Tuesday 8th Jan – Kidnappers’ Cove gannet colony

Luck was with us again. We woke to a beautiful sunny day after yesterday’s grey and cloudy evening.  There are two ways to see the gannets at Kidnappers’ cove as there are no roads to allow access – a long two and a half hour walk, each way, or, the much more fun option of riding on the back of a tractor trailer.  We stopped on the way to take photographs of the cliffs and rock formations: 

Even with the tide in our favour we sometimes got wet toes, but it was refreshing on such a hot day

 

Finally, we reached firstly the Black Reef Gannet colony and finally Cape Kidnappers.  The colony there was huge and the gannet chicks were reaching the stage where they were the same size as the adults, despite still having their downy and grey feathers.   

View from the cliffs at Cape Kidnappers'

A gannet or two....

Adults with yellow head mixed in with fluffy chicks

 

With that many birds and in the mid-day heat there was a very pungent smell up there! But I wasn’t too bothered, enjoying the experience despite this.  

I continued taking snaps along the return journey and it was a more exciting experience as, with the tide coming in, we were even more regularly sprayed with seawater as the tractors ploughed through the waves.  

We celebrated the last night of our holiday having a few beers with dinner before retiring to the tent one last time.