Fogg Dam is a place mentioned often in bird literature so we were looking forward to going there. The dam was built to supply water for rice growing in the early 50’s, but the venture failed because it attracted too many birds! So it has been a bonus for the birds.
Along the road going in, R saw 11 Forest Kingfishers on the telephone wires (I was driving) and we also saw a buffalo farm.On arrival, it was surprising to find the car park is in Monsoonal Rainforest
Once again the walk over the dam wall was closed, due to danger from a crocodile, but driving over it was allowed, so we could still have a good look.
We saw the trap set for the croc, and certainly didn’t walk anywhere except at the hide platforms!
But we saw one couple walking, and they asked how far it was – we told them about the danger of crocs and they hadn’t read the signs or the information board...they got out of there very quickly!!
The wetland is very extensive, coming right up to the road in places, with patches of waterlilies and other areas with water vegetation.
We saw some Spur-winged plovers with chicks along the bank,
and there were lots of Magpie Geese with young
then from the elevated hide at the other end of the dam wall, the view was amazing.
There were large numbers of lots of different water-birds, including one spot where there were the 3 different Egrets together, with Pied Herons (Dead Sacred Lilies - huge! in the background )
two Jabiru,
one Brolga, Burdekin ducks with young, lots of Jacana with young......
We collected our first lot of forwarded mail (several letters for someone else included!) had swims and then went on a bus organised from the office here at the caravan park, to the Mindil Beach markets which are famous. There are huge numbers of stalls – originally it was for locally produced handcrafts and food of every type, but has been a victim of its own success and now has stock from all over Asia etc. It was quite a sight, but very crowded and that’s not our scene. We bought some dinner which was nice, and ate it looking at the beach as the sun went down...a glorious sunset, but unfortunately I didn’t take my camera, so no photos.
Our first task the following morning was to buy a 12v fan....if I have to be in the van when it is hot, I need to have that air or I’m not nice to be with! Once that purchase was made, we went on into Darwin, intending to collect any other mail, go to the information centre, and have a coffee then go to the WW2 Oil Storage Tunnels.
Finding our way around Darwin was a nightmare...we got lost several times! No up-to-date map with street names is available, and the signage around the city is not clear, and often lacking the information you are looking for. However, one good thing is that by the end of the day we had seen quite a lot of Darwin, and know our way around - a little, anyway!
Once we had had a delicious lunch at the Museum, we could relax and enjoy the Museum. It was wonderful, with exhibitions of all the wildlife of the area, including a huge crocodile “Sweetheart” that was 5.1m long, and 750 kg! It died unexpectedly when it was captured to relocate it, because it attacked some boats. It was hard to believe it was life size as it looked unbelievably huge!
There was also an exhibition of indigenous art and one of Darwin in the time before, during, and after cyclone Tracey and they were both really interesting.
Did I mention R is loving the Kindle? He was tickled because he bought the complete works of Mark Twain for 99c reduced from $1.99!! I’m enjoying A Suitable Boy – much heavier than the Kindle!
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