Friday, June 17, 2011

SANDSTONE COUNTRY IV / June 2011 Part I

Robin Falls is a small reserve along Dorat Road and about 18 km from the township of Adelaide River. The falls cascade off sandstone escarpment which is bounded by floodplain to the east and the Adelaide River to the west. The area is predominantly private land. The falls are spring fed and water is present throughout the dry season and attracts macropods like the Agile Wallaby, Antilopine Wallaroo at the base and on the cliff-faces, the Short-eared Rock-wallaby, and the Narbalek (elegant rock-weasle).

Motor Car Falls follows an historic vehicle track where, in 1946, the first motorcar entered the region. An impassable creek marked the end of the journey. Ever since, that creek has been called Motorcar.

Aristida holathera
Blumea sp. Motor Car Falls
Brown Leafhopper - Alotartessus iambe nymph
Jumping Spider Mimicry Motor Car Falls
Brown Leafhopper - Alotartessus iambe nymphs Motor Car Falls
Buchnera linearis
Burmannia juncea Motor Car Falls
Bush Carrot Cartonema sp.
Calytrix achaeta Motor Car Falls
Calytrix megaphylla
Charcoal-winged Percher Diplacodes nebulosa
Common Tropical Sharptail Stenocatantops angustifrons Motor Car Falls
Crotalaria goreensis Motor Car Falls
Darwin woollybutt Eucalyptus miniata Motor Car Falls
Diospyros calycantha Fruit Robyn Falls
Eriachne schultziana
Eucalyptus setosa Emergent Leaves Motor Car Falls
Eurybrachyid Planthopper - Eurybrachyidae sp. Feeding On Pachynema junceum
Ficus hispida Baroalba Springs
Four o clock Moth Dysphania numana
Golden Beard Grass Golden Beard Grass
Goodenia armstrongiana Robyn Falls
Grevillea decurrens Resin Robyn Falls
Haemodorum coccineum
Huntsman Heteropodidae sp.
Jumping Spider Cytaea severa Motor Car Falls
Kapok Bush Cochlospermum fraseri
Ludwigia sp. Motor Car Falls
Macrobathra desmotoma Robyn Falls

SANDSTONE COUNTRY IV / June 2011 / Part II

Baroalba Creek is the main drainage for Mount Brockman, a large, irregularly shaped massif sitting on the plains a few kilometres away from the edge of the Arnhem escarpment. Its maximum dimensions are about 11 kilometres east to west and 15 kilometres north to south. Its maximum height is about 300 metres above sea level, about 240 metres above the surrounding plain. While the edges of the massif are extremely rugged and steep, much of the centre consists of a large basin drained by Baroalba Creek. The rugged nature of the approaches prevented buffalo from reaching the basin, making this one of the few undisturbed areas in Kakadu. The area is full of rock shelters that were used by Aboriginal people over the millennia. It contains what may well be the greatest concentration of Aboriginal rock art in Australia, dating from the most ancient to the most recent.

Masked Cave-Frog Litoria personata At Home
Masked Cave-Frog Litoria personata CloseUp
Morning Mist South Alligator Flood Plain SunUp
Native Grass Themeda triandra Motor Car Falls
Neon Cuckoo Bee - Thyreus nitidulus
Nomia Bee HALICTIDAE sp.
Orange Lacewing Cethosia penthesilea Motor Car Falls
Orb or Wheel Weaving Spider Argiope sp. Motor Car Falls
Osbeckia australiana
Painted Grasshawk Neurothemis stigmatizans stigmatizans
Petalostigma quadriloculare F.Muell. var. genuina
Planthopper Fulgoroidea sp. Motor Car Falls
Polygala longiflora Motor Car Falls
Praying Mantid Hierodula sp. Nymph Close Up Robyn Falls
Praying Mantid Hierodula sp. Nymph Robyn Falls
Pterocaulon serrulatum Motor Car Falls
Purple Oak-blue Arhopala centaurus Robyn Falls Sandstone Country
Purple Oak-blue Arhopala centaurus Robyn Falls Sandstone Country
Robyn Falls Sandstone Country
Sandstone Escarpment Baroalba Springs Deep Undergrowth
Sandstone Escarpment Baroalba Springs Valley
Small Blue Leaf Beetle - Nisotra breweri With
Possible Astigmatid Mite Feeding On The Beetle
Spermacoce calliantha Sandstone Country
Stretch spider Tetragnathidae sp.
Top End Archtail Nannophlebia mudginberri
Trap-jaw Ant Odontomachus turneri
Tree Orchid Dendrobium dicuphum Motor Car Falls
Triumfetta sp. Motor Car Falls
Tropical Gumleaf Grasshopper Goniaea furcifera Female Robyn Falls
Turkey Bush Caltrix exstipulata
Wedge-tailed Eagle Aquila audax Roadside Kill
South of Adelaide River Township Stuart Highway