TIN CAN BAY

Friday, October 2, 2015

TIN CAN BAY

Going through customs took an hour and went fairly smooth except for being pulled out of line with several others, told to stand with our luggage on a red floor line and wait.  Soon a black lab and handler appeared.  Maybe it was my present mental state but the dog looked bored and sleepy as though it wished it had picked some other occupation rather than people sniffer.  We must have passed the sniff test because we were soon good to go.  On my way out I asked the agent where I was suppose to deposit the Ebola forms we had filled out on the plane.  We were told to throw them in the garbage-go figure.  Either Ebola has been miraculously eradicated while we were in flight or a question at the gate computer asking if we had traveled to Africa recently was deemed sufficient and nobody informed the airlines of the change.

A short taxi ride later found us at the Britz location at 8:30 am (Australian time).  After signing all their forms and receiving a rather brief intro to our vehicle we were finally on our own.  My eyes were burning from lack of sleep and my adrenaline-driven mind was forced to concentrate.  My mantra was "keep left, keep left, keep left....). Why does 1/3 of the world's population drive on the wrong side of the road?

Home sweet home for the next 4 weeks.

Our goal was to reach Tin Can Bay in less than three hours.  Unfortunately the GPS supplied by Britz knew a shortcut which turned a three hour drive into four hours.  I got a quick lesson on Aussie back roads, gravel roads, one-way dirt roads, and only-room-for-one-vehicle bridges. The bright spots were the beautiful scenery, Edie spotting our first kangaroo, and me getting accustomed to the vehicle with very little traffic to contend with.

We arrived in the small harbor village of Tin Can Bay after lunch and immediately stocked up on groceries, found the Kingfisher Caravan Park, unpacked luggage and organized our vehicle. I originally had planned an afternoon nap but after setting up camera gear I was too excited and we drove the short distance to the boat ramp and restaurant at the end of town. I checked out the harbor with little success while Edie went exploring.  She soon returned saying she had found the nest of a strange bird which turned out to belong to a Masked Lapwing.  These common birds are noisy and quite aggressive.  They have spurs on their wings which they use against predators-or, I suppose, humans which get to close to their nest.  For my first photographed Australian bird I couldn't have been more excited to have this rather unique and striking bird even if common.

Masked Lapwing on nest.

Notice the spurs which can inflict some damage.  You better back off  Edie!

Are those wing guns?

Not feeling like cooking we had a great fish and chips meal at the harbor cafe and then decided to turn in at 7 pm.  It was almost 48 hours since I last slept and I had no problem drifting off.