Yellow Water

Visited: late dry season

Recommendation: You might be in 2 minds about whether this boat cruise is worth it or not. Believe me, IT IS! It should be compulsory for all visitors.

The first interesting part of the Yellow Water story is the area around the boat ramp, where all the tour cruises leave from Situated right on the banks of the river and next to it is a boardwalk, it is a magnet for birds like kingfishers and flycatchers. I watched 5 Forest Kingfishers hanging together, fishing, preening and resting here. If you get there early there is no telling what you might see. I actually felt sorry for people arriving later as they had missed out on seeing this natural wonder. 

The boardwalk is the next stop. It leads out across some wetlands, which, in turn, lead you to the Cooinda Resort. That has been closed because of the danger from the Water Buffalo. However, the boardwalk is safe and all you need. It's not very long, but boy, it is really productive. As you walk, either side of you are marshy wetlands, which will obviously be flooded in the wet season. But in the dry season, they are full of all sorts of egrets, kingfishers and flycatchers. My favourite was this Nankeen Night Heron. It sat there absolutely dead still and didn't take any notice of me at all. It was still there as I was leaving an hour later. 

The Yellow-bellied Flyrobin is prevalent here, as is the Shining Flycatcher and you can hear and see both of them flitting around in abundance. I visited the boardwalk several different times and you can never tell what might turn up. I saw lots of ducks, other flycatchers, kingfishers and even a Lashtail Dragon. It is a great introduction for the cruise. 

Shining Flycatcher (Myiagra alecto) 

And so, on to the cruise .... 

The boat itself is covered and as cool as you are likely to get here. A morning cruise is definitely a must. The scenery is absolutely stunning so you know you're on to a winner before you even get going. The tour is a mix of crocodile spotting and other wildlife viewing, in particular birds of course. 

A fairly common sight is the Azure Kingfisher, which we saw on numerous occasions flitting around the bushes on the edge of the river. The river runs in sort of horseshoe shape and in the middle there was a patch of wetland where a huge number of birds were standing. 

We could see Brolga and Jabiru standing head and shoulders above everything else but there were also egrets, ibis and swamphen. Pied Heron, in particular, were there in number. As we travelled around the horseshoe bend we got better views and began to see parrots and raptors in the trees, as well as the odd Magpie Goose. 

Estuarine Crocodile (Crocodylus porosus) 

There were a lot of crocodiles to spotting and certainly some of them were very large, rather unpleasant creatures. Still, it was kind of cool to photograph them. It was also a good place to see things like the White-bellied Sea-Eagle. There was there are at least one pair breeding here and we saw them several times sitting up high just looking rather regal and sedate. 

White-bellied Sea-Eagle (Haliaeetus leucogaster)

And so it continued, with ducks lining the water at every turn, small waders looking for food in the shallows and the ever gorgeous jacana balancing on the lily pads. It was a wonderful cruise and a great opportunity to see these beautiful birds close up.