We are enjoying our time with no guests, time to explore and use the technology at our disposal. Number one techno item is our drone. Whatever you may think of a drone it gives a bird eye view of this magnificent area. What a bonus to see the country as our many feathered friends see it. We use the drone to assess past dune rehabilitation work that extends over 20 years. A view over the Wurrengoodyea Hills, a Mirning name for the dune hills to the north of our base gives you an appreciation of the expansive mallee country we live within. We now know Wonundra is the Mirning name for our home, “the Eyre Sandpatch”, the place of the great sand hills. The view along the coast is beautiful, it’s uninhabited and peaceful, but never be complacent about its ability to ensnare you. Some of our visitors have recently experienced the dangers of beach driving in this part of the world as their vehicle became bogged on the beach and it was by luck that a fellow remote traveller happened to be nearby and came to their rescue. It can be weeks between other travellers passing by this area and the results are some travellers in the past have not been so lucky.
Some short spells of hot weather has brought many local creatures great and small to the water bowls located around the base, from bees, wasps to birds and lizards. Flowers continue to bloom despite the chaotic weather; the Southern Ocean is still cold and feeds the fracto-stratus ( low level ragged layer cloud mass ) that streams inland. A seal was seen surfing the waves at Twilight Cove. We have enjoyed continuing to see the Pink Cockatoo, Scarlet-chested parrots and birds of prey.
Our morning treks across the dunes is often a good time to find evidence of the previous day and nights activity, we are getting quite good at working out who belongs to what track. Predominately these tracks belong to birds and reptiles but a few are feral animals and the occasional are marsupial. The IR camera sometimes captures these on film. The cool light at this time is a photographer’s dream and the ever changing wind sculptured landscape presents many new opportunities to capture this beautiful scenery in digital form.
We continue to be impressed by the tenacity and extent of the mallee root system. With their long lateral roots accompanied by massive hairy network of tiny roots they bind many of the dunes together, the loss of such vegetation would unleash a tidal wave of sand driven by the never ending southerly winds.
One interesting find while travelling east of Burnabbie ruins, through thick healthy salt bush country, was a big black spider, it scuttled across the track, initially we thought it was a mid-sized dragon, but it was a spider, it was one ##%@& big spider. (Much akin to Aragog)
