DARLINGTON BEACH HOLIDAY SEPTEMBER 2011

Saturday 10 September 2011:

After a short 5 hour dive from Brisbane we arrived at the Darlington Beach Resort Caravan Park on Saturday.  We plan staying here for the annual family reunion week, which commences on 17 Sep 2011.  We spent a few hours setting up and then assisted our daughter Helen in setting up her camper trailer also.  We have two of the grand children, Jake and Luke, with us and will have them for this week before their parents, Cathie and Beau, arrive on the 17th.  Once settled in we relaxed and took in the scenery and the wild life which abounds in this park.  We have wild ducks, kangaroos and parrots visiting us looking for a hand out.  Whilst we give the birds some free seeds or bread, we don't feed the kangaroos as they can become quite aggressive and are capable of inflicting serious damage upon humans with the claws on their back legs.  The rule is leave them alone and they will leave you alone.  Helen had one enter her camp and begin to nudge her quite aggressively, begging for food; however, Helen sent it on its way and it has not come back.  Not so long ago a man was killed by a large red kangaroo out west when it attached him and ripped him open with its hind legs; these male kangaroos can stand up to 8 feet tall when they stand upright!  Having said that, we are visited by a mob of Eastern Grey Kangaoos.  These are much smaller than their red cousins and are not aggressive if you leave them alone.  They will let you approach and take photos but they have a "personal space" they won't let humans into; they will just hop away and start feeding on the grass again.

 Marion and our Caravan

 Helen's Camp

Sunday 11 September 2011:

We drove to Woolgoolga about 7km south of our caravan park and after attending mass, did a quick bit of shopping.  After driving back to the camp, we took some photos of Marion feeding the Rainbow Lorrikets at the caravan.  These lovely birds are with us constantly whether we feed them or not.

 Marion and the Rainbow Lorrikets

Whilst we were enjoying the birds we were treated to a vist from a pair of Wood Ducks with their family of ducklings.  They appeared quite unafraid, although wild, and let us feed them some bread.

 Wood Ducks and ducklings

Later that day I decided to stalk some of the Eastern Grey Kangaroos feeding about the park.  They would not let me get too close; however after a patient wait I noticed they let me approach a little closer.  I took some good photographs of mother and joey and some general shots of the mob.

 Eastern Grey and Joey

It was time to do some "fine tuning" around the camp and we finally settled back and  relaxed for the rest of the day.