Tourists go wild for black cockatoos and crocs

“CAN’T see the wood for the trees” or “can’t see the geckos for the painting”. Maybe “can’t see the water for the restrictions” or “can’t see the bay for the waves”. Better still, “can’t see the politicians for the promises” and the list goes on.

I would be in the classifieds section if I kept going, and I’m too young to understand some of the ads there.

Now where was I ... ah, yes ... wood, trees and geckos, the old saying’s a beauty, and maybe, just maybe ( and it is May) we could be doing just that.

In Japan, thousands flock to see the snow monkeys of Shibu Onsen, dolphins in Monkey Mia, Western Australia, the silverback gorillas of Africa, the polar bears of the arctic, the Aussies in the Irish pubs of Dublin, and so many more.

While my Tenterfield terrier was taking me for a walk on The Strand ... I noticed half a dozen visitors in raptures under a beach almond tree, photographing a black cockatoo only a metre away.

Perhaps I’m up the wrong beach almond tree here, but our visiting mates love what perhaps we take for granted. Imagine making sure we have heaps of the trees, special dioramas and photos, and the story of this magnificent bird.

The black cocky comes by various names – Garadi, Wayalayn and Nowa Nowa. We could perhaps name one of our beaches along our Strand after these birds. Though, of course, we need to find the proper Wulgurkaba and Bindil people name for him.

The black cockatoo brings synchronicity, dreams and wonder according to our mates on Melville.

And I like the Dreamtime story ... the black cockatoo was once a young girl who broke tribal lore, and ran off to be with her lover. But she was caught by the elders, and turned into a black cockatoo!

Hang on, there’s more ... her lover was turned into a frill- necked lizard. Well, that’s typical isn’t it, the girl becomes a beautiful bird for being naughty, and the bloke just becomes a lizard!

Then there’s the legend of the rain ... when you hear a black cockatoo screeching, it means rain ... obviously our cockies have had little to say for a long time.

Research shows our wildlife is a huge attraction to all, like when the council in their ultimate wisdom cut down the milkwood trees years ago in the city, where the rainbow lorikeets by the hundreds would come to feed every night at dusk.

But I digress, baroness! We could expand the idea to crocodiles. One of my dear mates Phill from the open water swimmers, calls his team the Croc Dodgers! Imagine the multitudes lined up to see the crocs, though I guess the stinger enclosures would have to be electrified, eh?

See you tomorrow, 8.30am for the commemoration of the battle of Fire Support Base CoralBalmoral at our cenotaph. In our wondrous garrison city ... welcome to all our Vietnam Vet mates.

Happy Days.