Macca's Meanderings

Hi again A couple of weeks ago we joined the grandparent's club. This weekend we got to meet our grandson for the first time - very special! He is a little cutie.  Recently we have had a Covid outbreak in Minjilang. This has resulted in quite a few of the rangers isolating and many RAT tests - the new world we live in! We have been kept busy monitoring the fishing sector. As we are in between the wet season and dry season weather patterns, we are experiencing light winds and very flat seas. This has made for increased fishing activity.  Much of the coast line of Croker Island is not accessible via vehicle and all the coxswain qualified rangers were off due to Covid so we used a drone to be our 'eye in the sky'. The photo below shows a section of coast where there are no tracks - but the drone could check this area - where we had seen a fishing vessel the day before - for evidence of them coming ashore and entering Aboriginal land without a permit. When one of the coxswain r

Hi again   Recently we picked up a couple devices during our beach cleanup patrols. These devices look like some sort of buoy with a light and solar cells. One had the name 'Cape Finisterre' engraved on it. The only Cape Finisterre we could find on Google Earth was in the north west of Spain. There was no fouling growing on it, so no biosecurity risk, however we sent photos to Biosecurity Australia curious to know what they were and had they really floated all the way from Spain. Biosecurity Australia confirmed that these devices are used to locate fishing equipment and that there is a very large fishing industry at Cape Finisterre so these devices probably did float all the way from there. Below is a Google Earth image showing Cape Finisterre. With the significant and growing issue of marine litter around the world, beach cleanups are a constant feature of our work and will remain so for many years. Another buggy load of marine litter off to the tip. Currently the spear grass

 Last November you may recall I managed to locate the wreckage of a WW2 bomber with my drone See the blog I posted on 6 November titled - USAF - B24 WRECKAGE - FOIL PROOF MARY.  I managed to visit the site on the ground with some Garngi rangers recently. There are no vehicle tracks to this area of Croker Island which means boat access is the only possible way of getting to the area on the ground. By way of reminder, the arrow points to the wreckage site at Cape Croker on the northern end of Croker Island. The 1943 crash site was clear of trees. Sadly, four crew died as a result of this crash landing and subsequent fire. The photo shows evidence of a fire around the inner parts of the wings and adjacent fuselage. The No 2 prop (inner left) broke off during the final part of the landing roll when they hit a small ditch. The No 1 (outer left) engine shows a dark mark on the wing behind the engine. This must have been one of the two engines that had failed due to anti aircraft fire over Ja

 Hello from Croker Island.  I am back at Croker Island after extended leave in south east Queensland due to moving, Covid in the family and the floods. My return to Darwin was via QF824. Over the years I have flown this route many times however this flight was particularly pleasant and interesting. Not only due to the friendly flying conditions but also from my right side window seat, 36,000 feet up, I recognised many places we had visited on the ground over the years. This triggered quite a few memories. Shortly after taking off from southerly runway we made a right turn with the Brisbane CBD and Story Bridge in clear view. The Brisbane River was still a bit muddy looking after the recent floods. Nearly a hundred years ago my great grand mother ran a boarding/guest house at Kangaroo Point in a rambling old house. Flying over Samford I recognised where some of our extended family live. Somerset Dam and Kilcoy were easily recognised. Then just to the west of Murgon I picked out a friend