… is often the day on our travels when tempers tend to fray. This time it has passed without incident bringing us to Kimba in South Australia’s wheat belt. Established in 1915, population 1,300 it took its name from the local aboriginal word for bushfire. It’s now the home of the big Galah, some silo art and the Kimba Tigers footie team.
Our first day out took us to the Victorian Goldfields for a farewell dinner with some of our good friends there. Gayle and I have an association with the district that stretches back more than three decades. We have never seen it so green in January in all that time …
The next day we crossed the border into South Australia and spent the night at Tailem Bend. The day had reached 38°C but overnight rain cooled the world down considerably.
We made an early start this morning and drove through Adelaide (founded 1836, population about 1.4m about 1.2m of whom have hyphenated surnames.) 77% of South Australians live in Adelaide because most of the rest of the state is covered by salt lakes.
Google tells me that I have 5,978 km ahead of me, 64hours of driving and warns me that my destination is in a different time zone. It’s not the most direct route, that would be via Alice Springs and the Tanami, shorter but not quicker because an enormous chunk of that is not on sealed road. We decided against going up the middle and across the top because that would expose us to the inland heat for much longer and increase the risk of being stranded by flood. Of course we don’t have to go via Albany – there just happens to be a bird there I want to see. From there it’s pretty much due north finishing with a dash up cyclone alley.
Our comfort will depend very much on the weather and the only certainty there is that the Bureau of Meteorology will get it totally wrong.
I was born in a big city, I’ve lived most of my life in a big city but me and the big city are not a match made in heaven. I’m currently dagging about in Melbourne looking forward to the day when I can set off home to Broome.
My spell checker is objecting to dagging and some of my non-Australian readers are probably equally mystified – in this context just substitute hanging. It’s complicated. The noun dag refers to the lump of wool and feces that tends to form at the rear end of a sheep, best removed if you want to avoid fly strike. It’s also used, affectionately, believe it or not, for someone who is not smartly dressed or a little odd, your wife or husband may be a bit of a dag. If you’re working you are not dagging about, if you’re bored you probably are.
To relieve the boredom this morning I headed off bright and early to Braeside Park, one of the best places for bird watching in the eastern suburbs. I made a circuit of the main lake. The birding was good.
Not far from Portland, near the western end of Victoria’s coast, you can find a nesting colony of Australasian Gannets on the mainland. All the others are on offshore islands. This one began in 1996 and is the extension of a large colony on the nearby Lawrence Rocks. Seabirds tend to return to their birthplace to mate and there was simply no more room at the inn.
In its first year the colony failed to get a single chick into the adult population. Foxes, feral cats and human disturbance seemed to be the problem so the colony was fenced off. I’ve heard it said that it’s now grown to about 3000 birds and is fairly successful. I doubt the true figure is that high but here’s what it looks like from the carpark. By my count that’s 257 birds but feel free to count for yourself.
An adult drops Into that crowded space with a beak full of seaweed. Building material for the new nest.
I suspect the cement is simply guano. All going well a big fluffy chick will come into being.
The parents will range up to 50km from the nest to bring back food for the youngster. They are spectacular plunge divers. It’s great entertainment when a squadron of gannets gets onto a school of fish.
John Griffiths built a house on the island in 1837 as a base for his whaling activities. Port Fairy is in the background with its trademark Norfolk Island Pines. It’s connected to the island by a causeway. On the right of the picture you can see the breakwaters that have improved access to the port, a byproduct of the improvements has been the silting up of shallow waters between three islands, Griffiths, Rabbit and Goat to create the enlarged Griffiths Island we have today.
The lighthouse was built in 1859. The lighthouse keepers cottage has been removed since the light was automated. However the hardier plants in the garden hold on defiantly.
The island is home to a nesting colony of Short-tailed Shearwaters. They return to breed here every spring. They clean up their burrows, usually renew their relationship with their mate of last year and work diligently to raise a single chick. In the autumn they turn their backs on the young shearwater and head for the northern hemisphere to avoid the winter. After a few weeks the chick realises that if it wants to eat it will have to fend for itself and follows.
Along the breakwaters you can often find Ruddy Turnstones and Common Sandpipers that have the same strategy but in reverse, breed in the northern hemisphere and head south for the sunshine (quite why they choose Port Fairy is a mystery).
A morning walk will often bring you close to the Swamp Wallabies that live on the island. They are fairly well habituated and will pose for pictures. This one was munching on whatever it is that passes for leaves on Norfolk Island Pines.
The heatwave was a one day affair. A cold change came through overnight bringing a light shower with it. The journey took us to Wirreburra with its beautiful silo art, one of my favorites.
Then on through the South Australian Riverland, irrigated farmland under fruit trees and grapevines to the northwest corner of Victoria and our campsite near Mildura. A couple of pleasant nights on the banks of the Murray then to the Goldfields to catch up with some friends.
The Victorian Goldfields were as always at this time of the year, the winter crops were coming in, the grass had turned to gold and the sheep were in fine condition. And the night sky was clear.
Arid scrub and rich farmland, amazing coastal scenery, mineral wealth, seafood, fascinating ornithology and the occasional ferocious bushfire. It’s interesting. On this occasion our journey took us around the triangle. If we weren’t traveling with a dog it would have included the Lake Gillies conservation park. We spent two nights at Streaky Bay and two at Coffin Bay. Port Lincoln has a population between 16 and 17 thousand, Whyalla is a mining town, the rest of the place is lovely!
No trip to Streaky Bay would be complete without driving the Cape Bauer Loop and another trip to the Sealion colony at Cape Labatt. You could throw in Murphy’s Haystacks if you’re geologically inclined.
White-fronted Chat
A short diversion at Elliston takes you on the Elliston Clifftop loop. If you are impressed by Victoria’s Great Ocean Road prepare yourself for something even more splendid. There are also some sculptures that can be seen along the way … they don’t stand a chance against the scenery.
Coffin Bay sounds like a place with a story attached and there is one, but it’s very tame. Matthew Flinders put the bay on the map in 1802 and named it after his friend Sir Isaac Coffin, later a rear admiral. It is famous for its oysters and a wonderful national park. Emus roam the streets and remarkably photogenic they are.
The Eyre Peninsula is very interesting ornithologically. It is a thousand kilometers around the Great Australian Byte to Esperance in Western Australia and there is some very inhospitable country in between yet there are a number of birds that are found in southwest WA and the Eyre Peninsula and not further east. They include birds from quite different genera, the Blue-breasted Fairywren,Rufous Treecreeper and Western Yellow Robin. The Western Whipbird, Western Whistler, Rock Parrot and Elegant Parrot almost qualify but their ranges stretch a little further east. There must have been a time when Australia’s climate permitted suitable habitat for these birds to extend right across the Nullarbor. Somehow the Laughing Kookaburra failed to make that journey. They are common in southwest WA now but were introduced deliberately about 120 years ago. It’s a similar story for Rainbow Lorikeets but they are much more recent aviary escapees.
Birding around Coffin Bay was most productive and some of the wildlife even posed for a photo.
Grey FantailWestern Grey KangarooPacific GullSpotted ScrubwrenPort Lincoln ParrotSouthern Scrubrobin
We left Coffin Bay on a hot and windy day, 43°C, gale force winds, extreme fire danger.
We passed a couple of silo masterpieces on the way north.
Tumby BayCowell (photo G H D’A)
Tonight we are at Wilmington. It was originally called Beautiful Valley. I can understand why they changed the name.
When I emerged from the van there was a last quarter moon high in a cobalt blue sky. You can see for miles across the Nullarbor Plain, the lights of the roadhouse were shining in the distance and there was a red glow on the eastern horizon warning of the day to come. I was but a speck in the universe.
It was 8°C, the van and car were dripping with dew. I was glad that I would not be dealing with wet canvas.
Last evening our little dog had been very restless and overnight some dingoes had been howling. We had been careful not to leave our shoes outside.
After breakfast we were on our way. It was the reverse process that we’d experienced in the few days prior, Nullarbor Plain giving way to mallee woodland and then wheat fields. The biggest difference was flocks of Starlings once we hit the South Australian wheat belt. Once we reached Ceduna we added House Sparrows and a Blackbird. WA is not entirely without introduced species but around Broome it’s rare to encounter them and it’s never Sparrows and Starlings, it’s the odd Muscovy or Peafowl.
Our destination was Streaky Bay for a couple of nights at the wonderful Islands Caravan Park which is beautifully planted, well maintained and run by some very nice people. It’s right on the beach …
Newman’s Rocks was very kind to me. A parrot flew and landed close by. For a brief moment I was treated to an intoxicating splendour. Small, bright scarlet breast, blue face, green back, a jewelled bird – ruby, sapphire, emerald. A male Scarlet Chested Parrot Neophema splendida. A tick but no photo. It was gone too soon.
Ready to leave Newman’s Rocks
The day started in the Great Western Woodlands, 160,000 square kilometers of mallee and other eucalypts located between Australia’s moist, cooler south-west corner and its desert interior. As we traveled east the woodland was interspersed with open saltbush patches which slowly came to dominate until we were on the Nullarbor Plain. No trees here. Our first camp site was on the cliffs looking out at the Southern Ocean and the Great Australian Byte.
The next day was a short one to camp in the vicinity of the Murrawijinie Caves. The Nullarbor Plain is limestone. There is no surface water but plenty of deep caves. The low scrub around this area is home to the Nullarbor Quail-thrush. Gayle and I have put in quite a few hours on a previous visit trying unsuccessfully to find this bird. So on this occasion we set aside a full afternoon and a full morning the next day. It took about 10 minutes to find the first one and then we found at least five more. Unfortunately they notice you at the same time you notice them and then they’re gone, hiding under bushes or simply flying away.
Our first stop after leaving York was Merredin. Back in 2019 we spent a week here awaiting repairs to our camper trailer. It seemed a long week at the time but we couldn’t resist a short visit.
That night we camped at Karalee Rock. In this part of Western Australia harvesting water from large rocks has been elevated to a fine art. Surface water is scarce here. When steam trains were the way to move goods and people water had to be available at many points along the line. At Karalee Rock and many other large rocks water was directed using low walls to a dam. Last time we were here it was pouring with rain which gave me an opportunity to see and film the process in action. You can find the movie <HERE>. This time the weather was fine.
bobmcgee 