24 September. We decide that we need to push further north to try to avoid the high density of people here and give us a better chance to find a bee-rich region. So, today is a driving day. Along the way, we spot an Emu keeping its distance from the road. A few other, less cautious animals are now feeding the many raptors that feast on the roadkill: kangaroos, wallabys, equidnas, snakes, birds… Roads impose a high toll on local wildlife. The landscape is very nice, sometimes flat expanses with pastures (cows seem to be revered in some towns that erect endless statues of bulls and cows), others forests of tall Eucalyptus, and still other times hills with steep sides and thick forest cover. As we continue travelling north, some white cockatoos appear near Rockhampton, and a kokaburra watches pensively from a power line.
We have crossed the Tropic of Capricorn and are now officially in the Australian tropics.
In the afternoon, we reach the town of Yeppoon, and look for a place in the outskirts of another very touristic town. We stay at a busy beach caravan park. The beach is endlessly long, with dark yellow sand. We find a few flowers in the sand dunes, but is perhaps too late for bees. In the evening we eat some delicious rice and veggies that Daniel prepares and make plans for the next day. We hope to stay local tomorrow and spend the day walking in the search for bees.
Daniel gives his best impression of a buzz pollinating bee after a long day of driving.
22 September. Today I dropped off the Buzz Bus at Perth Airport and flew to Brisbane. A long five hour flight across the continent, and landing in Brisbane in the late evening after two hour time zone shift. A distance of about 3,600km. Here, I met Daniel and we stay at a hotel nearby making plans for our departure next morning.
23 September. Early in the morning we pick up the eastern Buzz Bus, and head to the supermarket to get supplies. After a long morning, we finally set out to start our eastern transect. We drive north out of Brisbane, and hit the first traffic bottleneck after a coupe, of kilometres. The traffic is heavy and we move slow. The Buzz Bus seems to be a rare sighting among the trucks and smaller cars of the commuters. The drive out of the city drags on, and we seem to struggle to leave behind the urban sprawl. The first stop is to check out Glasshouse Mountain, an old volcanic plug that raises steeply from the nearby plain. We go up Wild Horse mountain to get a better view and on the way we spot a giant Monitor Lizard. The beautiful monster guards us with one eye and then moves to a crevice in an old Eucalyptus trunk. The views from the forest fire observation point are great and we spot several flowers and some honeybees.
We keep driving through the heavy traffic and what seems to be never ending urbanity. We reach Noosa Head later in the afternoon, and the tows is a busy place in which cars go bumper to bumper. The are so many tourists and cars that we need to park on a rugby field. We walk to the mass of tourists and get info on hikes from a friendly volunteer at an information centre. The beach is teeming with tourists and surfers. We manage to walk up a nice path bordering the coast. This is a paradise for surfers and Pandanus trees! Pandanustectorius, also known as thatched screw pine, is a palm-looking plant that produces large supporting roots that can sprout from high up the trunk. The new support roots can give it an appearance of legs, and some people call it the walking palm. I really like this plant, which I had only seen in the Edinburgh Botanic Gardens on gloomy, grey days. Here the Pandanus tree is in its element growing abundantly along the rocky cliffs and in the understory of this subtropical forest. I take plenty of photos.
But the big surprise is waiting ahead. The dense mass of tourists serves finally a good purposes and somebody has spotted a koala somewhere in the trail. We speed up and find some people squinting at the branches high above. Very hard to spot without binoculars, but I finally notice a ball of fur barely moving above. A koala in the wild! The koala appears quite large, and although mostly we can only see its backside, now and then it stretches for an Eucalyptus leaf and I can distinguish its face and ear. It is very exciting!
The daylight is coming to an end so we have to leave and head to Pomona where we are staying for the night. We arrive in the dark, and the caretaker grumpily welcomes us. We start talking and I tell him about the many years I lived in Scotland. This perks him up and he tells me with pride that he was born in Ireland and that he has been back many times after migrating to Australia when he was three months old.
— People think that this area is very green—, he says referring to the wetter vegetation found here compared to other parts of inland Australia, his long side-chops running wildly to his mouth,— but it will never bee as green as the hills of Ireland and Scotland!
