Macca's Meanderings

Hello from Croker Island Garngi Rangers use motion sensing cameras in our work. The camera below was set up to monitor this remote creek for illegal activity. Most of the photos from these cameras are nothing special as the camera has been activated by something like a piece of grass moving in the wind or a wave breaking. Below are a few of the more interesting photos. A sea eagle flies passed looking for a meal.  Below, probably the same sea eagle flies passed again some days later. It seems sea eagles are also into selfies! Look just to the left of the sea eagle near the end of the little sand spit - a 2.5 metre croc enjoying the morning sun. And again the sea eagle flies passed. This time a bit closer. That's a better selfie! And then a jabiru drops in. At this time of the year the low tides happen during the middle of the day so we have been taking the opportunity to access some remote beaches looking for ghost nets and marine litter. Below is a large section of ghost net - par...

Hello again We recently had a biosecurity person from the Commonwealth Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment at Croker Island for the best part of a week. We conducted three surveys - The photo below shows us checking bananas for the disease called Banana Freckle - it is serious threat to the banana industry. We were also looking for Citrus Canker amongst other diseases - thankfully nothing nasty was found.  We also did an aquatic biosecurity survey at low tide looking for aquatic creatures that we don't want in Australia - like the Asian Green Mussel. They can easily hitch a ride on vessels, marine litter or ghost nets. Ranger 'PK' accompanies us when it is convenient. Here she is watching a traditional owner who accompanied us on a recent boat trip and wanted to take a couple of fish home.  One of the Class A (highest priority) weeds we are seeking to eradicate is mimosa pigra. It is a floodplain weed which, if left untreated will form a mono-culture. The p...

 Hi Recently the Garngi rangers responded to an emergency beacon that had been activated southeast of us.  Some local Croker Island residents were returning from Maningrida, and were overdue. Their family had contacted the rangers expressing concern so we contacted to Water Police who coordinate all marine searches in the NT. They had just received a call from the Australian Search and Rescue people down south about a beacon activation. They provided the coordinates for the beacon - about 45 kilometres south east of us. They requested that we respond ASAP. While preparing to depart, they had an Australian Border Force aircraft fly over the site. They confirmed a vessel anchored about 150 meters off the coast with 7 occupants, one waving a fuel jerry can. We quickly filled a couple of jerry cans with petrol and departed. The photo below shows Templer Island passing to our left side.  There were a couple of storms building over the mainland however over the sea was fine. Ju...

Hi again from a very hot a humid Croker Island Nancy arrived back at Croker on Tuesday after three weeks in Darwin getting to know our grandson Noah.  She also spent some time with other family - sorry Jayse, Kristy and Dean but you have been 'bumped' by Noah. Haha. Our little dog, PK gave Nancy a very energetic and warm welcome at the Croker Island airport, racing out onto the aircraft parking apron to greet her - no airport security here!!  After months of windy south east trade winds we have moved into the build up season which brings light winds but much warmer and more humid weather.  On Thursday ranger Clayton and I (Bryan) did a boat patrol around the outer islands.  As you will see in the first photo and the videos below the water was glassy smooth with great visibility. Ten kilometers out we came across a group of small dolphins - most were only about half grown. We stopped, switch the motor off and watched these amazing creatures swim playfully around the b...

Hello from Northern Australia, Our little grandson Noah is doing fine. He has a rather cute smile. Granny Nancy is flying up to Darwin tomorrow - and not half excited about that!  Kristy and Dean send regular photos and videos of Noah like this one below - the night Geelong Cats were playing the Brisbane Lions in an AFL Preliminary Final. Kristy grew up in Geelong - hence the Geelong beanie and scarf.  Recently Garngi Rangers conducted a biosecurity and fisheries boat patrol to the outer islands off Croker Island. Earlier this year we had discovered a large ghost net near McClure Island. The Australian Marine Safety Authority (AMSA) requested us to attach a GPS tracker to it just in case it floated off the reef at McClure Island and became a hazard to marine traffic. This tracker had stopped transmitting. AMSA asked us to confirm that the net was still at McClure and also try to re-start the tracker. The Google Earth image below shows the location of the net. Below, we approac...

Hi During my first week back at Croker Island we had some excitement. A two metre crocodile had found its way into a local resident's house yard. As the water contracts on the floodplain crocodiles fight for the remaining space. This forces some to walk many kilometres over dry country to a creek or the sea. This crocodile almost made it to Mission Bay however some fences got in the way.  All the rangers were at various funerals and unavailable so I assisted Clint from the local council to restrain this crocodile and re-locate it to Mission Bay. Before we covered it's eye it was rather cranky and snappy however the sheet covering its eye's calmed it significantly. Once at the beach, we took the tape off and removed the sheet however it was in no hurry to move, requiring a slap with the sheet to get it moving. It leapt off the buggy tray, across the sand into the water and swam off to find a new patch. While flying out to Croker Island I noticed something a little suspicious...