Monday, 13th May ~ Whyalla, SA

Just a quickie update because I don't want to get behind.

We did a quickie trip from Port Augusta to Whyalla.

We're moving from the Yorke Peninsula to the Eyre Peninsula ('where the outback meets the sea').

It's funny how you think a place will be. I thought Port Augusta sounded a lovely place, but it's dry and dusty and very 'central Australia' looking (you know, lots of red dirt). I thought Whyalla was an 'industry town' so there wouldn't be too much to see. But not so. Take a look for yourself ...

Sure there's industry ...

But there's a nice and friendly feel to the town as well. They seem to be a creative community too. Here's the info centre and Maritime Museum. The Whyalla is on land.

 

and arty too...

'The Loaded Dog'

Designed and constructed in Scotland;

he's based on the dog from Henry Lawson's bush tale 'The Loaded Dog'.

He sits outside the Whyalla Vet Clinic.

 

Flinders & Freycinet lookout

Memorial to Matthew Flinders and Louis-Claude de Freycinet.

 

Here's what they look out to...

 

 

And seem to be thinking about their environment and community by creating Whyalla Wetlands.

 



 

 

'Build it and they will come' 

 

                                                               

 

We really came in search of the Thick-billed Grasswren at the Whyalla Conservation Park. Tick. But, he's such a shy little guy that we couldn't get a photo. But I did get a pic of these 'show offs' (Mulga Parrots) just waiting to have their photo taken (he is, she's being a bit coy).

 



Did I mention that we were having some unseasonally hot days at 30 degrees. Well, we knew that wouldn't last too much longer. I managed to finish knitting my slippers last night, just in time to keep my toes toasty warm when the weather resumed its coldness.

 

Sunday, 12th May ~ Port Augusta, SA

Happy Mothers Day to all the great Mums. I found these lovely words on facebook, so thought I'd share further ...

Because of the strong northerly winds, we took a 'lay low' day in Minlaton. We didn't do anything much at all, and it was lovely just to take it easy and relax. Even travellers need a day off.

The winds were still blowing as we took to the road, heading for Port Augusta. A head wind (joy), with buffeting gusts that knocked us and the fuel gauge around a bit. Plus the road was awful. So bumpy and bouncey in places (lots of places). Could have been sea-sick, if I were the type.

Once again we had trouble finding a smoko stop. I'm beginning to think it's us! We pulled into what we thought may have been a park, but turned out to be a school drop-off area. Awh, you gotta laugh ! I can still see the puzzled look on this Mums face as she drove past us. We just waved.

Maybe it was the coffee, maybe it was the wind, but I found the tree trunks fascinating ~ each one seems to have its own 'painting'.

 

 

Temperatures during our travels have been interesting, with the last few days, no exceptions. The average May temp for Port Augusta is 20 degrees. For our visit we've experienced 30 degrees, but what's 10 degrees amongst friends? We had to go digging for our (packed away) summer clothes ! And not quite brave enough to stow our winter gear, so the van looks like a bomb has hit it (or maybe a teenagers bedroom).

 

Another notation for this part of the country is the lack of cyclists. As we travelled down the country through Qld, NSW and Vic, the numbers of cyclists increased. We've seen one cyclist in the whole of SA so far. No lycra'd bodies to be seen anywhere. Except this one lady as we were leaving Minlaton.

 

The next observation is increasing numbers of caravans. Port Pirie .. WOW! I think the vans outnumbered the cars. And now in Port Augusta, the cross-roads for the railways, and where everyone meets from Sydney-Perth, Melbourne-Adelaide-Perth, and Alice Springs-Darwin traffic, there has to be thousands of vans. The caravan park has been 'FULL' for the two nights we've been here. Rows and rows of vans in a dusty, dry park. Thankfully, we opted to take an en-suite site, which are a bit 'out of the way', so we have our own (almost) little oasis.

 

 

A trip to the Arid Lands Botantical Garden is a must. When you come, hopefully it won't be such a windy day as for us. The bird count was low, as I'm sure they were keeping low in self preservation.

 

 

 

 

We didn't see any snakes, we saw some birds and we saw a blue tongue lizard! We'd seen some odd tracks in the sand and couldn't work it out. Then we saw him, he moves sooo sloowly.

 

 

I love seeing the unusual plants and flowers.

 

 

A view across the Arid Lands Gardens, rain coming. (In between us and the rain is the road to Alice Springs-Darwin)

 

 

We put our little space to some good use - Mushroom Masaman, yummy!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thursday, 9th May ~ Minlaton, SA

Like most activities one undertakes, one falls into a bit of a routine. One of ours is, on the day of travel, pack up and set off before smoko. There's a good reason for this, generally down the road, there's a nice spot to spend some time in another location during the journey. It's all about the journey, not the destination. Looking over the map during our driver / navigator meeting, we noticed a few little towns that should offer a park (or something) for the resting traveller. As per our usual routine, on our pack up morning in Morgan, we merrily set off down the road anticipating a lovely little smoko stop.

Hah .. not so!  Well not that we saw - we still think that any town of any size should have a park somewhere within, maybe just not on the main road, but who knows now??  We did a quickie driver swop and pushed on. Surely, there's a park in the next little town. No, no .... And as the caffiene levels were dropping, the desperate driver did a quickie dash off the road, no time to explain, so I hung on. We were sort of in a wider road reserve, but we were off the road. I quickly got to making the coffees. While warming coffee cups and 'plunging', I could hear the different birds and out of the corner of my eye, I saw Ivor grab the binos, coffee not forgotten, but a more urgent priority had arisen. Sipping my coffee, I looked further afield and saw that we were at the edge of a conservation reserve. Could you believe it? Birds everywhere in this little bit of bush. Then we noticed the sign (should have taken a pic, but there you go...) you could barely read the wording, '... Conservation Reserve... ' a very lucky stop for us.

Our destination of Minlaton (population 773) was chosen because it's quite a central location in the Yorke Peninsula. First stop was the information centre to arm ourselves with the local info (of course), but an added treat was that they have a very well stocked selection of home-made biscuits, jams and chutneys. Talk about kids in the lolly shop ...

We also stocked up on some jams and chutneys too. Would you believe that there's a Chocolaterie here too?

Such an extensive range, making it hard to choose



 

Aren't they gorgeous, little flowers on some too.

 

 

All sweet things covered, back to the touring. You'll see that Yorke Peninsula is the shape of a boot. At the end is Innes National Park where the scenery is stunning. We had the most gorgeous day, not too cold, not too windy, sun shining, just glorious.

 

We've never seen a stone bird hide before, shame the lake is bone dry.



 

Birdwatching at the end bit

 

There are a few wind farms down this way

 

 

Innes National Park (the bottom of the boot)

 

Stenhouse Bay, Innes National Park

 

The End, Innes National Park

 

 

 

Sunday, 5th May ~ Morgan, SA

We had to stay in Morgan because it's a name in my ancestry ~ my Grandmother's maiden name (on my Father's side of the family).

What a lovely little place it is. The caravan park is located on the banks of the Murray River. A little disconcerting though, when you look across and see what is obviously the high bank of the river behind the caravans.

Intrigued with history as I am, I did a bit of delving and found out that in the late 1800's, Morgan was one of the busiest ports on the Murray. At its peak, Morgan was the second busiest port in South Australia (behind Port Adelaide), with six trains a day carrying freight from the Murray to the sea at Port Adelaide. As road transport improved through the early part of the 20th century, river transport declined. The railway to Morgan finally closed in 1969.

 

 

Morgan is also well known for its number of houseboats (in the distance) and car ferry to cross the river (in the foreground).

Many of the old buildings remain in the town. A number of the buildings have signs showing their former use and appearance making a walk around the town an enjoyable learning experience. We visited the museum to learn more.

 

 

And in amongst the relics, found an old switchboard that I used to operate 'in the ol' days' at Bank of NSW in Townsville.

Our bird count for Morgan is 33. We picked up a few that we should have seen while at Gluepot (Apostlebird and Regent Parrott), but there you go - I could calculate a mathematical ratio birds/time comparison, but I'm on holidays !

Saturday, 4th May ~ Gluepot Reserve, South Australia

We've been in the wilderness for a few days ~ no power, no running water, no internet !  But we survived, but that first shower oooo yeah ! BLISS. Yeah, alright, we still had our home away from home (caravan) with all its comforts.

Where and what is Gluepot Reserve? Here's a map of SA with the red dot being Adelaide and the blue dot, Gluepot. Gluepot is the place where just about every bird watcher dreams of visiting. It's a bit out of the way, especially for us Queenslanders.

The gravel road is very rough in places, V-E-R-Y rough. But other places, quite good. (That must be the section that is referred to in the brochure 'well-maintained gravel road'.) Surprisingly though, the van and everything inside stayed put, the only exception was the cutlery drawer, it was quite mixed up. 

Once we'd set up the van in Babblers Camp, had some lunch, we excitedly set off on the first walk. (I'll understand if our non-birder family and friends yawn and glaze over...)

Not too far along the track, we spotted a bird - Gilberts Whistler. While enjoying some good looks at him (and taking some bad photos), we also saw White-browed Treecreeper and Chestnut-crowned Babblers (thankfully some better photos). We were well and truly excited.

 

 

And to finish off the walk, our first look at the glorious Splendid Fairy-wren. That blue is pretty but in reality is irridescent! Look at him, what a poser.

Once we'd settled down for the night, we started rugging up, and rugging up. We just couldn't get warm and thought it was because we didn't have the luxury of our heater. And getting up in the morning, we needed more and more layers to keep warm. Here's Ivor at breakfast in his balaclava - usually only reserved for bed. This freezing morning was an exception! The Ranger told us it was -1.5 degrees !!!!  Not too wimpy afterall !

 

 

For our next birding adventure, we staked out in a bird hide.

 

And were rewarded with views of Mulga Parrott and Major Mitchell Cockatoo.

 

 

Every where you turn, there's another Spiney-cheeked Honeyeater.

Our bird count for our few days was only 54. It was hard work !  (I was even heard to say, 'this could make you give up bird watching!'. We missed out on so many, maybe it was the time of year, maybe not our time. But you get that.

I'm glad we went to Gluepot.