The weather continues to be unusual, and it changes quickly. One evening we had a thunderstorm generating heavy rain and big hail, though only producing 10mm of rain, in this landscape it caused damage to our main track and caused minor flooding on the plateau beyond the escarpment. Even the dunes suffered some erosion. Thankfully our current resident photography course leaders spent time doing some track repairs. The storms cruising over the Nullarbor make for some great photos. Our tanks are so full that the heavy downpours cause water to flow out the inlets.
With one course over we have had time to rest and watch the day go by. A few day visitors continue to drop they are always friendly considerate people keen on caring for the environment and interested in the local history.
The flowering continues with mallee trees flowering in succession rather than all at once meaning the birdlife continues to be prolific. Recent rain seems to favour the Eremophila sp, which is a beautiful flowering bush that comes in many different colours. Melaleuca are also starting to show their snow white flowers.
Our once a week drives into town can be an adventure, we tried to traverse the Pannikan Plains but with heavy rain the track became greasy and we had to retreat back to the exposed limestone county to make it back to the highway. Once on the highway we encountered trucks moving big mining trucks, this state has plenty of mines. The track from the escarpment to highway is so wet Grey Teals have taken up residence and a couple landed on one of our water tanks, yep, the weather is perfect for ducks.
We are starting to see snakes about the house, though still experiencing mostly cloudy days the occasional warm days brings out the snakes, the most recent a Dugite. We are starting to see many and varied lizards, and a 40cm legless lizard was a highlight.
We had some Mirning people visit us, it was great to show the traditional owners of the country around the facilities we take care of. They enjoyed themselves and aim to visit us again.
One of the other tasks we have is on the return journey along Kanidal Beach is to pickup rubbish, record and collate the items and send the results to https://www.tangaroablue.org/https://www.tangaroablue.org/. Tangaroa Blue Foundation is an Australia-wide not-for-profit organisation dedicated to the removal and prevention of marine debris: one of the major environmental issues worldwide.
Our wildlife friends every day teach us something new, the antics of the Pink Cockatoo are particularly entertaining their curiosity in all things is endless. A Sparrow-hawk made an impressive entrance. Today (Thursday) a strong northerly wind is blowing in 1000’s of hover flies who have taken up residence around the house and vegetable garden. These flies eat aphids and like our water trough, not surprising as it reaches 40.9 °C. and the veggie garden needed a lot of TLC (water).
