Rungulla National Park, Far North Queensland.

Julatten - Rungulla NP - Julatten

Link to map and species list

Day 1 4/9/21 Julatten - Malanda (114km)

Left home on a Saturday morning  so we could go to the Mount Molloy markets on our way to Mareeba. Saw a Brahminy Kite overhead at the Barramundi Farm, 1st bird for our trip list. Called into the Mount Molloy market to get our breakfast roll, egg and bacon. Also to catch up with the locals. 

Mount Molloy Market

Headed off towards Mareeba and along the way called into the Biboora Cash Store to top up with diesel ($1.47lt.). Then onto Mareeba (Diversion from trip report! I had to take our chainsaw to have a service and get a few chains resharpened. Had blunted them sawing up a big Celerywood tree that had fallen down due to a Striped Possum excavating the base and some strong winds that had felled it. Picture for those that are not familiar with this cute mammal)

Striped Possum

Lindsay did some last minute shopping and we were on our way to Malanda. We had volunteered to count Brolga and Sarus Crane as they flew into their night-time roost sites. About 35 volunteers turned up to count cranes at known roost sites on the Atherton Tableland. We all met at the Hasties Swamp Bird Hide to be allocated our sites for the count. We were given Bromfield Swamp but the combination of poor weather as night approached and low cloud with drizzly rain did not help identify the birds, typical weather here!

Crane Counting as Night Approached

After the counts we all retired to the Malanda Hotel to have an evening meal and socialise. We had decided to make the most of going to Malanda by continuing on the next day and have a few nights away in the T-van.

Day 2 5/9/21 Malanda - Pinnarendi Station Stay and Café (152km)

Had a restless night with the drizzly rain continuing and dripping off the trees onto the T-van. In the morning, when it was time to pack up the rain got heavier, not ideal. Got on the road and headed for Mt. Hypipamee National Park (The Crater), our favourite place for a morning coffee break. Usually it is raining here, but this time it wasn't so we went for a walk to check out the birds. Had a couple of Golden Bowerbird foraging in a fruit tree, but unfortunately they were only brown birds, female or juvenile, not the brightly coloured yellow and black male.

Prado and T-van at Mt. Hypipamee

Had our morning coffee with the usual tame Lewin's Honeyeater looking for handouts.

Lewin's Honeyeater

From here we headed to Ravenshoe taking the road through Tumoulin, which is Queensland's highest road at 1162m. This road is more straight forward than sticking to the main Highway 1, which has many bends along the way to Ravenshoe. Stopped in Ravenshoe to buy some sugar for Lindsay that she had forgotten to pack. From here we re-joined Highway 1 towards Mt. Garnet, where we turned off the road on the outskirts of town, to go to Wurruma Swamp. This is the towns water supply and a good spot for lunch. There is a gate to go through and then it is about 1km to a shelter shed with table and benches. 

Wurruma Swamp

The swamp was just about full with not many waterbirds on it, a pair of Green Pygmy Goose and a pair of Black Swan plus a pair of  inquisitive Masked Lapwing were the highlights. 

Masked Lapwing

Masked Lapwing with Australasian Grebe

Then onto Pinnarendi Station Stay and Café, a place we had visited several times before when we were conducting bird surveys with members of North Queensland Natural History Group and Birdlife North Queensland. We stopped off at the café to check in with Nadine, the very enthusiastic owner of the property. Pinnarendi is getting a very well deserved good reputation and this was reflected in the large number of caravans on  site. We found a spot and set up camp.

Camp at Pinnarendi

Later in the afternoon we headed off to do some birding along the walk taking in Garden Dam, The Big Dam and on to number One Dam, not a lot flowering so the bird species were down from our last visit. There were still a few birds to keep us interested, mainly on Big Dam where there were Little Pied and Little Black Cormorant. 

The Big Dam

Little Pied Cormorant

Little Black Cormorant

Number One Dam had a White-faced Heron perched in a tree until a Toressian Crow flew in and scared it off.

White-faced Heron

In the evening the resident Tawny Frogmouth started calling in the camp ground before an Australian Owlet Nightjar called once.

Australian Owlet-nightjar

Day 3 6/9/21 Pinnarendi Station Stay and Café - Rungulla National Park (297km.)

Up for a coffee then a walk to the three dams, highlights here were a flock of 37 Peaceful Dove, three Common Bronzewing (pigeon) and a flock of over 50 Double-bar Finch who obliged for some photos. 

Double-bar Finch

Back to camp for a shower and a cooked breakfast, a weekly treat. Said good-bye to Nadine and set off for Mt. Surprise, passing the Forty Mile Scrub National Park before turning west. Continued on past the Undarra Lava Tubes entrance to Mt Surprise, where we took advantage of the roadside dump point to empty our Porta Potti (toilet). Found a shady spot to have mid-morning coffee as the wind started to get stronger. From Mt. Surprise the highway starts off as a wide two lane highway before deteriorating into single lane bitumen sections. These sections have caused us to have a cracked windscreen earlier this year and previous to that a cracked rear side window on our old Nissan Patrol, due to other vehicles going too fast and flicking up stones. So it is not a part  of "highway" we enjoy. Some of the wider sections are bridges over rivers and their approaches like this one over the Einasleigh River.

Crossing Einasleigh River between Mt Surprise and Georgetown

Anyway we survived that stretch of the road and continued on over the Newcastle Range, where there is a newish wide road though the hills. Arrived in Georgetown and stopped at the C.E. Green Park next to the Etheridge River and Georgetown Swimming Pool. Nice shady table and benches for our lunch. After lunch we went across the road to the roadhouse to fuel up ($1.52 lt) and Lindsay had a bright idea to buy a couple of chocolate ice creams on a stick. This was a treat we had not had for many years! Then drove south towards Forsayth for 30 minutes, turning right just before the town onto the Cobbald Gorge road. 

It starts off with a bitumen section before changing to a good gravel road. We stopped to air down the tyres, which makes a big difference in ride comfort and less likely to get punctures and damage to suspension components. Followed the road to the Cobbald Gorge turn off where we took the Rungulla Shed Road towards Gilberton Station. This road changes into narrow gravel sections with lots of dips and rocky creek sections. We passed by the Agate Creek fossicking and campground areas before arriving at  the  Rungulla National Park turn off. The track from here crosses the Percy River, which was dry, and climbs up a steep track out of the river bed. 

Percy River Crossing

We had booked into Camp 1, which is the only one of the three camp sites to have a toilet.

Camp 1 Facilities

Arrived after a 2½ hour drive from Georgetown. The camping area is quite small with enough room for two cosy camps and not very level eventually found an area, which was nearly level! A group of 76 Red-tailed Black Cockatoo were decorating the trees by the camp to welcome us! 

Red-tailed Black-Cockatoo

Set up camp before a few hours rest before walking the short distance down to the dry Gilbert River. The photo is not taken with a wide angle lens causing distortion and the poles to lean at a funny angle, it was put up like that! Sorted it after the photo was taken.

Camp 1

Here we walked on the wide sandy river bed until we found a small waterhole. The black clouds were heading our way for a brief, but heavy shower.

Dry riverbed of the Gilbert River

Some interesting rocks were jutting out of the sandy riverbed and made a good hide to photograph the birds

Gilbert River Rocks

There were lots of birds coming in to drink, mainly Noisy Friarbird, Pale-headed Rosella, a pair of Squatter Pigeon and three Common Bronzewing. Blue-faced Honeyeater came in as the sun was setting. 

Noisy Friarbird

Blue-faced Honeyeater

Back to camp where we found there were quite a few mosquitoes and a few flies, welcome to the Aussie bush. As we got back to camp a few spots of rain began to fall and it got heavier, but as this was happening the sun was setting and the most fabulous double rainbow appeared, the best we have seen for many years. Great photo opportunity as it stretched over our T-van, first as a single rainbow then a double.

Single Rainbow over Camp

Double Rainbow over Camp

The rest of the evening was almost dry with a few odd raindrops.

Day 4 7/9/21 Rungulla NP to Rungulla NP (9km.)

Awoke to a clear blue sky and after the mandatory coffee went for a walk along the camp access road through the surrounding open woodland. 

Open Woodland

Not  many birds around to enjoy the rising sun. A Common Bronzewing was fossicking around on the ground before we disturbed it and it took refuge in a nearby tree for a portrait picture. 

Common Bronzewing

Back for poached egg on toast and to put out the solar panels as the sun rose above the escarpment. It was quite windy and the few wispy clouds in the blue sky soon were blown away. Decided to check out the other two camps, imaginatively called Camp 2 and Camp 3. There was one steep dip which caused us to bottom out, despite our Prado having uprated suspension with a 50mm lift. If we were towing the T-van we would have to take it easy here. Took the track to camp 2, which had a couple of steep dips, which would prove to be a challenge with a camper trailer in tow. However, we read a report of a Jayco Penguin getting into all three sites, so no problem for a T-van! The camp was not very spectacular alongside the Gilbert River, big enough for a couple of camps if you were friends. Drove back out and down to Camp 3, this track was more straight forward with no major obstacles and a largish, flatish site alongside the Percy River. This was probably the most scenic and shady site, but no visible water in the river to attract the birds. However, there were a couple of Mistletoebird active in one of the large Melaleucas (Paperbark Tree) and some of their mistletoe was flowering attracting Brown Honeyeater. Had morning coffee here and went for a walk along the river bed, but it was  getting hot so retreated to a shady tree to soak up the atmosphere. 

Dry Percy River beside Camp 3

Percy River

Sitting under a big Melaleuca tree looking across the sandy river bed to a black rocky escarpment on the other side with a blue sky and just the two of us to share the experience. How lucky are we, with a good percentage of Australia locked down and unable to travel, but us in the far north of Queensland hardly affected. We don't take it for granted, but as most of us know this covid virus can take many forms and pop up anywhere. All good things must come to an end so we packed up and headed back to camp for lunch and a relaxing afternoon as the temperature rose to 33ºC and the humidity dropped down to 20%, unheard of in the Wet Tropics where we live. Re-visited the small waterhole along the Gilbert River and took a few photos of the birds coming in to drink, mainly Noisy Friarbird again, a few Noisy Miner and a pair of Great Bowerbird.

Noisy Friarbird with Noisy Miner Watching

Great Bowerbird

Had a quiet evening as the temperature cooled down to 20ºC and the humidity stayed at 20%.

Very few insects and spiders around, this Mascord's St. Andrews Cross Spider was one of only two we saw, the other species were Huntsman's Spiders.

Mascord's St. Andrews Cross Spider

Day 5 8/9/21 Rungulla NP to Mt. Surprise (235km.)

Nice clear morning like yesterday with the few clouds blown away by the strong winds. At least the winds blew the mosquitoes and flies away! Went for a last look at the small waterhole along the Gilbert River, where over 50 Noisy Friarbird were coming into drink. Also here was a group of Noisy Miner, a few Little Friarbird and a couple of Pied Currawong, much the same as before. 

Noisy Miner

Little and Noisy Friarbird

Pied Currawong

Back to camp for breakfast and to pack up. Ready by 8.15am and off back to the Rungulla Shed Road, about 3km away. We turned right onto the road, which was now called Gilberton Station Road. This section was not much more than a gravel track winding up and down and over the escarpment and very scenic. Reached the junction of the Gilberton-Einasleigh Road and turned left towards Einasleigh. This was a better road, but still winding around and up and down through dry creek beds. Not many places to stop for a morning coffee, but we eventually found a flat area to pull off the road. The wind was still howling and many tree branches were blown down onto the road. Since we left Rungulla we had only seen one station 4 wheel drive, one camper trailer and two station trucks on the road, but as we arrived at Kidston we encountered a couple of large semi-trailers bringing materials to the Kidston Electricity Project. The road improved from Kidston to the junction of the Einasleigh to Kennedy Development Road junction where it became an even better gravel road. We headed towards Einasleigh and turned off just before the town onto the Mt. Surprise Road. After 20 minutes we reached Jardine Lagoon, situated alongside the road, and pulled into the campground for lunch. We had stayed here earlier in the year, but not this time, just a lunch stop and to check out the birds on the lagoon. The wind was still gusting, it even blew our chairs over! The lagoon had plenty of bird life on it, the most common out of the ducks were a group of 89 Pacific Black Duck, also 4 Rajah Shelduck, 4 Hardhead, 13 Grey Teal and a couple of Brolga (cranes).Three Forest Kingfisher were defying the winds and diving into the water to catch their lunch along with a couple of Jacana on the water lilies. 

Pacific Black Duck, Grey Teal and Hardhead

Brolga + Pied Stilt

Great Egret

White-necked Heron

There was only one Great Egret plus a White-necked Heron who was crouching down to try and get out of the strong wind, hence this strange pose! Had lunch before the last leg to Mt. Surprise and a night in the Bedrock Village Caravan Park. We were shown a nice shady, grassy site to set up in, decided not to put out the awning as the wind was still strong, supposed to be 34km an hour, but the gusts seemed stronger than that. Restful afternoon and a welcome shower in the very good individual shower facilities.

Day 6/9/21 Mt. Surprise to Julatten (315km.)

First up we went for a walk along the rocky volcanic track from Bedrock Village to Elizabeth Creek a few hundred metres away. Not much in the way of birdlife along here and only a White-faced Heron and Little Pied Cormorant by the creek. 

Elizabeth Creek, Mt. Surprise

Back for breakfast and to pack up, while the local gang of Galah descended onto the trees around Bedrock Village, this one perched above our T-van. 

Galah - female (light coloured eye)

Travelled back to the Forty Mile Scrub National Park rest area for morning coffee. Then back through Mt. Garnet and Ravenshoe as the weather started to deteriorate with thick cloud and rain showers and a cool 14º. We had intended to stop at Mt. Hypipamee National Park for lunch, but the cloud was down and it was raining so we kept going. By the time we reached Wongabel State Forest the weather had cleared sufficiently so we decided to stop here for lunch. Luckily Lindsay had bought a couple of sandwiches at Bedrock Village café as we were leaving this morning, saved getting the T-van kitchen out.  An ever curious Pale-yellow Robin came to see what was going on, it decided we were not a threat before continuing to pounce on the ground for it's own lunch.

Pale-yellow Robin

Our normal visits here usually see us taking the circuit track through the Mabi rainforest, but not this time as the rain was approaching again, it was decided that we would give our intended overnight stop at Tolga Van Park a miss and go straight home. Not much fun camping in the rain. Cancelled our overnighter and moved on to Atherton, Mareeba and home to Julatten.