Salt Lakes

I had wondered about including a trip to the next town North (Elliston) in our itinerary.  But it was quite a way and we have enough other driving to do on this trip.  Frances suggested there were a lot of interesting looking Lakes in that area so we could cast an eye into them.  That seemed like a good idea and after checking Google Earth found a couple of potentially interesting coastal sites on the way, so included them as well.

First up was checking the birds on the water followed by a a short walk along the road.

This image is included to show the differences between Pied and Little Pied Cormorants.  It's at fair range on a pretty dull morning but difference and body shape is size is very obvious.

The first flowering Acacia (A. gillii).

On the main outing our first stop was at Frenchman , a rocky area adjacent to Mount Frenchman.  These spots are a reference to the French whalers who used the mountain (at 168m high, really only a hill) as a look out.  Rock Parrots were there, living up to their name.

Here is the view North ...

.. and South.

There are many ruined cottages around this area.  The juxtaposition of a real ruin and another cottage that looks to heading in that direction was intriguing.  (As we drove past another complete ruin appeared on the far side of the better one.)

Coles Point is named after the family that farmed most of the surrounding area.  The rocks held the biggest flock of Crested Terns I've yet seen on the trip.

This is Mount Greenly, a real mountain at 308m AMSL.  It was named by Flinders after the fiancee of Sir Isaac Coffin who helped with Flinders expedition.

The rocks at Coles Point were the first that showed signs of folding.

The Correas (C. pulchella) were very common.

Once we got back to the highway we got to the first Lake which got within 80m of the road.  That is proved by this snap of the car from the shore.

Looking the other way, here is the 'Lake':

It is more of a salt pan.  I didn't test the surface as I have in the past found that if one goes through the crust the mud underneath is:

• deep;
• black; and
• very smelly.

The only birds seen  here were a group of Shelduck vaguely visible through the heat haze.  (Although only 18^oC there was obviously a whole lotta convection going on.)

We proceeded North to this area we'd noticed on Google Earth, and dived inland along the route marked in red.

Here is one of the Lakes.

They were not all as dry as this but all equally well devoid of waterbirds.  This intrigues me as to why there were no ducks or waders.  It shouldn't be the salinity of the water as waders are quite happy in the ponds at the salt fields North of Adelaide and indeed the major salt lakes in the deserts of North of Port Augusta.  Perhaps it is something to do with fertiliser run off from the surrounding farmland?

We did see some interesting birds around beside the road including 3 Wedgetailed Eagles, 6+ Dusky Woodswallows and a very vocal flock of 12 Spiny-cheeked Honeyeaters.  Finally on the outskirts of Kappinie we found a small pond with 7 Pied Stilt and two Red-kneed Dotterels,

On getting back to the Highway we went a little further North to Mount Hope.  My particular hope was that is would have a bakery.  Nope.  About 4 houses and a Memorial Hall (or two).

 One of the houses had a new looking car parked outside and my guess was the car was worth about the same as the house!

We took a further side trip to the cemetery.  It was a bit surprising that it was 1.5km away from the hamlet,  We couldn't work out why this was so: perhaps Eyre Peninsula corpses are particularly prone to zombieism?  I'd expected it to have a lot of old graves and very few new ones.  I was therefore surprised to find that most of the headstones were quite new - nearly all from the 1980s onwards.

It was also surprising, in view of the (apparently marginal) nature of the country to speculate on the likely cost of some of the headstones,  The local undertaker is clearly on a nice little earner.

The paddock behind the cemetery showed that despite the apparent lack of rain whatever had been planted was growing well.

It was then simply a matter of toddling down the highway back to the house.  As we got nearer to Mount Dutton I noticed that the vegetation had changed with a lot of quite large eucalypts rather than the very low shrubs of the coastal areas.  Perhaps the country isn't as marginal as I'd thought.

To get a handle on that I looked at the BoM rainfall stats for Mount Hope.  Astonishingly they appear to have a continuous series since 1903!  That shows there are to have a pronounced Mediterranean rainfall pattern with most of the 405mm average falling between May and September.  2018 to the end of April seems to be about on the median and they score over an inch (27mm) on May 3rd and are well on their way to median May rainfall.

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On, on while one feels like it!

As we set off I realised we might gt to our planned destination (near Miles QLD) about 2pm.  If we felt like it, and pressed on, we could get to Goondiwindi and make the last two days much easier.

Here is the sign for the park in daylight.

The owner was a very conscientious guy and was trying very hard to do the right thing by the Census.  He had thought that 4 pom backpackers were out of scope and when I said they were in, he went to give them a form at 7:30.  He was astonished that they had already left - apparently the usual backpacker model is to get up at 10:00am (unless checkout is at 12)!

On down the road heading along the A3 towards Mount Morgan/  There were signs about "caravans take extreme care" and "roadworks 30 minute delay" but we got straight through the works.  It was one of the more interesting roads I have driven but with chunderpooch in back, and a nervous Frances in front, I didn't have too much fun.

Mount Morgan was an old mining town which looks pretty well maintained.  This mural is on the theatre.

Here is the railway station (now a museum).

We eventually found our way to a lookout giving a great view over the mine workings.

They had found a large ichthyosaur fossil in the area and we could have viewed that in the museum if we had wished.  We settled for this indigenous depiction of it.

A rather impressive fig tree.

When we got to the lookout a Pheasant Coucal (aka Flying Haystack) flew off and got itself photographed and elected as Bird of the Day.

Some distance down the road we got to Banana Shire  and then Banana township.  The shire was named after the town which was so-called after a bullock of that name.  Shades of Captains Flat!  That explains the bovines on the town sign!

We crossed a number of small ranges, on one of which we were directed to pull over by cops on escort duty.  This is about the most oversized load I have seen.

In fact there we both halves of the house on separate trucks!  At least 3 cop cars were escorting them and we saw another just up the road: it will be costing the house owners a lot to shift it!

We took a comfort stop in Tamoor, with a nice mural on the bog.

I'm not sure how big road trains get, but this one, full of Brahman cattle, was pretty impressive ...

.. especially as it pulled away.

Our next stop was Miles, where we had planned to stop for the night.  But it was, as expected only 2pm and we felt good , so after refuelling and taking a walk along Dogpound Creek (a more PC name that that on one road sign "Chinaman's Lagoon") 

where we photographed some flowers ....

it was on on to Goondiwindi for the night.  As an example of the daftness of grey nomads those in van 1 below were having a chat with those in van 2.  Did they go over - of course not just yell back and forth!

As night fell the bugs came out.  Some friendly ...

.. others possibly not.

I retreated but Frances stayed outside and didn't get savaged.

As darkness really came down other wildlife appeared in the trees along the billabong behind our site.

Much quieter than the night before.

• Bird of the day: Pheasant Coucal.  The flock was again Apostlebird as we saw hundreds of them in groups of up to 15 once we passed Miles.  On the way up it was from Walgett to St George (about the same longitude).
• Vegetation of the day:   Massive amount of lantana around Banana.
• Memorable moment:  The house being moved.
• Comment of the day: "$4 please."the shop owner in Tamoor selling me a sausage roll!  They are usually about $2.50!
• Pie of the day: Non existent.
• Troppo moment of the day. Being deluged by bugs.  It turned out this was barely troppo as we were only about 3km from NSW!

To market, to market ..

 ... but no pigs were purchased or otherwise involved in this post (although one was running a speed trap on the outskirts of Yungaburra this afternoon).

The morning was a tad moist as shown by the steam behind the Cordylines!

 The Yungaburra markets have been well advertised around the Tablelands.  We went there about 8am when all the stalls were erected ..

 .. but the crowds were not too bad.

There were a bunch of dogs present.  The white one with a pink jacket had gone completely feral trying to play with Tammy, but the owner had ignored this.

Another terrier, by the name of Panda, got a bit stroppy but every other dog was very friendly.  The funniest meeting was with a very large Bull Terrier that could dance as well - but not quite as quickly - as Tammy.  I'd love to have have seen them meet in a less inappropriate spot.

A couple more images.

 This was a paddock behind Foodworks: normally devoid of cars.

 We went for a walk down Mathers Rd and found a few species.  These Bush Stone Curlews  posed well ..

  ... and in so doing emphasised that they are Thick-ankles not Thick-knees.

At least they do sound like Curlews.  I actually like the Afrikaans word Dikkop (which means thick head).

There are a bunch of flowers along the road that are attrative to birds including these Grevilleas.

 Later in the day we went for a walk along the Northern stretch of Petersons Creek.  This flower is (I believe) a rainforest species, possibly Tibouchina sp..

 This (Pyrostegia sp) is a common vine around the area, and I finally noticed one close to the ground.

 I wondered what the birding was like at the curtain Fig Tree on a Saturday.  The answer was 'very  hopeless'.  About 20 cars parked, mainly with family groups who appear to have never seen a tree before judging by their conversations.  (Of course they will be better people now they have seen one!)  In the late afternoon we went for a walk to the North of the village.  This is a disused railway bridge over Peterson's Creek.

 A Macleay's Honeyeater giving some tongue to a pretty flower

 After a non-productive visit to the Bowling Club in search of a shirt  (but with advice how to advance the matter positively) I walked home across the market site.  What market had been there?  VERY well done stall holders and organisers.

• Bird of the day: Varied Triller at the Fig tree on Mather Street.  Flock award goes to Australian White Ibis (aka bin chook) cleaning up around cattle.
• Vegetation of the day:  Pink flower along the creek
• Memorable moment:  The cleanliness of the market site after the event.
• Comment of the day: When I walked into the Bowling Club seeking a souvenir shirt a guy coming in t other end tapped his head.  I twigged this meant  I should take my cap off.  He the said "I didn't want you to have to shout the bar.  Especially since there's only you and I in here."
• Pie of the day:none taken
• Troppo moment of the day. Frances drove herself  home while I negotiated the shirt business but due to having been walking in the warmth became a little spatially misplaced!

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