Got up before dawn this morning. The ranger going by with his bright lights on was enough to get me out of bed quick smart. The pre-dawn cool and the early light in the beach and water made me glad to be here. This is a place that grows on you. The beach is long and wide, sloping gradually down to the sea with a few dips and hollows where the sea water collects in long shallow troughs. There are tyre tracks at the waters edge at low tide, as well as at the top of the beach, from vehicles heading west towards Janie Creek. Occasionally there are tracks where people cross from the high road down to the lower part of the beach.
In the morning and evening, great flocks of Brolgas and darting flocks of Rainbow Lorikeets fly over to and from the Great Swamp which is about two kilometres down the beach and back about five hundred metres. This is certainly the place to see Brolgas. I'm not sure whether they are here all year. I must ask.
There are also Great Frigate birds, Black Kites, Black-winged Stilts, Darters, Ibis, Egrets of all kinds, Yellow-billed Spoonbills, and Scaly-breasted Lorikeets.
I'm camped on a peninsula, which is tipped by Cullen Point about 1.5 km from my camp. My camp is facing due north. Over to the north east is the continuation north of the greater Cape York. Last night there were fires burning up and down through the bush there. After dark, low down on the horizon, each fire gave off a red glow against the low cloud in the north east.
The sunrise was pretty much as good as I photographed the other morning. An enormous golden sphere rising through the haze and smoke over in the east. Despite being very windy last night, with a few spots of rain, the sky is mostly clear this morning and I put my solar panels out first thing.
After breakfast I got out my new reef shoes and trundled about a kilometre along to the small reef which is exposed at low tide. I was hoping to see some oysters, but I couldn't see any and there wasn't as much life in and around the rocks as there was over at Cape Melville. Sill it was a pleasant walk in the early sun without a shirt albeit slightly windy and my Akubra took a dip in the water which will add something more to its character.
My new sandals were starting to rub at various points so I walked back to the beach and half-filled my bucket from one of the shallow lagoons so I had some washing up water. I was glad to take the sandals off when I got back to camp. I won't be able to wear them again until those few spots on my left foot toughen up.
On my walk I did see some more Brolgas. They are everywhere here, and I also saw a few other birds as well.
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