low-cost social events on the following evenings: a BBQ Wednesday at the home of vice-chair Denise Goodfellow, and local restaurant meals Thursday and Friday)
IF YOU HAVEN’T ALREADY DONE SO, PLEASE LET US KNOW WHICH OF THESE EVENTS YOU’D LIKE TO ATTEND! Some of them are filling fast (e.g. Gunbalanya)
Summary of events (see below for details)
Tuesday 1st October –
- Darwin Birdwatching
- Sunset Cruise (networking event)
Wednesday 2nd October
- Fogg Dam and Pudakul – birding and Indigenous culture
- Eco Cruise
- Insect Walk (at registration venue)
- Barbecue (evening)
Thursday 3rd October
- Dinner Crazy Acres
Saturday 5th – Sunday 5th October
- Kakadu and Arnhem Land
Sunday 6th October
- Turtle Tracks tour
Scroll down for details
Sandy helping a birdwatcher in Australia’s Top End
1st – 6th October 2013
Field trips will include some great opportunities to see Top End landscapes, birds and other wildlife, and to meet local tour operators and Indigenous locals (including elders, guides and young folk keen to become wildlife guides in the future).
Stay tuned for opportunities to visit Arnhemland, Kakadu and possibly the Tiwi Islands.
Day trips will include:
Darwin Bird Watching
7.00am to 12.00 noon Tuesday 1st October
Rainbow pitta: courtesy Experience the Wild
Our Darwin Bird Watching Experience takes you to habitats rich in bird-life in Darwin. We visit monsoon rainforest in search of the endemic Rainbow Pitta and the colourful Rose-crowned Fruit-Dove; coastal foreshores in search of migratory waders, Sacred Kingfisher and Brahminy Kite; mangroves for Broad-billed Flycatcher, Red-headed Honeyeater and Collared Kingfisher; wetlands for a variety of water birds including the stately Black-necked Stork (Jabiru), Pied Heron and Radjah Shelduck; and savannah woodland for Forest Kingfisher, Double-barred, Long-tailed and Crimson Finches and the Spangled Drongo.
Inclusions: Pick-up and drop-off to accommodation, use of binoculars and spotting scope, sunscreen and insect repellent if required, morning or afternoon tea.
Normal price – $105 Workshop delegates – $65
Contact Experience the Wild
http://www.experiencethewild.com.au/?p=Tours-Darwin
Sunset Dreaming – WTA networking cruise
(profits from this tour will be donated to WTA)
5.00pm – Tuesday 1st October
The Larrakia are the traditional owners of Darwin Harbour. Embracing a Larrakia “welcome to saltwater country”, the tour is hosted by Roque Lee, a Larrakia Traditional Owner who will provide an interactive cultural experience. The tour works with the tides, wind and moon to showcase the dynamic environment of Darwin Harbour at twilight time, and through Roque’s traditional eyes.
Sunset on saltwater country works with nature, and each evening the elements and the season will dictate the best place to be on the harbour. The tour might take in spear throwing on a beach, a visit to the Fannie Bay Sandbar for a beach walk; spotlighting up a mangrove waterway; or fossicking in an ochre pit. Accompanied by warm wind, the smell of salt in the air, an exquisite sunset and tropical water temperatures visitors will experience…
- Didgeredoo – Listen to this primal sound as the sun sets;
- Traditional craft – string from beach material and Larrakia bling;
- Spear and woomera – traditional fishing methods
This cultural cruise is complimented by a saltwater tucker tasting and choice of pick up and return at either Stokes Hill Wharf or Cullen Bay Pontoon. This gives customers a fabulous choice of restaurants across Darwin City as the perfect way to end the day.
Normal price – $75 Workshop delegates – $55
http://seadarwin.com/darwin-tours/sea-darwin-eco-tour
1 hour Eco Cruise
3.00pm – Wednesday 2nd October
The itinerary of this Darwin Harbour Cruise varies depending on tide and weather conditions and harbour activity, but includes an interactive experience taking in a mangrove waterway, a crocodile trap, a shipwreck from the war. If conditions are right, you might meet a dugong, crocodile, mud crab or a snubfin dolphin.
The Sea Darwin Harbour Eco experience varies from day to day and season the season. Allow your crew to use their local knowledge in using the tides, the weather and the season to showcase harbour activity. On each tour you will explore the unique diversity and dimension of Darwin Harbour, taking in the habitat, history and intrigue of what is happening on the day. Visitors will experience the sounds and sights of a city harbour abounding with contemporary interest, drenched in history and with an unparalleled tropical marine habitat.
WHAT YOU MIGHT EXPERIENCE….
- A comprehensive interactive tour of a mangrove waterway;
- A visit to a crocodile trap;
- Pulling up and setting a mud crab pot;
- Visiting the trees in the sea, where bird life usually abounds;
- The sonar sight of a watery grave of at least one shipwreck from the bombing of Darwin;
- The historic Esplanade area, where the presence of saltwater people, colonials, Chinese, and hippies of the 1970’s have made their mark;
- The site of where the telegraph cable from London came ashore
- A range of war history sites around the harbour;
- A visit past an aboriginal ochre pit;
- The quarantine area for illegal fishing boats;
- The commercial port and/or the gas plant;
- Occasionally sight dolphins and other tropical marine life.
Normal price – $35 Workshop delegates – $25
http://seadarwin.com/darwin-tours/sea-darwin-eco-tour
Fogg Dam and Pudakul (includes bird-watching)
7.00am – 12,00 noon – Wednesday 2nd October
Denise Lawungkurr Goodfellow will lead a session on connecting visitors to wildlife at Fogg Dam, in conjunction with rangers or local indigenous people (or both).
Fogg Dam is 70 kms from Darwin, and about 30 km from the hall where the workshop is to be held.
The land of the Woolna-Limilngan people, Fogg Dam was created in the 1950s to provide water for rice-growing, (see history, http://www.foggdamfriends.org/history-of-fogg-dam.html). The project failed but left behind a permanent water supply.
To reach the dam one drives through open eucalpyt forest which, nearer the dam is becomes dark monsoon forest and paperbark swamp. Juxtaposed is the dam, on one side grassland, and on the other an aquatic wonderland of sacred lotus, waterlilies and fringed lilies (while these three plants resemble each other they are taxonomically very different belonging to different orders – Proteales, Nymphaeales, and Asterales), and spikerush.
Because of the mix of habitats, Fogg Dam has an abundance of species of birds and other fauna. Birds of the monsoon forest include Orange-footed Scrubfowl, Rainbow Pitta, Rose-crowned Fruit-dove and Green-backed Gerygone, on the grasslands one can often see Black-necked Stork and Brolga, Pied Heron and a range of egrets; and in the dam, White-browed Crake, Green Pygmy-goose and passerines from Crimson Finch to Tawny Grassbird.
There are also several species of snakes and frogs. Snakes mostly seen on the dam wall are harmless pythons and colubrids, namely Water Python and Keelback, respectively. Frogs are mainly Litoria, a genus of the Hylidae or Australasian tree frogs, and range from the tiny and very cute Northern Dwarf Tree Frog, Litoria bicolor, to the large Green Tree Frog, L. caerulea.
Fogg Dam is best appreciated in the light of morning or late afternoon. But the area is most beautiful during the late buildup to the Wet Season (October-December) when huge clouds – dark, anvil-topped nimbocumulus fringe the Dam’s horizon, and split the air with lightning (Darwin has one of the highest rates of lightning strike in the world, over 1500 strikes being recorded during one storm. See this article for information.
After Fogg Dam trip, we will travel on to Pudakul.
Pudakul Tours is owned and operated by local Limilngan and Wulna people on their own country.
Pudakul gives a rare opportunity to engage with local Indigenous people. Graham and Lynette and the others are not “cultural curiosities” as Indigenous people are often represented, but the sort of people you wish were living next door or teaching your kids (or you, for that matter) – caring, warm, engaging and knowledgeable. They convey the complexity of Indigenous culture in a way that is eminently understandable.
Graham Kenyon was a ranger for fourteen years – he guided very popular walks at Fogg Dam. Lynette, his partner is the Administrator. Graham created Pudakul to generate jobs and training opportunities for family members in the community.
As they write on their website: Come with us, we will truly inspire you with our rich culture, from a walk and talk through to throwing a spear as well as being guided on bush tucker and medicine. You will be our guest on our country, we will share our culture with you, our arms are open, we deliver our talks at a high standard and we thrive to be the best at it! All age groups are welcome, it’s educational, fun, creative and importantly it’s knowledge that that has been passed down for years and we want to share it with you!
We will stop for you to buy lunch on the return journey (morning tea is included in the tour)
Cost per person: $74.00 (including both Fogg Dam and Puduakul)
Insect Walk
3.30pm, with Dr Graham Brown, at the workshop venue, just prior to opening of registration. Become aware of the diversity of insects in small areas, earn to interpret the signs of insect presence, and to identify any insects (and spiders) you happen to come across during the walk, including what kinds of butterflies or moths the caterpillars you see will turn into, and a bit about their behaviour and ecology
FOC
BBQ at home of Denise Goodfellow
6.30pm Wednesday (after registration)
$20.00
Dinner at Crazy Acres
6.30pm Thursday (after workshop talks and WTA AGM)
Approximately $25.00 (depending on your individual order)
After the Workshop (weekend)
Gunbalanya (Arnhemland)
Overnight 8.00am Saturday 5th October to 6.00pm – Sunday 6th October
This trip of about 350 kms will take you to land described as the most beautiful in the world; verdant wetlands dotted with mauve waterlilies and pink lotus grace one side of the dirt track, while 1.6 billion year-old sandstone of the Arnhem Land escarpment towers above us on the other.
We pass through Kakadu to reach Arnhem Land, and then to ford the East Alligator River. It is tidal at this point. Large estuarine crocodiles patrol the crossing when the tide turns, mouths agape as large barramundi leap frantically in their efforts to make the upstream reaches. However, we will be crossing at the safest time, dead low tide. Interesting birds to be seen here among the giant paperbarks include White-bellied Sea-eagle, a range of small passerines including at times both open forest and mangrove species. Occasionally a Great-billed Heron can be spied standing awkwardly on a low branch, or in the grey mud of the river bank.
In Gunbalunya, the largest town in this part of Arnhem Land we will be staying in a range of accommodation provided by the West Arnhem Shire. On reaching town we will meet the Kunwinjku people (Denise’s adopted relatives)
That afternoon (timing depends on tides) we can visit the Injalak art centre and talk with the artists – painters and weavers. Kunwinjku people are famous for their art, it being represented in all the major galleries of the world (Denise’s brother-in-law was Bobby Bardjarai Nganjmirra, the most famous of all). That night we can again meet with relatives. Overnight in shared accommodation.
Next morning (depending on tides and availability of a local guide) we may be able to climb up Injalak Hill. The hill is famous for its rock art, but this experience is about more than viewing. It’s about sharing something with the guide, and feeling something of how Kunwinjku felt about the land. Denise learned about rock art from her relatives who were among the last men to paint on rocks, and through study (both of art and geology!).
We then farewell Gunbalunya and make our way back to Darwin.
Cost per person: $390.00 (all inclusive)
Turtle Tracks Tour
Sunday 6th October 4.00pm – 11.30pm
This tour leaves Stokes Hill Wharf at 4.00pm. Keeping your eyes peeled for marine mammals and reptiles, your journey will take you past historic Charles Point Lighthouse into Bynoe Harbour, arriving at a remote beach in time for the sun set. Explore the island with Team Turtle, learn about the ancient mariners who inhabit these waters, and the unique war history and traditional stories as you experience day turning to night.
Back on board your bento meal will delight, and then after twilight fades, Team Turtle will take you for a guided walk to witness the egg laying ritual. For those who take this adventure late in the season you may have the privilege of witnessing the eruption of baby turtles from their home under the warm sand. A fast boat ride will get you back to Darwin, with memories that will last a life time.
Nature dictates your experience and return time – the females usually come up around sunset, although there are no guarantees. The tour will return later if babies are hatching. Note that nesting turtles or hatchlings cannot be guaranteed on any tour though in 2011 we had a nesting turtle 94% of the time.
http://seadarwin.com/darwin-tours/sea-darwin-eco-tour
Cost per person: usual price $230, special delegate price $210 (including dinner)
Our vice chair – the main organise o the Gunbalanya visit – is in the midst of a house move at the moment and with no access to internet for a few days, but we’ll be getting back to discussing the details of the field trips with her next week
Please send information about Gunbalanya visit when available.
Thank you