Werrikimbe National Park

Visited: Very early spring

Recommendation: This is a remote but stunning national park with a small but excellent campsite. The surrounding forest is full of animal activity and well worth a stay for a few days.

A panorama of open woodland with several large eucalypt trees.

Mooraback Campground in Werrikimbe National Park is another remote forest campground and it took quite a bit of time to get here, it's 35km from the main road between Port Maquarie and Walcha. It was narrow back roads, partly sealed, partly unsealed but very beautiful passing across some beautiful pasture land and open woods. As we were driving late in the afternoon the sun was going down, it was incredibly pretty. There were lots of small Swamp Wallabies around but they were very skittish. We also thought we saw Whiptail Wallabies and of course the Eastern Grey Kangaroos were in good numbers. We reached the campsite just as dark had fallen so there wasn't much to do that night.

During daylight hours, the roos and whiptails grazed on the grass around the campground but we didn't see the Swamp Wallabies again.

Large marsupial with grey brown fur, large legs and large ears.

Eastern Grey Kangaroo (Macropus giganteus)

A large marsupial with brown fur, large ears and a white stripe along the cheek. There is a young joey poking out of the pouch.

Whiptail Wallaby (Macropus parryi)

Early in the morning the birds started and there was a lot of them, there was a Rose Robin resident right next to our campsite and a Grey Fantail kept a regular eye on us from its perch next to us. There was a lot of activity. The information board gave details of a couple of tracks, a short one and a longer one. We were tired so I went on the short walk and it was absolutely beautiful. It started behind the campground and wound up slightly up through the forest with a couple of small lookouts over the gullies. A creek also ran just behind our campsite.

A small brown bush bird with a long tail and white marks on the face.

Grey Fantail (Rhipidura albiscapa)

A small robin with a bright pink breast and grey head.

Rose Robin (Petroica rosea)

The short track was very active and although it was only 500 metres it took me a good hour to get round it. A Grey Fantail followed me most of the way which was really sweet. There were more Rose Robin calling up here. A resident Pied Currawong was obviously familiar with campers. We have found them in these more remote campsites sitting on a perch, watching us. They are presumably looking for scraps.

A large black songbird with white on the tail and under the rump.

Pied Currawong (Strepera graculina)

A small, green songbird with bars on the chest.

Shining Bronze-Cuckoo (Chrysococcyx lucidus)

A brown bird with barring on the breast and a red streak through the eye.

As it was early in the spring there were lots of cuckoos calling. The forest rang with the shrill call of the Shining Bronze Cuckoo and the trill of the Fan-tailed Cuckoo. The shining I find is a bit more cooperative and I saw several during my stay here. The fan-tailed, however, stuck high up in the trees where they are very cryptic.

As I walked around the track through the forest, I saw a couple of Red-browed Treecreepers, which I'm still really keen to get good photographs of, but they were moving quite quickly and a bit far away. Again, I had to settle for an ID shot only.

Red-browed Treecreeper (Climacteris erythrops)

The forest track wound around and past the creek again. There was a lot of different vegetation and many bird species were flitting around. It took some patience to get the thornbills but I was pleased to get a good look at the striated in particular.

A very small brown bird with streaks on the breast and a red eye.

Brown Thornbill (Acanthiza pusilla)

A very small light brown bird with a darker cap and streaks along it.

Striated Thornbill (Acanthiza lineata)

The Eastern Yellow Robin was here of course but I never tire of their cheery presence. The Golden Whistler was calling and calling and it was good to see a stunning male bird.

A grey backed robin with a bright yellow breast and belly.

Eastern Yellow Robin (Eopsaltria australis)

A yellow bird with a black head and white throat.

Golden Whistler (Pachycephala pectoralis)

I could hear oriole calling in the forest but only got a quick glimpse of one. The Yellow-faced Honeyeater was also loud and active. I have found them to be often in groups zooming around the trees. I only once saw them briefly stop.

A sleek green bird with a bright red eye and pale red bill.

Olive-backed Oriole (Oriolus sagittatus)

A pale brown bird with a thick black and yellow streak under the eye.

Yellow-faced Honeyeater (Lichenostomus chrysops)

As is often the case, my campervan made a great hide and when I got tired of doing laps around the forest I sat in the back and watched as birds came and went. A Red-browed Firetail sat and preened and a Spotted Pardalote surveyed the trees for nesting holes.

Tiny grey songbird with thick red eye brow.

Red-browed Firetail (Neochmia temporalis)

A brightly coloured tiny songbird with a black back covered in white spots.

Spotted Pardalote (Pardalotus punctatus)

And, of course, the Superb Fairywren chattered in their group as they searched the grass of the campsite.

A small brown songbird with a grey throat and long, blue tail.

Small grey bird with long tail. It has dark blue cap

Superb Fairywren (Malurus cyaneus)

We went out that night as soon as it was dark. We could already hear three, at least, Boobooks calling. We started off walking along the road and looking in the clearings to see if we could see any wombats. There was plenty of evidence of them. We didn't see the burrows, but we did see their poo, which is interesting because it's cube-shaped. However, on this occasion, we didn't see them either.

Our first animal was a Tawny Frogmouth, which is pretty standard. They are always nice to see and they very often sit up for you. Then we saw a possum. We knew there were mountain brushtail possums here, so we were hopeful about seeing them. They are very dark possums and it was clear this wasn't one.

Unfortunately, just as I was raising my camera, I tripped and fell. Professional as I am, though, my first instinct was to protect the camera, so I did a kind of commando roll, came up on my knees, got the shot of the possum. My other half thought it was hilariously funny, but I had the last laugh because I got it shot.

Common Brushtail Possum (Trichosurus vulpecula)

An owl like bird with grey mottled patterns that blend in with surround dead trees.

Tawny Frogmouth (Podargus strigoides)

A large rat looking animal with brown fur and long nose.

After we'd walked around the paddocks a little while, with no success on the wombats, we headed back towards the short track around the campsite. There were lots of small frogs calling. We think they were little crinaea species, which are very difficult to find unless you dig them up.

We walked along the forest track looking for gliders. Apparently, there are Powerful and Masked Owls in the area but we only continued to hear Boobooks. On the track we did see a bandicoot and I crept quite slowly towards it and it didn't seem to mind my presence and got some good shots before it finally got spooked by the crackling of leaves and took off.

Northern Brown Bandicoot (Isoodon macrourus)

In the next morning, I wandered the area again and came across a pair of Crimson Rosella feeding on the ground. We had seen them around the area but they wouldn't let us get anywhere near them. I approached these birds slowly and surprisingly, they let me get within a few metres. They were quite stunning.

A bright red parrot with brilliant blue wing and tail feathers.

Crimson Rosella (Platycercus elegans)

A panoramic scene of open pasture dotted with trees at sunset.

Google Sites

Report abuse