Port River cruise - Shorebird Festival

Yesterday we took part in the launch of the Adelaide International Bird Sanctuary Shorebird Festival by taking a cruise on the Port River.   Around 300 people took part and it was a lovely way to spend an afternoon.  The bird sanctuary has recently been declared as a national park, and you can find out more about it here.

The port river is a busy waterway, and is used by boats and ships of all sizes. There were small sailing boats, motor boats, HMAS Brisbane, big container ship and everything in between, all using the river.

Many of the birds were a long way off, but I did manage to get a few shots.  Amongst the birds we saw were Pied Oystercatcher, Australian Pelican, Crested Tern and Black-faced Cormorant.

We also saw some of the Port River Dolphins, always a crowd pleaser.

HMB Endeavour

Today, the replica of Captain James Cook's ship the Endeavour arrived in Port Adelaide as part of it's tour around Australia. The replica is a true copy of the original (except for its modern engine and radio)

She arrived from Port Lincoln on the Eyre Peninsular, accompanied by the sail training ship the One and All.

To get into Port Adelaide they have to swing the new Tom "Diver" Derrick Bridge. This bridge has two spans, one for road traffic and one for rail. The road span opened OK, but the rail span failed to open.

So we all waited for an engineer to come and free up the rail side, which finally opened and hour or so later to let the ships in.

The local maritime museum provided a welcome in the shape of a small canon, and the whole thing was recorded by channel 7 news from their chopper. The Endeavour was proudly flying the Australian Red Ensign.

In the river there were lots of jellyfish.