We continue to explore our sandy wonderland, amazed at the beautiful flowering plants and their ability to survive in such harsh conditions. Mallee and for that matter many shrubs and trees have extensive lateral root systems that give them the ability to have a firm grip on the country even when it constantly moves underneath them, around them and over them. The Quandongs are losing their fruit but many of these red baubles can still be found throughout the bush. We also have found what we think is native cherry,, Exocarpos sparteus R.Br. Its a shame we don’t have local indigenous knowledge about these plants. The Mallee is continuing to flower, their yellow flowers are abundant and consequently the birdlife is prolific. The Eremophila continues to flower, and lately we are enjoying some brilliant red flowering varieties which adds colour to the landscape.

We are getting more confident in our daily routine. Minor maintenance can vary, today was cleaning out 200 litre diesel drums ready for refuelling. Keeping fuel clean is essential as we are totally dependent on our vehicles to transport supplies, and to carry us into the field to do surveys. The veggie garden is looking good with new seedlings appearing, spinach, zucchini, beetroot and herbs are doing well.

The geology is interesting, in the sand dunes you find strange limestone structures, shards of calcrete and solution pipes are new landforms we find. Solution pipes are subsoil karst features comprising vertical cylindrical pipes attributed to solution by downward percolating water. On a grander scale are the caves we get to explore, not venturing in but admiring them from the outside, some are huge (check the car at the top of the cave) and some are very deep.

We enjoy exploring our backyard following narrow tyre tracks across the blue bush plain and disappearing into the Mallee.

The weather continues to surprise us, constantly changing, and unpredictable at times, however, as contributor’s to the Australian weather forecasting we are becoming quite good at identifying clouds and understanding what they can tell us about the weather. That said we see some chaotic cloud systems here at times.

Birds and reptiles continue to be our constant companions, even our local death adder is seen as just one of the many locals we are living with. The local birds always let us know when the adder is about.

On our trip to the big smoke, Cocklebiddy, we are greeted by a biblical size swarm of grasshoppers. We had seen many a month ago that could only just walk/jump, these were flying. The birdlife will live well for a week or more.