The Wildlife in Alice

 

There is a lot of wildlife in the desert.  You wouldn’t expect it but a lot of Australia native birds, mammals, reptiles insects etc are all well suited to the hot, harsh conditions in the outback.

On our drive out here that i mentioned in a previous post we saw tonnes of different animals and birds and we certainly collected a lot of insects (and 2 birds) in our radiator.

In Alice we are living right near the Todd (dry) river which is lined with river red gums, ghost gums and a lot of acacias as well as weeds and grass.  We walk in the morning sometimes and see Galahs, Budgies, Port Lincoln Ringnecks, Diamond Doves, Yellow Throated miners, Grey Crowned Babblers, Crested Pigeons, Australian Magpie Larks, Magpies, Butcher Birds, White Plumed Honeyeaters and Crows.

We also see a lot of Euros (Common Kangaroo out here) and also black footed rock wallabies.  We walk from our house out to the old Telegraph station and sometimes we see 20-30 macropods.

There are also lots of little lizards, goannas and probably snakes scuttling about in the grass.

So as you can see there is a lot of wildlife about, more than Brisbane even so these guys are all doing well, even with the dry and the heat.

Port Lincoln Ringneck, they really love this weed and spend most of their time at the moment eating the seeds of it.

Catching some rays in the morning

Manicuring the feet, you must keep your feet looking good.

Euro

This a is a big old boy, Euro I think.  Look at his battle scarred ears.  We have seen him a few times in the same area.

Black Footed Rock Wallabies.  These guys live in rocky areas and tend to jump between the rocks and hide amongst them during the day.  There are a lot of rocky outcrops around so it is prefect for them.  We have seen these guys in the same area a n umber of times too. 

Can you see the two wallabies here, they are quite well camouflaged.  We have seen a couple with a joey in its pouch and also a really newly emerged joey, shooting about amongst the rocks.  These guys are about a quarter the size of the Euros.

The Wildlife in Alice

New Books I have Read

 

Since arriving in Alice we have joined the local Library.  I didn’t have much faith in libraries as compared to the internet but our local is actually really good. 

It is full of good books (suprise) and quite new books too and also on subjects that we are both interested in.  I have not been to a library since Uni days and that was always for assignments so it took the joy away a bit.

Over the last week i have read and enjoyed ‘Small Cattle for Small Farms’ by Margo Hayes.  If you google it you can buy it from a number of sites.  I had spotted this book before and was going to buy it when i came back to Australia.  I also accidentally stumbled upon Margo’s website for her Lowline Cattle stud – Vitulus Lowlines.  The book is a fantastic handbook on cattle breeding, keeping, handling, yards, feed, marketing etc.  Everything you would want to know and think about before getting into cattle.  I would highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in getting into cattle or small breed cattle.

While were at Uluru on the weekend, we found a book that we have been wanting to buy.  ‘A Field Guide to Australian Trees’ 3rd ed, by Ivan Holliday.  We wanted a book on Australian trees just so we knew what they were but also because when we see one we like then we can think about planting it on the farm.  We have a lot of spots where we want to plant many more trees, shrubs, etc and so it is good to know what they are, where they come from, fruit, flowers etc.  The book covers more than 400 species and has great photos, pictures and descriptions.

Lastly i have just started reading ‘Farming Meat Goats’ by Barbara Vincent.  This is a similar book as the small cattle book in that is has concise and very detailed information on everything to do with meat goats in Australia.  This is not a story about having a few goats and how cute they are.  This is a book for primary producers who want to get in to or are investigating the Meat goat industry in Australia.  From what i have read so far, it is excellent.

We bought the tree book but i have borrowed the goat and cattle book form the library.  I will probably end up buying both of them as they are really good reference books.

Cheers

New Books I have Read

Alice Springs and Simpsons Gap

We finally arrived in Alice Springs on the 22nd of January after our 3000 km drive.  The drive actually wasn’t that bad spread out over 4 days and between two drivers. 

Alice Springs is located right in the centre of Australia and is a long way from everything else.  It is about 1000kms to Darwin, about 1000kms to Adelaide, 3600kms to Perth and 2260kms to Melbourne.  Luckily Alice has all the shops you need and has lots of things to do and see around the area.

Alice springs was initially built as a repeater station for the overland telegraph line.  This ran from Adelaide to Darwin and then to the rest of the world.  It sent Morse code messages to others.  The actual Alice ‘Spring’ is at the old telegraph station and is not really a spring, its juts a waterhole in the mostly dry Todd river.  The Todd river runs through town and is surrounded by river red gums and ghost gums and lots of wildlife.  It is a large sandy bedded river and has some water in it at the moment because of all the rain this year.  Sometimes in really heavy rain it does rage a torrent but this is uncommon.

We have seen a fair bit of the town in the last 2 weeks.  We can drive around, get to work etc without getting lost.  It is actually quite small and all the shops and businesses are in a small area. 

On our first weekend we drove out along Larapinta Drive into the West MacDonald ranges.  We had a BBQ for dinner at Simpson’s Gap.  This is the first stop on the drive from Alice and is a large gap in the range.  The temperature was about 38-43 degrees for our first week so it was a warm BBQ but a beautiful spot.

Corinne BBQ-ing some Prawns, as all good Australians do.

The approach to the Gap

A magnificent River Red Gum (Eucalyptus camaldulensis) in the sandy river bed the exits from the gap.

There were some small ponds around the gap, from the recent rains

Corinne admiring

No editing or saturation changes, just a circular polariser, real colours.

Reflections

A dark. mysterious and slightly sexual gap

The walls forming the gap, great sunset colours on the red rock of the west macs

Look back out from in the gap, a beautiful afternoon.  There were a few tourists (we are locals) waiting to see some black footed rock wallabies.  Unfortunately there were also some kids there, possibly drunk and on speed (kidding) that were amazingly active and noisy, so there weren’t gonna be any wallabies.  Still beautiful, even with the humans.

Alice Springs and Simpsons Gap

The Devils Marbles

Its 21:46.  There are a lot of empty cans of Toohey’s New about.  We have 6 days off now.  We just had a great  BBQ with Angela, the Irish Vet Locum we are living with.  It’s only 26 degrees, that’s cool.

I have one last post before i am up to date with our pics and travels and we can start getting into the Alice pics.

The Devils Marbles are located about 100kms south of Tennant creek just off the Stuart Highway.  The park or conservation area is a huge collection of massive granite boulders stacked in interesting configurations.

We left Tennant creek on our last days drive to Alice and stopped in at the Devil’s Marbles early on Saturday morning.  We got there around 7-8am so it was relatively cool (30 degrees) and we had some good light on the rocks and surrounds.

The park is definitely worth checking out and there is a camp ground there that we may stay at on the way home, rather than the awful Tennant creek.  The Davenport Ranges national park is nearby too which is rated as one of the best camping sites in the NT.

Panorama of the area.  Click on it for a larger pic.  The green, red and blue blend brilliantly.

The visitors centre. 

There are huge granite boulders like this stacked on top of each other all over the park

I told Corinne not to stand on this boulder, look what she did.  No respect these days from the young ones.

Ghost Gums.  They are really common around the NT.  They are beautiful trees, we want to get some back in QLD.

Silhouettes

Lots of different species of grasses can be found here all with different texture and colours

Heading south to our final destination

Aileron, famous for its massive Aboriginal statues, and very little else, but expensive fuel.

Massive Statues, massive.

The Devils Marbles

Nearly there–Stuart Highway to Alice

So, I am still at work.  Its 40 degrees outside, about 22 in here.  I am listening to ‘Flame Trees’ by Sarah Blasko and sitting on a couch.  That’s not bad for a job really. 

I still have a few more pics of the long drive down to Alice.  We stopped in afew spots and came across lots of Zebra Finches.  These little guys are really common aviary/cage birds but you don’t see them very commonly in the wild. 

Next and last drive to Alice post is the Devils Marbles – absolutely magnificent.

Another great vista, car, blue sky and green grass.

A pair of Zebra finches.  Male is on the left with his bright orange cheek patch and below you can see his zebra stripes on his chest.

Bird

Nice big spider, this one was about the size of your hand.  I think its a golden orb weaver.  The big ones the girl.  This picture is for all you British girls coming over this year, lookin forward to it.

Click on this pic for a larger view.  This is a panorama from the lookout near Tennant Creek.

Nearly there–Stuart Highway to Alice

Driving to Alice - again

I have discussed the drive to Alice in a previous post.  I still have though quite a few more pics from the 3000km drive.  probably this post and then one more as we have the Devils Marbles to fit in. 

These pics cover driving around Mt Isa and the Barkley Tablelands. 

Mt Isa is quite a large place compared to the other towns you drive through on the way to Alice.  It is quite a site as you enter town and can see the large smoke stacks and lots of heavy plant and equipment relating to the mining industry.

The Barkley tablelands cover a huge area and are flat and well grassed.  They run from western QLD well into the NT.  This stretch of road was sometimes a bit boring but still interesting in its vast nothingness that you don’t see in many places in the world anymore.

Driving into The Isa.  Smoke stacks in the distance.

A good view of one of the stacks, right in the centre of town on the main road.  You can go left back down to Boulia or right to Camooweal where we were going.

This bad photo through a dirty, sunny windscreen was to show ‘Mansworld’.  This is the shop in Mt Isa where you go if you are a MAN.  I dropped in and bought myself all new outfits so i would fit in.

This is a long straight road, with red dirt and some trees in the distance.

2 Brolgas flying away.  I had just spotted a pair of these massive cranes on the side of the road when we saw these 2 standing in the middle of the highway.  We slowed down and i tried to get a pic of them but only managed them flying away through the side window. 

Entering the Territory.  They don’t give you much warning, a microsleep and you miss it.

A rarely seen speed limit in Australia.  It’s quite helpful as the roads are generally quite good and there are long distances of nothing to cover.

There are kangaroos about apparently.  At least you can see them coming from about 20 kms here.

Flat and grassy

A tree, very exciting on this stretch.

There were lots of swallows and black kites flying around the road on this stretch.  Every now and then a young or genetically disadvantaged one would try to out run our car.  We found this one wedged in the radiator at a toilet stop.

Driving to Alice - again