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| Naretha Bluebonnet |
After leaving Cape Arid on
the WA South Coast we overnighted again in Esperance before tackling
the long drive across the Nullarbor. We camped overnight at Ten Mile
Rocks, 80 km east of Norseman, then behind the Cocklebiddy Roadhouse
before crossing the South Australia border. We spent our first night
in that state camped at Border Village. Fuel there was 3.32/litre –
by the far the highest diesel cost of the trip to date. The mallee
around the village (below) was green and vibrant following local rain with
wildflowers everywhere.
Along with loads of
White-fronted Honeyeaters.
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| White-fronted Honeyeater |
Causing them grief were a
pair of Australian Hobbies.
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| Australian Hobby |
Then it was time to tackle
the Nullarbor Wilderness Protection Area. We turned off the Eyre
Highway on Koonalba Road, negotiating 15 km of rough (for the caravan
at least) road before reaching the historic and quaint Koonalba
Homestead for a pleasant 2-night stay.
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| Nullarbor Plain meets Great Australian Bight |
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| Bumpy road to Koonalba |
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| Koonalba Homestead |
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| Koonalba sunrise |
We drove a further 6 km
north to check out the Koonalba Cave (below) on our first morning.
Chief target at Koonalba
was a Nullarbor endemic, Naretha Bluebonnet. It wasn't until leaving
on our last morning that I finally connected with 4 birds, 5.5 km
south of the homestead. They were a sight for sore eyes.
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| Naretha Bluebonnet (above & below) |
I saw the other Nullarbor
endemic, Nullarbor Quail-thrush – single birds 2 km and 3.5 km
north of the homestead. Ground Cuckoo-shrike was regular about our
camp; it was interesting to note 5 or 6 birds roosting together in
the same tree and position each night.
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| Ground Cuckoo-shrike roosting |
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| Ground Cuckoo-shrike |
Shingleback (below) was
commonplace.
So were the burrows of
Southern Hairy-nosed Wombats ( below) although no wombats were seen.
Rabbits were abundant,
explaining the high density of Wedge-tailed Eagles.
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| Wedge-tailed Eagle |
Red-backed Kingfisher and
Mulga Parrot put in appearances around the old homestead buildings.
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| Mulga Parrot |
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| Red-backed Kingfisher |
We moved further east to
Nullarbor Roadhouse for an overnight stay. Here I focused on 6.5 km
of track heading north from the old Eyre Highway, just east of the
roadhouse, which I had visited previously. I found 2 more Nullarbor Quail-thrush in the afternoon, and another 6 the next morning. A
couple finally allowed themselves to be photographed, albeit poor images. Plenty of
Crimson Chats were around.
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| Nullarbor Quail-thrush female & (below) male |
Dingo was nice to
encounter on the track. Another dingo hung about the roadhouse
looking for food scraps.
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| Dingo |
Slender-billed Thornbill, Yellow-rumped Thornbill and Brown Songlark were common around both the roadhouse and
Koonalba. We continued eastwards from the roadhouse to overnight in
the Penong Caravan Park.
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| Brown Songlark |
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| Yellow-rumped Thornbill |
