Sept 13, 2025 Banksia Walking Track
We drove 22 miles east to the coastal town of Woodgate to visit some hiking venues. The short 3 mile ‘Banksia Walking Track’ took us in a loop through a wetland and into the dry, sandy banksia woodland. Banksia are a genus of Australian (all but one specie are endemic to Australia) flowering plants recognized by their flower spikes that become woody fruiting cone-like heads.
Some of the banksia trees were tall, some merely bushes, but none were in bloom. The ‘hairy’ woody cones and seed pods were prominent though.
Up close the closed seed pod ‘fruit’ looked like tightly shut clam shells! And they were about as hard as a clam shell!
We found one open with the dry paper-thin glossy golden seed covering looking like lips in the open pod.
Today we also saw our first 2 snakes! The highly venomous brown snake and the equally toxic red bellied black snake! Luckily we were in the car, driving down the road as they slithered across, not at the same time or same place, but the same road! Not my pictures either!! We now look down at the ground when we hike, looking for snakes, rather than looking up in the trees to spot koalas or birds!
Sept 12, 2025 Da Cottage @ The Habitat
We have a week at “Da Cottage at The Habitat”, an eclectic cabin in a 15 acre “lifestyle block” that is a mini-wildlife habitat.
It has a shaded outdoor kitchen/dining area surrounded by tropical vegetation and lit with colored lights at night.
The grounds are a mix of open areas and small groves of trees and brush.
There are some banana plants and some citrus trees, but nothing is ripe right now.
Every morning we are serenaded by kookaburras and other birds, including a lonely old rooster whose crowing in the morning is a little raspy!
Sept 10, 2025 Sunshine Coast
From Deception Bay we moved up through Sunshine Coast and further north to a small village a little inland. Sunshine Coast is an area north of Brisbane, on the coast of course, that has become a tourist mecca. We stopped at a few sites to see the beaches that were very busy considering it was Wednesday and the spring school holidays don’t start until the end of September!
One of the less busy beaches, away from the tourist waterfront of Sunshine Beach and Noosa Heads, in the Noosa National Park.
Up and over the headlands to a more secluded, but still frequented beach!
A short loop trail through the tiny remnant of rainforest left in the area took us past strangler fig trees slowly encircling their host trees, and another ‘bottlebutt tree’ with a thickened trunk base giving it extra support in poor soil.
Sept 9, 2025 Crikey!
We realized we are a short drive away from the Australia Zoo! We can’t pass up the opportunity to see the zoo – “Home of the Crocodile Hunter”! Plus, it’s a chance to see Australian wildlife up close!
Finally we spotted koalas! The Zoo operates a Wildlife Hospital that treats and rehabilitates injured wildlife. The koalas on display are in various stages of rehabilitation and most are eventually returned to the wild.
We realized why we couldn’t spot them in the forests around Port Macquarie, despite our hosts telling us they sometimes traverse their yard! They do blend into the spotted bark of the eucalyptus trees and the clumps of branches and leaves. Even a twig seems to support the one on the left, but what a wedgie!
They have enclosed fields where you can feed and pet the kangaroos. I was skeptical especially since I read that kangaroos are basically “deer that went to prison”!
The cassowary, the lesser known cousin of another large flightless Australian bird, the emu, is considered the most dangerous bird due to its strong legs and a very sharp, long claw on its inner toe!
And running loose all around the zoo are the Australian water dragons, large harmless lizards, similar to the iguanas we are more familiar with in the American tropics.
Sept 8, 2025 Deception Bay
We took a late morning walk along the Bay Esplanade from the mangrove natural area towards town.
Enjoying the view of the open bay from convenient lounge benches.
Later in the day we walked the same area to find the tide had gone out, leaving a huge mudflat! Hence the name “Deception Bay”. An early English explorer entered the bay in 1823, believing it was a river due to the shallow, wide waters. Eventually realizing his mistake he named it Deception Bay. The name stuck and was later applied to the surrounding community after settlement began. The bay itself is now named Moreton Bay.
