Apsley Falls, Oxley Wild Rivers National Park NSW

On our travels, we stopped over at the Apsley Falls campground. Picturesque with impressive views of the river gorge. Well worth a visit if you're ever driving the Oxley Highway between Walcha and Wauchope.

The first night we were there, we had a nocturnal visitor. This old possum spooked us to start with when he tipped the grilling tray out of the camp stove (we suspect to get to the toast crumbs).

An Australian magpie (and his mates) came to check us out.

Butcherbird.

Wallaby with Brown-headed Honeyeater, Mt Samaria State Park VIC

Brown-headed honeyeater plucking wallaby's fur for nest

The Brown-headed Honeyeater is quite common around these parts. It collects fur from animals to line its nest and one can be seen on the flank of this old swamp wallaby. She did not seem to mind the bird plucking fur from her.

The Grampians and Wimmera, Victoria (June 2014)

Last year, we spent a week in The Grampians and loved it so much, we decided to book it for a month in winter. Unfortunately, we couldn't have foreseen the January bushfires that burnt out 52,000 hectares.

Where we were staying bordered the Grampians National Park. Thanks to the owners’ fire-fighting efforts, the all timber cottage (photo below) was saved. However, the surrounding area wasn't so fortunate. Much of it was charred and it still had that burnt smell (not a nice wood fire smell either). The blackened skeletons of trees provided little cover or feed for wildlife and most of what had survived had gone. We saw a few emus (photo below), Wedge-tailed Eagles and the odd magpie, but that’s all. But the Australian bush is nothing if not resilient and there were signs of regeneration everywhere.

Unable to explore the Grampians National Park as we’d planned gave us the opportunity to explore areas further afield that we wouldn't have otherwise seen. We even caught a glimpse of the rare Mallee Fowl (sorry, no pic).

Where we stayed

Taken from the back deck of the cottage

Not exactly our usual type of lunch spot, but we didn't have much choice that day deep in the park.

Epicormic growth

The grass tree is one plant that does love fire (so long as it's not too hot)

Zumsteins

Red Rock - Grampians NP 

Mountain Dam - Rocklands State Forest

Mount Arapiles - Natimuk 

Water skiing at Lake Albacutya - not the best photo, but the signs says: Speed Limit 5 Knots

Part of a mural - Albacutya

Kangaroo and joey - mum cleaning while bubs naps

Swamp Wallaby with Joey, Toolangi State Forest

We’re yet to finish sorting out our Grampians photos, but in the meantime, here’s one we took today on our picnic. Yes, eating outdoors when it’s a blustery 12°C/53°F with a wind chill factor many degrees lower is undoubtedly crazy. But then we would have missed this swamp wallaby and her joey.

Wallaby, Grampians National Park VIC

Male Wallaby, Grampians National Park VIC

Wallaby and Joey, Grampians VIC

We saw this cute wallaby and her joey at a Grampians National Park campground we stopped at for lunch. The joey is very young as he is still hairless. Normally wallabies are quite timid, but obviously at this campground they are used to visitors.

Australian Brushtail Possum + Joey, Gipsy Point VIC

It was dark with only a small amount of light coming from the kitchen, but the light level was so low that I had to take these at ISO 1600, f3.2 and shutter speed of 1.3 seconds. I had to hand-hold the camera as the possum kept moving.

The joey (baby) came out of the pouch for the first time the night before we came home and was very wary. It did not like the light so I had to do the best I could with almost no light. We gave mum pear and apple to get her to sit still but her mouth was always on the move, so with such slow shutter speed it was impossible to get a crisp focus.

The second photo shows mum with that huge joey in the pouch, with just his back showing. How does he fit?

Kangaroo with Joey - Gipsy Point VIC

Easter Surprise

The cockatoos were going ape around a tree near the dam, which they tend to do when there is a koala nearby. Goodness knows why – koalas pose no threat or competition to cockatoos. These shots aren’t particularly good as the koala was high in the tree and I didn’t have the tripod to keep the telephoto lens as steady as I would have liked. So I was lying flat on my back to try to get more stability with the lens at full zoom.

Kangaroo and Joey (Gipsy Point VIC)

Playtime!

Mother Wombat Without a Burrow

With the Yea River in flood, some wombats are temporarily without a home, their burrows full of water.

This particular wombat is much fairer in colour than others I’ve seen around here. If you look carefully, you’ll see a baby shielding behind her. Did you know that a female wombat’s pouch opens towards her back legs, so that it doesn’t fill with soil when she’s digging? The baby wombat, called a joey, remains in the pouch for 4 to 10 months suckling a teat. Once out of the pouch, the joey will begin to eat solid foods and will be fully weaned anywhere from 11 to 15 months.

Photo courtesy of Jan Beer.

Wet Sugar Glider with Young

With thanks to Andrea Hylands.

If you look carefully, you'll see the tails the of the Sugar Glider's two babies in her pouch.