Outback tour - Part I

Touring again

Sorry for the delay in getting these pictures up for you all. I've been sleeping lots over the past few days as I recover from a very enjoyable holiday with my parents. (I'd better say at this point that my Dad took all the pictures on these posts. Credit where credit's due!) This time we all set out on a two week tour of the outback with John and Ros from Naturebound Australia with whom we travelled up the Dividing Range a couple of years back.

Big Red

We started by flying up to Brisbane and then set out west by road to Thargomindah, Tibooburra and the corner country around the Sturt NP. On the bird front things got off to a cracking start on the first evening with a group of Plum-headed Finches #389 spotted by the river in St George. An early morning walk on the edge of Thargomindah turned up Chestnut-crowned Babbler #390 and we weren't even in the national park yet.

Cameron Corner - I'm in NSW, Dad's in QLD and Mum's in SA

Gibber country around Mt Poole

The gibber plains of the Sturt NP are a desolate place with the red earth strewn with a carpet of small gibber stones. The temperature was pushing towards 40C and the flies were out causing mischief but this is a great place and we found Cinnamon Quail-thrush, Orange Chat and White-backed Swallow #'s 391-393 as well as loads of Kangaroos, Emus and Wedge-tailed Eagles. Sunset on a hill outside Tibooburra turned up the beautifully understated Bourke's Parrot #394 and a small group of Mulga Parrots #395 flew overhead as we were heading out of town to travel south the next morning.

Emus

Its hot out there but well worth the trip!

Wedge-tailed Eagle