A cruise on the Lady Douglas with the photo club.

We have been on the Lady Douglas paddle boat numerous times but every time seems to be a little bit different.  As we boarded the Lady Douglas at the Port Douglas marina we noticed that this time was going to be very different because it was low tide.....a very low tide.  The photographers were excited because this is perfect for photographing crocodiles.  They love sunning themselves on the mud flats that are covered in high tide.  It was a glorious day both from a photographers point of view and the tourists.  The sun was shining with just a little white fluffy cloud to break the blue of the sky.  We made our way slowly along Dickson Inlet passing many moored boats and quite a few wrecked boats courtesy of Cyclone Yasi. 

 The council offers free mooring for boats along the inlet but we saw people living on unseaworthy boats that too my mind are a bit of an eyesore....but that is my opinion.

It didn't take long for us to spot our first crocodile.  This was to be the first of only two that we saw.  It wasn't a large croc but still not something I would like to get close to!

At the turnaround point of the inlet we were given some delicious snacks of fresh fruit, cakes, dips and biscuits.  We then slowly made our way back to the Marina and then on to the entrance to the inlet.  

We saw some funny sights like this fisherman that obviously didn't realise that the tide had gone out.  He was in for a long wait until high tide!

We passed St Marys By the Sea and Sugar Wharf where a wedding was about to take place..

and finally made our way back to the Marina and our mooring place.

It was, as usual with a photography outing, a beautifully relaxing day full of photo opportunities.

A Hidden Gem

I love visiting new places when we go hiking and that happens quite often because of where we live.  There is so much unexplored beauty within a days drive of our home and I think we will spend the rest of our lives finding such places.
On Sunday our friend Joan picked us up for a trip to a place that we were privileged to visit.  You see everyone that knows about this place keeps it very much to themselves.  It is somewhat off the beaten track and you would not find the entrance to it without knowing where it is.  It is a short walk compared to a lot of other places that we have visited with Joan and at this time of the year it is quite beautiful.  The waterfall is unnamed as far as we know but it should be named teacup because the waterfall falls into what looks like a giant cup.  There was not a lot of water flowing over the falls at this time of the year and I look forward to revisiting the falls after the wet season.  But what is most appealing about the falls is the number of orchids.  They live in every nook and canny surrounding the falls, and that is the reason that everyone keeps quiet about this place.  You see there would be a lot of people who would come in and steal these beautiful orchids and that would be disastrous.  I love seeing these magnificent plants in their natural environment.  There is a large variety of orchids living here from giant to pin head size.  There are only a couple that are flowering at the moment and Joan said that the majority will flower in September/October.  That might be a nice time to re-visit.

Spectacular Orchids

Philip and Joan walked to the top of the falls while I recuperated after my tumble!

I had a bit of fall on some slippery rocks at the falls (Grade 2 MCL ligament sprain) so it cut short the time we would normally spend in a place like this but we found this lovely spot to park and have a cup of tea and lunch.  It was, as always with a Joan, and lovely day.

A new work horse!

No....not the four legged type.....the four wheel type.  When I first moved west to our Julia Creek property we only ever mustered with horses.  Life seemed to move slower back then.  To bring in a mob of cattle to the cattle yards took most of the day.  Morning tea and lunch was packed into the smoko vehicle with a thermos of tea for smoko and when my father-in-law mustered with us, a stubby of beer with lunch! Ahh....those were the days.
Things started to speed up almost without us knowing it.  Mustering became expensive.  We went from paying $50/day for a contract musterer to $300/day.  Consequently the muster started speeding up. No-one wanted to pay extra dollars mustering cattle that were barely covering their cost of carry.  Motorbikes (and later quad bikes) became more prevalent.  The motorbike rider could cover a lot of country in just a quarter of the time that a horseman could.  These days we almost exclusively muster with bikes.
On our little property here are Julatten the quad bike is used constantly for mustering, weed spraying, gardening, fencing....you name it.  Philip got himself well and truly bogged last week and in the effort to extradite himself from the bog hole he "blew up" the diff on the quad.  We debated whether to pay the $$$'s to fix it or just buy a new one.  The quad is almost eight years old so it was a no brainer.
So, we are now the proud owners of this beauty.

It is an ATV (All Terrain Vehicle) that can carry an extra passenger and it also has a small tipper tray that the gardener will love!  We probably should have had one of these years ago but they have been somewhat pricey.  However, thanks to the Federal Government immediate write off of up to $20,000 for business use assets purchase, it has become affordable.

My camera and I went mustering with Philip this morning.  It was great.  We chatted about various farm matters as we drove along and then identified all the new mothers and calves.  All our stud cows are numbered and we jot down the cows number and whether the calf she has given birth to is male or female.  This makes it a lot easier when the time comes to tag the calves.  

We have three mobs of cattle at present, cows and calves, males (bulls and steers) and the young female mob.  We had to move all three mobs today.

Cow and calf Mob

Cows and calves

Some nice steers here for the butcher market

The boys

The girls

Lily came along for the ride but really she doesn't enjoy it much anymore.  Arthritis is really taking hold of our poor old girl.  All those years of faithful service have taken their toll.  

We stopped in Swamp Paddock so that I could get some photos of the birdlife but not a bird to be seen! Ah well......maybe next time.