Standing on the shore of a very remote lagoon in the middle of Lakefield NP at the southern end of Cape York Peninsula, we were rather put off when a car pulled up and a tourist stood in front of us blocking our view of the crocodile swimming across the pond. Instead of being rude, Graeme asked them where they were from to which they answered Adelaide. In an instant Graeme recognised the voice and face and said “Bill?”. Graeme and Bill were co-authors on a paper on reproduction in southern hairy-nosed wombats many years ago. Bill Breed, a retired professor from the University of Adelaide whom we hadn’t seen in 10 years, was on a short bird-watching trip from Cairns to Lakefield NP and back again. We were on our way north, they were on their way south. What a random, remote place to unexpectedly catch up with an old colleague.

The next day we had a long drive. We were heading from Lakefield to Bramwell Station in the hope of catching up with our friends Jen Martin and Euan Ritchie who were half-way through their “Big Roo Count” fieldtrip on the York Peninsula. With no way of contacting them, we checked their SPOTME tracker and saw that they were at Bramwell Station. Banking on the fact that they spend several days at each field site, we decided to head up to the station to find them.

You know those times that a difference of 1 minute would have made a major difference in the outcome of an event. Well this was one of them. We had a 6-hour drive to Bramwell,  which turned into an 8-hour drive because of our numerous random stops to look at wildlife (like Brolgas!), drink coffee by a river and to refuel at roadhouses. We stopped briefly at Bramwell roadhouse to fill our tank before driving the last 10km to the Station. As I was paying for the fuel I noticed a familiar face – Jen – they had stopped at the roadhouse for 30 seconds just to dump some rubbish. Was it fate? I don’t really know. But it was mighty lucky as they were on their way to their next field site at Heathland Reserve. Happily, we followed them to their next destination.

Adventures on the Cape to be continued…