savit Posted December 13, 2016 Share Posted December 13, 2016 Hi All, Non-fishing question here. Do you know any good land-based spots for seal or penguin colonies watching / photographing in Southern coast of NSW (below Sydney)? Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raymondo Posted December 14, 2016 Share Posted December 14, 2016 There's a group of 5 islands off Wollongong. The three off Hill 60 have a few resident seals, on occasion they can be seen from Hill 60 rock ledge. Sightings would be hit and miss a boat would near garantee a photo opportunity. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
savit Posted December 14, 2016 Author Share Posted December 14, 2016 Thank you very much Raymondo. I just found those on the map. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blairy Posted December 15, 2016 Share Posted December 15, 2016 Wagonga Inlet Narooma plenty of seals near the moored charter boats and some big rays Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonD Posted December 15, 2016 Share Posted December 15, 2016 As Blairy says there are some down here. The southern bar breakwall has often got around 10 seals within just a few metres of people, they also often take fish from people cleaning their catch at the inlet cleaning tables. We see penguins along the shore while out in our boat but rarely on land, however they do come back on land at Montague island each evening, tours are available. Plenty of other stuff from pelicans to spoonbills can often be found around the area as well as good numbers of raptors. Mammals such as eastern grey kangaroos, possems and bandicoots are pet friendly at the beach campsite close to a Potato Point, even a few emus. Soldier crabs in their thousands over low tide sand flats can also be fun to photograph. Just north of Batemans bay is a quiet little campsite next to Pebbly Beach, this has lots of roo's, parrots, liar birds and some hefty lace monitors as well as plenty of bearded dragons. Durrus camp ground also has good amounts of wildlife. I photograph a fair amount for tourisum so tend to keep an eye on what's about in this area. Jon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
savit Posted December 15, 2016 Author Share Posted December 15, 2016 Thank you very much Blairy and Jon. The more time my wife will spend with her camera chasing wildlife - the more time I can spend with my rod chasing fish, though I do enjoy watching wildlife too. Tours unfortunately are not an option as she feels easily seasick on the boats. I will check Wagonga inlet for seals. Are there some spots with a chance to see penguins somewhere in the evening on the land? It's real fun to watch them in the wild rather then on tours with crowd of peoples. Just PM me if you want to keep the spot protected. We visited Pebbly beach several times which was usually full of kangaroos and king parrots. Is wildlife different at Durras camp? What are good areas to spot raptors and emus? I wild likely drive from Sydney up to Bermagui soon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yowie Posted December 15, 2016 Share Posted December 15, 2016 I see quite a few penguins in Bate Bay out off Cronulla, though usually only fish there in late winter and spring, when the fishing goes quiet up river. I was lucky one day to have 2 of them pop up near the boat. I cut up a flattie and threw small pieces of the fillets to the penguins, and they swam over and ate those bits for about 10 minutes, around 5 metres from the boat. Do not know where their colony is based, though penguins will travel some great distances to feed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonD Posted December 16, 2016 Share Posted December 16, 2016 (edited) Durras is much like Pebbly but quite a cramped campsite, it dies have some stunning rock formations that can look great with the early morning sun. The only places i know where penguins venture onto land are places like Sydney north head, Montague island and down in Vic. The emus wonder through http://www.beachcomberholidaypark.com.au/ and on the beach. This site has a pond area where my kids spend hours in the evenings photographing frogs. Sea eagles, kites, and much more can be found around all beach areas down here, though they do tend to hand around well fished areas scrounging free feeds. If you do get down this way let me know as I can help set up a few locations. I live at one side of Mummuga lake and often have a pair of eagles sitting in the tree in front of our house. A couple of shots my daughter took around our lake. Edited December 16, 2016 by JonD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonD Posted December 16, 2016 Share Posted December 16, 2016 A couple more shots of them photographing stuff!!... in the early days I cut a hole in a plastic waste paper bin and siliconed a peace of glass to it so i could half submerge it to take pics of the rays. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
savit Posted December 16, 2016 Author Share Posted December 16, 2016 Thank you again Jon. Very nice pictures. Your daughter is very brave. I will come back to you re spots once the trip is confirmed. What was that snake? There are penguins in Manly somewhere near Quarantine Station, however that area is closed for obvious reason. I watched them in the wild in Tasmania. The spot was 200m from the company that organized bus tours to watch them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fernando Posted December 16, 2016 Share Posted December 16, 2016 Many thanks for all these pix. I am looking for seeing penguins in the wild and these tips are helpful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonD Posted December 16, 2016 Share Posted December 16, 2016 9 hours ago, savit said: Thank you again Jon. Very nice pictures. Your daughter is very brave. I will come back to you re spots once the trip is confirmed. What was that snake? There are penguins in Manly somewhere near Quarantine Station, however that area is closed for obvious reason. I watched them in the wild in Tasmania. The spot was 200m from the company that organized bus tours to watch them. The snake was a common diamond python which are a calm easy going snake, the kids had over 20 snakes at one time of several species. I have seen penguins on the shore here but this is very rare. I saw one get grabbed by an eagle and another chased into a cave by three seals and still managed to get away. I fished this evening at the back of Montague for a few flathead and had a penguin come up to the back of the boat, this also happened the last time I was there too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snatcher Posted January 22, 2017 Share Posted January 22, 2017 Have seen penguins 3 times in the water while fishing Little Manly Point Park. Even had one show interest in one of my lures once,quickly snatched the lure away from it though. I had just made the Manly paper a few days earlier by catching a turtle at Fairlight on rod and line. !!!! John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snatcher Posted January 23, 2017 Share Posted January 23, 2017 This was that turtle capture from Fairlight http:// I also love your wildlife. Reckon your kookaburras are beautiful birds but can be a bit noisy at times http:// Managed a couple of shots of this osprey seeing off a crow up at Byron Bay on our last trip. http:// http:// John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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