We had deigned to leave on the 7th, but ended up prolonging our stay by a day in order to increase our overlap time with Jesse. Come the 8th, though and we had to leave; we had to get the four-wheeler back to Brisbane by the 14th, and hence were operating on a deadline. The plan was to take that whole week to get back to Brisbane, stopping by places of interest along the way. We had, in the past couple of days, been mulling over different routes that would maximise our time in novel territory. In the end, we elected to drive up north back along the Silver City Highway, retracing our steps as far as Wilcannia before heading north into Paroo-Darling NP, then onward into far southwest Queensland and heading due east all the way back to the coast (map above). The good thing about this was that the pressure that had been on us the way down was now off; we could now afford to take things slowly and check things out along the way.
A key part of our initial plan was to pass through the Nearie Lakes, a series of ephemeral claypans directly across the Silver City Highway from Scotia. In the end, we opted out, partly because the road in looked private, and partly because we couldn’t trust the integrity of the dirt roads, especially in that area, which was prone to flooding. In the end, we made a beeline for Broken Hill and had our first McDonalds’ meal in three weeks; more for the WiFi than anything else, really. About 45km out from Broken Hill, we passed a large flooded expanse adjacent to a truck stop (above). We had passed this exact spot on the way down and I had been keen to check it out; with more time now we pulled over and were greeted by a melange of
waterbirds: Pink-eared Ducks (Malacorhynchus membranaceus), Black-winged Stilts (Himantopus himantopus), Grey Teals (Anas gracilis), Black Swans (Cygnus atratus) and Red-kneed Dotterels (Erythrogonys cinctus) (left) were present in number, along with the obligatory Pacific Black Ducks (Anas superciliosa) and Dusky Moorhens (Gallinula tenebrosa). I also managed to get my first Black-tailed Native-hens (Tribonyx ventralis), and most spectacular of all, 23 Freckled Ducks (Stictonetta naevosa) (below), another one of those unpredictable outback specials and a real grail bird. To see them at all would have been a real treat; the fact they were there in such numbers made this one of the most dramatic and unforgettable birding experiences ever.
Our journey to Wilcannia added another raptor, a Spotted Harrier (Circus assimilis), while another random stop along the road en route to White Cliffs and Paroo-Darling NP yielded both Brown and Rufous Songlarks (Cincloramphus mathewsi), both new for Jeremy, as well as Double-barred Finch (Taeniopygia bichenovii) and Diamond Firetail (Stagonopleura guttata). We had originally made this stop to photograph some blooming Sturt’s Desert Pea (Swainsona formosa), an iconic Australian outback flower (below); while we had been on Scotia for the blooming event, we had been just too late for the desert pea.
It was dusk by the time we passed through White Cliffs and entered Paroo-Darling NP. The park itself is a large block of floodplain scrub, dotted with lakes and pebbly claypans. Uninitiated as we were, though, we had no idea as to its infrastructure, and before we knew it, had driven through the entire park; we would probably have been better served informing ourselves beforehand. The park sits in the middle of some very interesting habitat, and it is perhaps a slight regret of mine that we ended up going through most of it at night; we certainly deserved better than one glimpse of an Australian Owlet-nightjar (Aegotheles cristatus). Proving that when nature turns against you, it really means to, we ended up having to set up camp amongst a plague of locusts and one of the worst clouds of mosquitoes I had ever experienced. Attracted by our lights, the insects swarmed and assailed us: in addition to myriad mosquito bites, I had a locust fly into my mouth, giving me a few cuts as it kicked frantically. In danger of being driven mad by these tormentors, we set up camp, pulled whatever gear we could remember to grab [I forgot my dinner, but it was far from the most pressing concern at the time], slammed into our tents and shut up for the night, staying awake only long enough to kill every last mosquito that had made its way in.
No comments:
Post a Comment