It was our last weekend in Australia and we were more or less back to health after a second bout of flu, so were keen to get out and about before heading back to SA.

When Stephan suggested a day trip to Raymond Island we jumped at the chance and set off late morning along the very pleasant “back” road to Paynesville. The country roads in Victoria (and probably in other states) are often lined with mature eucalyptus trees which give them a particular character and form a stately ‘ tunnel’ as you drive through…

Along the way a couple of raptors caused some excitement – well, I got excited, the others in the car just smiled :

• Swamp Harrier – a couple of seconds view as we swept past a wetland were enough to pick up the important clues – low flight, white rump, swamp habitat and of course the all-important ‘giss’ which convinced me that it was a Swamp Harrier – and a lifer to boot

There was no time to get a photo so I am posting this beautiful image courtesy of the photographer –

By JJ Harrison (https://www.jjharrison.com.au/) – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=16315120

• Black-shouldered Kite – almost an equally short view but the familiar giss in flight and black wing ‘shoulders’ were enough for a positive ID

• Whistling Kite – flying up from the roadside as we passed, this is a bird I have come to know quite well as they are regularly seen around Sale

On reaching the waterfront at Paynesville, we parked and walked, looking for an open restaurant, and came upon Alma’s which turned out to be a good choice for the fish and chips we were thinking of – really tasty and served with a good salad.

Outside the restaurant a Noisy Miner was going about its business pretty much ignoring the people passing by – so much so that I was able to get a close-up with my Iphone

After lunch it was time to explore Raymond Island, so we joined the short queue for the ferry and were soon on the island, where we turned left along the shoreline then inland and right across the island to Gravelly Beach.

Some of the birds spotted along the way :

• Pacific Gull – quite common but far outnumbered by the Silver Gulls

• Little Pied Cormorant – a few perched on poles in or near the water

• Great Cormorant – as the name suggests a much larger Cormorant

• Australian Golden Whistler – with a name like that you would expect a colourful, spectacular bird, however this was the rather dull immature version of the species. I spotted it in a tree as we passed by and asked Stephan to stop – it looked a lot like the Grey-headed Sparrow that we are familiar with in SA and I was only able to identify it after some time spent paging through the bird book (which always takes me back to my early days of birding). The male would have been a lot more obvious with its bright yellow colouring…
• This poor photo was all I came away with after almost pulling a muscle or two trying to get my aging body into a position in the car to get a decent view of the bird, which did its best to frustrate me … but – it was another Lifer!

At Gravelly Beach we walked about enjoying the view up and down the deserted beach

Another road took us back to the nature area where we parked again and walked a section of the Koala trail, coming across a few of these cute, sleepy creatures.

Along the way we also found

• Laughing Kookaburra – very habituated to humans as they allowed us to approach to within a couple of metres of where they were perched

• Eastern Rosellas – a flock feeding on the ground

• Wallabies – a pair in a garden – the wildlife and the people who live on the island seem to get on well with each other

It was late afternoon by now so we headed back to the ferry and were soon on the road back to Sale, having spent a memorable day in a charming part of Victoria

We were beginning to settle in Sale, Victoria, the new home of our son Stephan and family, although jet-lag brought on by the 8-hours-ahead time difference was playing tricks with our sleeping patterns. Nevertheless we were eager to see a bit of Victoria and were more than happy to go along with Stephan’s suggestion that we do a day trip to Paynesville and Raymond Island, a comfortable hour’s drive from Sale.

Just for orientation, here are a couple of maps (courtesy Google Earth) to show the position of Sale relative to Melbourne and the other major cities in the south-eastern part of Australia, and the location of Paynesville –

We left just before lunchtime after a relaxed morning at home in Sale and drove to Paynesville which is situated on Lake King, a seawater lake not far from Lakes Entrance where – you guessed it – the sea enters the lake. The drive was along smaller country roads through pleasing landscapes of farming areas, expansive fields and occasional rivers, or creeks as they are often called in Australia. Interestingly some of the stretches of road either side of the river have signage indicating that they are “subject to flooding” and strategic posts indicate the depth just in case you feel like testing it during a flood!

We felt at home when we passed a roadside farm stall advertising avocados at 49c each – we should have stopped as they are $2.50 in the shops, but were already well past by the time we realised what it was.

After an hour of easy driving we arrived in Paynesville and headed to the Esplanade where we found parking and walked to the Pier 70 restaurant for a delicious lunch of fish and chips, with a view over the channel that separates Paynesville from Raymond Island just a couple of hundred metres away.

I kept getting distracted from the important business of eating by various birds that were visible on and above the water but had my binos on hand to determine what they were. There were many Silver Gulls / Chroicocephalus novaehollaniae wheeling above the water and I spotted a single Pacific Gull / Larus pacificus on the opposite side. I had already found that Black Swans / Cygnus atratus and Australian Pelicans / Pelecanus conspicillatus seem to pop up wherever there is a large-ish body of water and this spot was no exception.

On the opposite bank I spotted a heron, which turned into a White-faced Heron / Egretta novahollandiae when I had it focused in the binos. Nearby Little Pied Cormorant / Microcarbo melanoleucos  preened on a bollard projecting from the water.

A large Tern swooping over the water looked familiar and once I could get a good enough view I realised it was a Swift Tern – or Greater Crested Tern / Thalasseus bergii as it is listed in my Australian bird book – a species I am very familiar with as it occurs in numbers in Mossel Bay.

Lunch over, we walked to the nearby ferry for the short ride of just 4 minutes across the channel on the chain-driven ferry to Raymond Island, a small island (6km long and 2km wide) which lies some 200 metres inland of the coast.

On the island we followed the Koala trail which initially winds between houses then emerges into bush interspersed with tall trees. It did not take long to spot the first Koala, sleeping high up in the branches, and several more thereafter, some sleeping just as soundly, others feeding slowly and methodically on the green foliage. Koalas were introduced to the island as a conservation measure in 1953 and now number more than 200.

Next up was a relaxed pair of Laughing Kookaburras / Dacelo novaeguineae, a bird I was particularly hoping to see, looking as I expected like a very large Kingfisher – they posed like old pros and left me with a few photos to treasure.

Stephan was ahead of us and called us closer as he had spotted a couple of Eastern Grey Kangaroos in the low bush! We approached cautiously and there they were – our first views of this famous animal with its unusual shape and looks. One came bounding our way, showing how effective this technique is to propel the animal at a fair speed

In between viewing these (for us) brand new animals, we also spotted several of the colourful birds that Australia is renowned for – groups of Crimson Rosella / Platycercus elegans, Eastern Rosella / Platycercus eximius and Rainbow Lorikeet / Trichoglossus moluccanus moved through the trees giving glimpses of their brilliant colouring while Galahs / Eolophus roseicapilla simply paraded on the lawns, showing off their pink, grey and white plumage.

We had heard from Stephan about the Common Bronzewing / Phaps chalcoptera, a pigeon-like bird with interesting multi-coloured plumage, and were thrilled to find one sitting on a nearby fence

We had seen a lot in one afternoon and made our way back to the ferry as dusk fell, most satisfied with the outcome of our first outing