A taste of Lake Eyre from the plane. Plenty more to come.
Another one.
Monthly Archives: May 2014
The Mighty Simpson Desert has been crossed
51 years ago a G60 Patrol completed the first motorised crossing of the Mighty Simpson Desert. Today The Doc completed his crossing in the GU Patrol, as part of a larger group. We at least had a track, the original party did not. That is an achievement.
The Simpson is Patrol country.
A map of the trip do far, from Broken Hill, NSW to Birdsville, Qld. The “diversions” around Lake Eyre was the plane flight. Some cracker images from that flight.
Patrol vandalised overnight
Some grubs vandalised the Patrol overnight, the day before The Doc goes on the Simpson Desert trip. Some tie down straps were slashed and some butane gas stolen. It could have been worse. Hope to fix the issues today.
All fixed now.
Textures of the Australian Bush: Rock & Minerals
The giant mullock heap at the BHP mine at Broken Hill opened all sorts of possibilities today. So a third instalment of Textures of the Australian Bush, this time on Rock and Minerals, enjoy.
Textures of the Australian Bush: Bark
The second instalment of Textures of the Australian Bush covers bark, enjoy.
Textures of the Australian Bush: Sand
The Doc has been working on a little side project which he calls Textures of the Australian Bush. There are some extraordinary colours and textures in the bush, including sand, clouds, rocks, mosses, lichens, tree bark and vegetation.
The first instalment is on Sand. These photos are from lakes, creeks and rivers in Outback New South Wales, enjoy.
The Doc has been told the Simpson Desert has an immense variety of sands.
Mutawintji Revisited
The Doc returned to Mutawinjti National Park after the Scotia visit. Mutawintji is pronounced Mut-a-win-gee. An aboriginal word meaning green and waterholes. The early settlers misheard the aborigines and called it Mootwingee.
It was and is a major meeting area for Aborigines, it has extensive engravings and rock art, one of the most extensive in Australia. A sample is given below of hand stencils around 2,000 years old. The rock engravings predate the art work and is over 8,000 years old, perhaps even 15,000 years.
A visit to Mutawintji is incomplete unless you visit the Mutawintji Historic Site, where you must be accompanied by a guide. We had Michel from Tri State Safaris who did an excellent job. An extensive report of the Park may come later, after the Simpson Desert trip.
The Doc is now back in Broken Hill getting everything ready for the Simpson Desert trip starting Monday morning.
AWC’s Scotia Sanctuary
The Doc has had the privilege of visiting Scotia Sanctuary run by the Australian Wildlife Conservancy or AWC over the past weekend. It was a Supporter’s event, as The Doc is a Foundation Supporter of AWC.
Scotia is in Outback New South Wales, near the South Australian border, about half between Broken Hill and Mildura. It is remote, meaning the Sanctuary needs to be heavily self reliant.
Small mammals in Australia are in critical decline, Australia already has the worst mammal extinction record in the world and many more may follow. Animals like the numbat, bilby, boobie, woylie, bridled nail tail wallaby and rufous-hair wallaby (also known as the mala).
These small marsupials cannot defend themselves against feral predators like the fox and cats. Feral cats in Australia are extraordinarily destructive. A conservative estimate indicates the cats take 75 million small mammals, birds and reptiles every night. Then you have foxes, land degradation by feral herbivores (camels, buffalo, donkeys, goats, etc.) and wildfires.
These precious populations are protected by feral free areas behind electrified fences, supported by a team of land managers, feral eradication experts (not all the property has an electric fence) scientists and researchers on the ground.
Over 80 cents in every dollar given to AWC goes to the field, a figure far higher than other conservation groups. Work is based on science and results tracked. People are accountable. The result is that AWC now cares for a large percentage of these remaining populations of critically endangered animals.
While small mammals are a priority work also involve birds like the Endangered Gouldian finch and purple crowned wren. Threatened flora and rebuilding on the overall habitat are priorities as well. A healthy landscape will allow the birds and animals to flourish. So The Doc got see how the Australian habitat looked like before European settlement. We need to improve our stewardship of the land and our animal capital by good science, sensible polices and hard work. AWC shows individuals working together can make a difference and a big one. People need to take ownership instead of looking to governments.
The Doc now prepares for the Simpson Desert crossing in a few days, and will leave you with a picture of the ever so cute mala, (one of the rarest mammals in Australia).
Sometimes jokingly referred to as the T Rex of the marsupial world, because of is tiny front legs and large hind legs (relative to its body size).
Mutawintji recon finished
Wet weather in Dubbo meant The Doc headed to Broken Hill via Gundabooka and Paroo-Darling National Parks. Hopefully he can do the Zoo on the return journey.
The Doc spent yesterday morning looking around the sculptures in the desert and few other places at Broken Hill, the silver city. After lunch, The Doc drove out to Mutawintji National Park and stayed the night. The Doc did some recon to see how much time was needed to properly explore the Park, perhaps a week to 10 days. He did some exploration and then drove back into Broken Hill.
Now downloading, sorting, indexing and backing up photos. Also writing a blog update.
Off to AWC’s Scotia Sanctuary and a 3 day event in the morning.
This photo was taken in Mutawintji NP, can anyone guess what is it?
Sunset near the Little Topar Roadhouse on the Barrier Highway on the way into Broken Hill.
Warrumbungles recon finished
In January 2013 the Wambelong Fire destroyed much of the Warrumbungles National Park. The Doc visited to do some recon for a trip later. Nearly half the walking trails are still closed and many facilities still need major repair work. But the birds and animals are returning in numbers.
You need to hike for at least half a day to most places, so the closed tracks make it hard.
The Doc arranged a sunrise shot of the mountains, but the weather had other ideas with it raining. So The Doc headed off to Dubbo to visit the Western Plains Zoo in the next day or so. It was raining over much of the area.
A panorama shot from yesterday, from the lookout right next to Siding Springs Telescope.
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