Australia Part 8 - Sydney

So the last post for Australia. (sounds a bit prophetic!)
We were in Sydney for 5 nights, before departing for Auckland, as you might imagine we had a lot planned only a small bit of which would give us any birding opportunities, but we did get a few..
But we started with a tour of the city, so I have to include a one or two touristy photos,
The Bridge and Opera House

just to prove we were there and Bondi Beach of course!

While we in the park looking out over to the Opera House, a Rainbow Lorikeet, popped out,

I didn't have the big lens on, so not a great photo, but it made us smile.

One of the other glorious sights in Australia in the spring are the Jacaranda Trees, they are stunning. This one is in central Sydney.

Next day we were off to the Blue Mountains, I think a must for anyone visiting Sydney.

 The Three Sisters,

 Plus we did see one or two birds...
Crimson Rosella,

 Black-faced Cuckooshrike,

 White-throated Treecreeper,

 more mountain views,

 and a Mistletoe Bird.

The scenery up in the Blue Mountains was just fantastic, as I said earlier a must see.

For the purposes of this blog, the only other day I will post about is an afternoon at the Botanical Gardens, this was after a seaplane flight along the coast and over Sydney Harbour,

You can see the Botanical Gardens and Park running from the Opera House to the small peninsular behind the aircraft carrier, so in the gardens;
Australian White Ibis,

 Laughing Kookaburra,

 Common Myna,

 Dusky Moorhen,

 Masked Lapwing,

Jacaranda Tree,

 Rainbow Lorikeet,

 Sulphur-crested Cockatoo,

 Laughing Kookaburra,

 Australian White Ibis,

That concludes out Australian adventure, now for New Zealand.

Australia Part 7 - Karunda & The Great Barrier Reef

For part 7 we are still in Cairns but with the aforementioned trips to Karunda and The Great Barrier Reef.
I'll start with Karunda, we rode up in the Gondola, from just outside Cairns, it's a long way with great views over the forest and out to sea, you also have to change goldola cars twice, that gives you some idea of how far it is.

We saw a couple of birds on the way, two White-bellied Sea Eagles and some Sulphur-crested Cockatoos but that was it. Once in Karunda we had some time for a wander, to look at the Tourist Tat shops, but after eating we ditched that and walked down to the river, this was much better!
Bar-shouldered Dove

Olive-backed Sunbird,

 Forest Kingfisher,

 Welcome Swallow,

 Australian Brushturkey,

 and Spotted Catbird

other birds seen were; Rainbow Lorikeet, Little Blacl Cormorant, Australian Figbird, Common Myna, Whir-breasted Woodswallow, Intermediate Egret, Willie Wagtail, Torresian Imperial Pigeon, Australian Darter and Common Bronzewing.

So our trip out to the Great Barrier Reef the next day was brilliant, the area of the reef that we went to didn't have any exposed rocks or sand bars, so very little bird life, however there were some Terns about using the rafts and buoys to perch on,
Sooty Tern,

 Brown Noddy with the Sooty Terns,

Other Terns seen out on the reef were Caspian and Black-naped Terns. So 4 bird species for us at there.

The actual reef experience was amazing, with lots of activities to choose from, Snorkeling, Glass Bottom Boat, Semi-submersible, Scuba Diving and Helicopter Rides for those with deep pockets.

We stuck to snorkeling and going out on the glass bottom boat a couple of times, seeing different things both times as the tide changed. Here are a few shots through the glass..

So that was Cairns, a must when visiting Australia!

Next and last Australian stop, Sydney