Macca's Meanderings

Hi again In the previous blog we headed east from Croker Island to Grant Island. Today we headed west along the northern coast of the Cobourg Peninsula. To save some time we launched off the beach near the Croker Island airport on the west side of the island to avoid having to boat half way around Croker Island. After carefully threading our way through some reef we were out into the Bowens Straits. The photo below is looking back toward the rising morning sun. The Bowen Straits can be very rough if the wind and tide are not favourable. The nearby point on Cobourg Peninsula is named Danger Point for this reason. This morning however the seas were kind. We met the Cobourg rangers and the CDU scientists near Sandy Island off Danger Point. As the conditions were favourable they were keen to check out Sandy Island - a known nesting site for Olive Ridley Turtles. No nests were found.  We were being watched by a pair of Sea Eagles guarding their nest. Many seagulls also use Sandy Island ...

Hi again for another week. The Garngi Rangers have had a busy week with quite a few hours on the water. For two days we worked with the Northern Territory Government National Park rangers from the Coburg Peninsula and some scientists. The name of the park is Garig Gunak Barlu. 'Garig' is the language that was once spoken there however sadly there are now no surviving speakers. 'Gunak' means country - both land and sea. And 'Barlu' means wide open blue waters. Some scientist from the Charles Darwin Uni (CDU) are seeking to gain a better understanding of marine animals like turtlers, dugong, manta rays, dolphins and false killers whales - that really are a type of dolphin. We met them near Croker Island and headed out to Grant Island to the east of Croker Island, where there are lots of turtles. Below is their vessel - 'Meander 2'.  Before we were able to start our turtle survey work we had to do some 'compliance work'. As we approached Grant Islan...

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...