It’s been a long time between posts! I’ve been very busy in various capacities but have finally gotten a bit of time to sit down and write. Without further ado, we return to the cold of mid-July…
14/7/22 – Port Augusta to Marree
We started the day off at the Arid Lands Botanic Gardens, getting there at dawn. To say the conditions were pearly would be an understatement – it was bloody freezing. After a massive flock of Little Corella flew over, Peter led the way to the bird hide and we filed in to sit at the bench. I couldn’t handle the cold so emerged into the early sunlight just in time to see a pair of Neophema parrots drop out of the sky into the low heath. Dan and I stalked them, but only managed to get some flush views before they bailed into the great beyond… bvd for sure.
We went for a little wander around the gardens and I connected with some cool plants in the rare section. Whilst botanising I lost track of the group, which was unfortunate as I had some nice flyover views of more Elegant Parrots. We hopped back in the cars, making a quick stop for some more coffee and a secret surprise for Peter (it was his birthday in a few days). We spent about an hour in the car heading north before stopping at a nice lookout just out of Hawker for morning tea. Dan and I went for a bit of a flip up the hill before returning in a hurry – the crew had self-found a male Gilbert’s Whistler! We had great views of the beast before heading down through the town and continuing north.
A quick roadside stop for Rufous Fieldwren led to us finding a pair. Only the second and third individuals I had ever seen so I was pretty stoked. We didn’t hang around long though… the lure of the furMEGA was strong. The road in to Brachina Gorge from the highway was terribly corrugated and dusty, but once we were in amongst the gorge itself it was fine. What an amazing place! Massive cliffs loomed over us on either side as we crawled deeper in to the fractured landscape. It kind of reminded me of the sandstone country up in the NT. We pulled up under some ancient gums for lunch and I went for a little wander, finding Redthroat kicking around with some CRTB. And then it was lifer time… a little further on we pulled over for a look at the (tame?) Yellow-footed Rock Wallabies. Dan and Peter had been hyping them up for a few days and they didn’t disappoint. They were so beautiful! Monstrous tiger tailed beasts. We were lucky enough to see a sleepy joey which is a candidate for the cutest animal I’ve ever seen. Retracing our steps we connected with an ancestor from the distant past and then some Grey-fronted Honeyeaters. We unfortunately bypassed the fossilised worm tunnels – but they are a great reason to go back!
Our next stop was a familiar one, but I hadn’t been there since 2017 on my first big desert trip with Nikolas and Raja. At the Leigh Creek Coal Ponds we grabbed the scopes and combed through huge flocks of HHGR and BBDU… trip ticks fell like rain. A short drive into Maree followed and I regaled my pax with the tale of the Maree Man. We basically had the arvo off which was nice. The Maree Hotel was to be our home base for the next couple of days and it was a lovely old building. High ceilings, stained glass… very beautiful. With no spotlighting potential around the town we had a nice dinner and went to bed early. A good day on tour 🙂
15/7/22 - Marree area
At dawn we set off into the wild blue yonder to the east of Marree in search of my last lifer of the trip: Thick-billed Grasswren. Nikolas, Raja and I had spent two full days looking for the beasts around Lyndhurst five years ago with no success. Heading towards Witchelina we got into some good habitat and hopped out for a look… literally one minute later I had a pair of TBGW in the scope. It was fucking amazing. Peter knew the territory well, he knew exactly where we should stand to look and so the birds were not disturbed in any way by the group. It was so cool to watch them warming up on top of the saltbush and preening. Scanning to the right I rumbled another of our targets – a male Cinnamon Quail-thrush sitting up in the sun. After everyone had their fill of the birds through the scopes we hopped back into the cars and visited a little creek system for a pleasant hour of pottering before hitting up the Farina Creek roadhouse for morning tea.
We had a look around Lyndhurst after that, getting our first White-fronted and Pied Honeyeaters of the trip and flushing a couple of Little Buttonquail. Shortly after we were sitting in the Copley Bakery for lunch where I nailed an amazing vegetarian pie and washed it down with a yummy ice cream. We headed south again to fill up with diesel at Leigh Creek and I sent a couple of postcards off – then it was back to Marree for a bit of a kip. In the arvo we headed out along the Oodnadatta Track for a little way before turning off to go to the Muloorina Waterhole. To my enduring shame I tried to string a couple of spuggies into PHFI here. Apart from that there wasn’t too much excitement to be had beyond going for a nice walk in the sunset. It would be a great place to camp!
In the next instalment, join our heroes as they head up the Birdsville Track to the Sunshine State!