I started to get worried about a couple of days ago when Weatherzone published Unusual late May deluge for northern Australia with the news that “The coastal tourism hotspot of Broome sees just 27mm of rain in on average in the whole of May but is expecting as much as 80mm next Tuesday alone.” It was accompanied by a very colourful map …
and followed by local government warnings about driving into flood waters and a flood alert for the Great Sandy Desert. I have little faith in weather forecasts.
Just to illustrate how bad they are today’s forecast was for showers this afternoon amounting to about 4mm. I headed out for my morning ride at 0630 in a very light drizzle and made it back by 0700 looking like a drowned rat. There was at least 4mm in my left shoe alone.
Readers who’ve been with me for a while may remember a flurry of posts proclaiming that cycling is the best form of exercise for the mature human. What became of all that? Well, it persisted. It’s part of my life. I enjoy it. It does me good. But …
You knew there was a but coming didn’t you? A good time to ride is early morning, especially in the tropics. The best time to watch birds is early in the morning, especially in the tropics. At home it’s OK to fit them in side by side. Some mornings the bike, some mornings the binoculars. On my expeditions the suite of birds is changing fairly quickly. The bike goes with me but the birds win out.
Having settled back into Broome it’s time to charge up the little toys that cyclists attach to their conveyance, oil the chain, pump up the tyres and head out. I consulted Strava. I presume there is some algorithm in the core of its soul that takes account of recent activity (none) and perhaps age (ancient) and comes up with a suggested target. It did a splendid job and suggested 15km per week. An excellent idea, I thought. Sadly it was immediately vetoed by my dearly beloved. Thirty five today she insisted. A short ride to ease back into it.
On with the Lycra. I felt like a multi-coloured whale. Then the zip popped. A stranded multi-coloured whale that had bloated and burst. That was my largest top but fortunately I found a smaller one with a stronger zip.
Swing onto the saddle, clip in, wobble. I could not have felt more alien. My new multifocal sunglasses conspired to create the illusion that I was on top of a penny-farthing but the legs felt really good … for a while. After 35 km it all felt like old times (apart from my bottom, that is). Just like riding a bike.
Looking for Whales at Entrance Point
Broome has one major road in and out. Large trucks, speed limit varying between 90 and 110kph for the main part. The alternative is to ride around town. You have to be creative to come up with a long enough ride and then it does become repetitive but you can take in some beautiful spots like Cable Beach and Entrance Point. You do have to share the road to the Port with road trains that are four trailers (60m) long but they are driven by professionals. I’m actually more frightened of the old men towing caravans.
And, in winter, the weather is perfect. Get out early to avoid sunburn. It isn’t going to rain.
About half way between Cygnet Bay and Broome, close to the community of Beagle Bay, there is a turnoff to the west that leads to Banana Well. The road is unmade and presently the last 4km is pretty rough. The camp site is grassed and the facilities are adequate. There are some ponds adjacent to the camping area. It’s a couple of kilometres from the “beach” across tidal flats that are not without hazard. It’s a great spot for the birdo, hopeless for a family beach holiday, seems popular with some fisher folk but would be a bugger of a place to launch a boat.
It’s not hard to get into this situation but expensive to get out. I’m pleased to say that’s not me. I took the photo on a previous visit. Had he taken his foot off the accelerator when the wheels started to slip we could have pulled him out. He gunned it and managed another 150 metres ending up well beyond solid ground. The momentum system of four wheel driving has its drawbacks!
There is a marked walking trail starting from the camp ground that visits the ponds, some savanna woodland, tidal flats, mangroves and some fairly dense Melaleuca. Birding is excellent around the ponds.
There is a large population of feral Donkeys in the neighbourhood.
The Grey-crowned Babblers were busily building a nest but this doesn’t necessarily mean it’s breeding season for them. They build dome shaped nests for roosting as well as for egg laying.
I finished the gallery with the two noisy ones. The Donkeys seemed less shy this visit and the Kookaburras are never shy.
We got home to Broome. I heaved a sigh and settled into a torpor.
There is a limit to how much torpor I can do. So the van was rolled out again for a short expedition up the Dampier Peninsula. Broome is on a little peninsula hanging, – like a little boy’s tossel, off a big peninsula. The big peninsula is named for William Dampier (1651-1715), the first English man to explore Australia. In January 1688 his little ship the Cygnet was careened near the tip of the peninsula.
Off to the east of Cygnet Bay is King Sound with Derby near the southern end, an area famous for it’s 11 meter tides. The other blue stuff on the chart is the Indian Ocean. Highway 1 comes up from Perth on the left hand side of the map then curves around and heads east towards the Northern Territory. The country enclosed by the highway is the Great Sandy Desert. The peninsula is not desert and therein lies much of its charm.
Until just a few years ago the road up the peninsula was dirt. It was a great adventure for the tourist in the dry but a nightmare for the aboriginal communities in the wet. It is now a beautiful sealed road. The drive takes you through savanna, a few patches of open grassland and, in places, genuine forest. The blacktop stretches out in front of you fringed by bright red dirt. The dirt gives way to spear grass, some of it twice my height and the trees. Soon the Woollybutts (Eucalyptus miniata) will flower and the scene will go from beautiful to spectacular.
At Cygnet Bay and in other odd places on the peninsula there are patches of semi-deciduous tropical vine forest. That’s quite a mouthful, unpack it if you will or just think – jungle.
This is the western end of the north coast and the western limit of a number of north coast birds. It is still in the Shire of Broome so guess where every Broome birdo worth their salt comes to add Rose-crowned Fruit Dove, Shining Flycatcher and Mangrove Robin to their year list? Pathetic isn’t it? There is a very pleasant campground, a restaurant and a pearl shop. The Fruit Doves can be found conveniently close to the bar, and there are plenty of other birds to find as well.
That’s a hermit crab in the Beach Stonecurlew’s grasp. I don’t know if it would crush the shell or just swallow the lot. It is a ferocious looking beak.
We spent three nights ay Cygnet Bay. On the way home we spent another night at Banana Well.
The road trip comes safely to its end. The trip meter ticked over to 23,258km. The new van performed admirably. The binoculars feasted on 305 species of bird. It was a hugely enjoyable journey. The final few days looked like this …
Cyclone Errol did eventually fall in line with predictions (not hard for it. Just about every possible scenario had been predicted over the last few days). It had reached category 4 strength but was weakening as it headed for the coast north of Broome. We were bracing for possibly damaging winds and heavy rain but have only had overcast skies, moderate winds and high humidity. The top of the Dampier Peninsula was expected to take the brunt of it. Hopefully it has done little damage there.
It’s good to be home. Now to plan my next road trip.
Having succumbed to the temptation of Pine Creek what’s another 200km? And when it comes to additions to the year’s tally of birds Darwin has a few absolute gimmes.
Darwin is the capital and most populous city of the Northern Territory but still a modest sized town of about 140,000 people. Charles Darwin visited Australia on the Beagle in 1836. In a subsequent voyage (1839) the Beagle visited what would become Darwin. Captain John Wickham named Port Darwin after Charles Darwin long before he became famous. On the origin of species was published in 1859. The name of the city followed in 1911.
I believe Mark Twain made a visit to Darwin and I have read that Charles Darwin was fond of Twain’s writings for bed time reading.
The Overland Telegraph and Pine Creek had a lot to do with Darwin getting off the ground. The telegraph had to reach the coast somewhere. In 1872 gold was discovered in Pine Creek and that somewhere suddenly welcomed a major influx of people.
I have visited Darwin quite a few times and have a well worn track around the birding spots. This is the first time I’ve brought a dog with me and sadly half my regular places do not allow dogs. Add to that the persistence of the wet season and a few changes had to be made to the routine. The first afternoon saw a storm deliver 35mm of rain in about 20 minutes followed by another 25mm over night. Nonetheless the list was made to grow and a few nice photos have followed over the last few days.
Varied TrillerSpangled DrongoNankeen Night HeronPeaceful DoveBar-shouldered DoveBlack-fronted Dotterel
Now we must head for home. Cyclone Errol may or may not complicate the journey to Broome. Predictions vary so greatly they are to all intents and purposes useless. We shall find out.
From Tennant Creek we headed north. We spent a night at Mataranka to soak in the hot springs. Hot springs were closed due to flooding. No soak. Shopping in Katherine then a diversion … to Darwin. We stopped two nights en route at Pine Creek.
Pine Creek owes its existence to gold. It’s now a very pleasant stopping point for the traveler heading to Darwin. For the birdo it has the special sauce, Hooded Parrot. These are savanna woodland dwellers restricted to a small part of the Northern Territory. They have declined in much of their range but are secure in protected areas and are not hard to find around Pine Creek. They nest in termite mounds. The boys are far better looking than the girls.
For the aficionado (should that be afflictionado?) Pine Creek also has a very fine sewage treatment plant. Pine Creek is a place where the twitcher can listen to the Yellow Oriole by day (a mellow al ca hol) and the Barking Owl by night (wook wook) and run around wildly with the camera. Paradise.
I saw the the gorgeous and rare Letter-winged Kites at the Athelle Outback Hideaway where we stayed the night. Nice place, 28km off the Stuart Highway north of Alice. Naturally I posted the sighting on eBird. I got a phone call today from the owner of the camp ground to tell me that her phone had been running hot and asking for more information.
These birds are usually confined to a small area in central Oz where they enjoy a diet of rodents, especially the Long-haired Rat. If the rat population booms they boom. When the rat population goes bust they wander far afield in search of food and can even turn up at the coast.
If you’re in the neighbourhood click the link above and get out there before they are completely depixelated.
Flies can be a problem in Australia, always have been in fact. During the Sydney Test of 1932, the infamous bodyline series (I’m talking cricket for readers in particularly foreign countries) the supercilious Pommy captain was trying to drive away the flies when an Aussie fan nicknamed Yabber called out from the hill “Leave our flies alone, Jardine. They’re the only friends you’ve got …”
In the last few days we’ve driven from Coober Pedy to Tennant Creek crossing the South Australia, Northern Territory border and then the Tropic of Capricorn (not guarded by a goat this time).
And friends we’ve had in abundance. Open the car door and in they flood. In complete contradiction to the principles of osmosis they quickly reach a density of one fly per cubic centimetre inside whilst outside there are probably no more than one per litre. Clearly there is some attractive force in play. I suspect it’s the accumulated residue of a thousand dog farts, or perhaps it’s simply because I haven’t showered lately.
The remedy is to roar off with all windows open. This quickly gets rid of the dumb ones. The smart ones hide in corners until the windows are closed before coming out to invade your nose, your mouth or, their favorite, the corners of your eyes. Under your sunglasses where they can safely ignore your hand swishing past. You chase them around until they land on the window, quickly open it, and with luck out they go. Or they disappear into the back of the car. Initially a few at a time then one by one you win the battle. By about 200km you think you’ve done it. Just in time to change drivers for which you must open the doors.
We’ve camped at a couple of spots along the way and tonight we are tucked away in the spinifex just outside Tennant Creek. This morning we found a trio of Letter-winged Kites, a tick for Gayle and this afternoon we encountered some Spinifex pigeons. And I’ve had some success with the camera.
Australian HobbyLetter-winged KiteZebra Finch
We came through Alice Springs. We had no need to stop. Rain has closed a lot of the minor roads around Alice and the country side from then on was extraordinarily green. There were small flocks of Budgerigars passing all day. With so much water about they will soon be big flocks.
We are still following the line of the Overland Telegraph. News from the rest of the world reached Australia by under sea cable to Darwin and then by telegraph to Adelaide. It was completed in 1872 and served its purpose until the 1970’s. We paused at the Barrow Creek Telegraph Station today, one of only four that are still intact.
Tomorrow the road trip will pass the 20,000km mark and we will rejoin our outward track. The year’s bird list stands at 288.
I never seem to visit Farina at New Moon. These shots were taken with a first quarter moon behind me …
Poor old Farina is north of Goyder’s Line and south of the Great Artesian Basin. It had a big problem with fresh water. Once the Ghan was rerouted and the Telegraph fell into disuse it became a ghost town.
Goyder was the Surveyor-General of the then colony of South Australia. In 1865 he made a journey on horseback crossing some 3200km to come up with a line demarcating land suitable for agriculture from land prone to drought. This followed the 10 inch isohyet which Goyder determined mainly by reference to the vegetation. Settlers ignored his advice to their cost – the buildings at Farina are accompanied by numerous abandoned farm houses north of the line.
A number of wells were dug at Farina with minor success. Sixty kilometres north and plenty of water lies just below the surface. The Great Artesian Basin underlies about 22% of the continent .
From Farina we traveled up the Oodnadatta Track to William Creek passing Lake Eyre South and spending the night at Coward Springs. There are quite a few springs along the southern edge of the Great Artesian Basin. As they bubble out of the ground they bring minerals that eventually produce a mound with a small pond on top. If the flow is strong enough a small wetland forms at the base. One can find water birds such as Spotted Crake right out here in the desert. Notable mound springs along the track are Blanche’s Cup and the Bubbler. I photographed a small, so far as I know, unnamed one just north of Coward Springs.
Lake Eyre SouthMound SpringMound Spring
The Oodnadatta north of William Creek was closed to towing vehicles so we made a left turn and headed to Coober Pedy where there are opal mines and spoil heaps dotted across the landscape. A warning sign advised of open holes and sternly admonished the traveler “Never Walk Backwards”.
The road had not been as rough as we had expected. Cober Pedy is on the bitumen, the Stuart Highway. The next few days will be far less exciting than the last few days.
bobmcgee 