Thu-Fri, Sept 27-28 - Brisbane and home

(Photos: old Brisbane, our River Cat,

Quantas home)

27-8 Sept Thu-Fri

Slept in and met at eight. With our Executive rooms a full buffet breakfast is included and it was quite wonderful. Great pastries, yogurt and nuts, omelets made-to-order. It was drizzling so we decided to walk around downtown rather than go on the river and followed the guidebook’s tour of historic buildings, ending up in an old-fashioned creaking elevator ride through a large clock to the top of the tower above city hall. The weather was getting better so we walked down to the river and bought off-peak day passes to the City Cat and traveled several km down river past lovely garden apartments and old houses toward the ocean, and then back again and up river to the U of Queensland. Brisbane is a very picturesque semi-tropical city with wonderful public transportation. We have to return to explore the beaches to the north and south someday.
We walked to a very elegant restaurant, E’cco, where we had venison and Kobe beef to celebrate RRZ’s birthday and then returned to pack.

We hit the buffet again on Friday morning and then took a station wagon cab to the airport where we encountered a very long, convoluted line for check in, but after that it was smooth sailing through security, with shoes on, and we boarded on time just after eleven. Hilary had an empty seat next to her and we were in the very back of the 747 which narrows down to two seats on the side, so we all had reasonably comfortable rides, good food, free bar and about 100 movie choices.
We arrived 6:30 am on Friday, went through immigrations and customs and said goodbye to Hil who had to transfer to Southwest for a flight to Providence. Picked up our Hertz car, drove to SB in cool overcast and arrive home to find Jane Cat under the bed. It took a while to convince her we were really back, but she’s howling and rubbing against us now.

A great trip! About 97 Life Birds, and about 222 species seen.

Wed, Sept 26 - To Brisbane

(photos: Brush Turkey on our porch!, View from our Executive Room)

26 Sept Wed

Sprinkled some of the birdseed I had purchased on our porch railing and the Crimson Rosellas flew in and perched on our hands. Then two very large Brush Turkeys flew up and attacked the bag of seed and we retreated inside!
Checked out, left wonderful O’Reilly’s, and drove down the mountain with much less traffic than last Sunday. We stopped in the cute town of Canungra for breakfast of chicken and mushroom pie, New York cheesecake and flat white coffees.
Wound through lovely vineyards, rolling horse country until we reached the outskirts of Brisbane and got onto the M1 freeway into town. Hilary travels every week for work and has a gazillion Marriott points so we pulled into their reception area and were warmly greeted, upgraded to free Executive rooms, and they returned our car to Hertz (we hope). We moved into rooms on the 25th floor with glorious views overlooking Brisbane River.
The river winds through the city forming a “W”, so everywhere you walk you hit water views and get thoroughly confused as to which direction you are facing. We walked along the Riverwalk area of fancy bistros and fountains and grabbed a bite before exploring the Botanic Gardens. A huge multi-stage rock concert was being set up for this weekend so we left without seeing as much as we’d like. Walked through the Central Business District, a mixture of small old Anglican churches, very tall mod skyscrapers, and a large pedestrian mall. Bob could sense shopping and retired to the Marriott, while Hil and I explored the amazing multi-storied, open-air shopping area.
We walked along the Riverwalk in the evening, watching the River Cats (city ferries) zigzagging along and had a terrific dinner at Il Centro. We were seated outdoors and watched the crowds wander by while eating Spanner Crab and Avocado salad (best crab I’ve ever had), grilled scallop risotto, and sand dab lasagna. Wonderful!

Tue, Sept 25 - More birding at O'Reilly's

(photos: Grass Trees, Albert's Lyrebird,

Satin Bowerbird's bower)

25 Sept Tue

We tried to get up at five, but failed, and emerged around seven. Bob went off to try to see the Lyrebird, but came back discouraged. I made some filter coffee and Hil and I watched the Pademelons finish grazing and the parrots fly in while Bob went up to O’Reilly’s Discovery Center where their resident naturalist holds forth.
He met Glen Trelfo, a well-known birder and expert on the Lyrebird who told him where the birds hang out. The three of us set off and ran into Glen just as he was leaving for Brisbane. He insisted on taking us to a likely area for the Lyrebird, and there in the underbrush was a male Lyrebird with its intricate and filmy two-foot tail, scratching a hole in the ground! Bob’s 97th life bird of the trip!
Glen also told us where to find a Satin Bowerbird’s bower that is located near one of the picnic tables. The bird had constructed an “avenue” in the tall grasses and scattered blue bottle tops and blue straws in it to entice a female. The availability of colorful plastic trash has made the bowerbirds’ task of finding decorative material for their bowers much easier!
We retired to Gran O’Reilly’s Café for breakfast and then drove a short distance down the road to the Python Rock trail head and took a lovely hike through the rain forest, emerging into eucalyptus and grass tree woodland as we neared the rim of a canyon overlooking a tall waterfall.
Bob and I drove 11 km down the mountain to look for lower elevation specialties, but the road is so narrow and difficult to drive with all the traffic that we decided to return.
Hil and I caught Happy Hour in the bar and Bob joined us for another excellent dinner of mushroom tarts and roast pork with roasted veg.

Mon, Sept 24 - Exploring O'Reilly's/Lamington

(photos: Yellow Robin,

Superb Fairy Wren, Pademelon with joey)

49 degrees F at sunrise! Made filter coffee and sipped it with some leftover cookies on our porch and soon had a flock of Crimson Rosellas, King Parrots and Lewin’s Honeyeaters landing on us and finishing up our snacks. Wrapped up and set out on a trail to the “Tree Top Walk”, a suspended walkway that takes you up into the canopy of the rainforest. Continued on past huge strangler figs and beautiful Hoop Pines while watching Yellow Robins and Satin Bower Birds.
Back to our house where we cagily split a box lunch we had ordered last night, so as to avoid paying $25 PP for breakfast.
Set off on another trail when Hilary who was leading shouted out “Albert’s Lyrebird!” Unfortunately it scuttled away and Bob didn’t see it. It’s not rare at O’Reilly’s but very shy and difficult to see, so hopefully he’ll see it later. Bob did see Paradise Riflebird and we all got great views of the Logrunner, a tiny bird that tosses leaves and twigs by kicking them to the side.
Hilary returned to the “Vince” to rest as she’s experiencing some back pain, and Bob and I continued on down a steep trail to the “Wishing Tree”, a large hollowed-out fig, and back up, returning to the Lodge about noon.
Hilary and I contemplated soaking in the hot tub, but ended up snoozing and doing laundry instead.
The sun set at 5:45 and we watched the Pademelons come out and graze in the twilight, one with a joey almost falling out of her pouch!
We went to the dining room, which was billed as a buffet, but had a la carte dishes with buffet sides and really was very good. I had kangaroo with juniper and berry sauce and the others had lamb and steak. Back to lounge by the fire in our lodgings.

Sun,Sept 23 - Alice to Lamington Nat'l Park

(photos: the "Vince" suite, RRZ with a Crimson Rosella)

23 Sept Sun

We packed up and checked out of the hotel and drove to the north side of Alice where there is a large park with trails and also an historical exhibit of the buildings of the telegraph enterprise that strung one strand of wire using 36000 poles from Adelaide to Darwin and then undersea to Singapore connecting Australia with the rest of the world back in 1870s. The park is great and deserves a lot more time than we had available, and the historic stone buildings would be interesting to explore also.
But we had a plane to catch, so we headed to the airport south of town, turned in our car, cruised through security with shoes on and water bottles un-confiscated. We ordered breakfast with cappuccinos and watched parrots cavorting outside until it was time to board our Qantas jet to Brisbane. We hated leaving Alice and hope to return someday.
The red sand gradually turned to green agricultural fields and after two and a half hours we circled around the beautiful coastline of Queensland and landed in cool 65 degree Brisbane. Amazing to be cool after more than two weeks in the 90s!
We picked up our rental car, Ford sedan this time, and Bob drove south through Brisbane, with Hil navigating, about 100 km before we started driving up and up on a very winding and narrow road into Lamington National Park. We were heading to O’
Reilly’s Rainforest Retreat, a famous birding destination. It’s also a favorite weekend escape for Brisbaners and, being Sunday, they all were heading back home as we were going up which made for a lot of stopping and careful maneuvering, as much of the road is one-lane. We finally got to O’Reilly’s at five in the middle of a gala wedding reception and made our way to the reception desk.
I had reserved a two-bedroom accommodation last March and had been told recently that renovations were behind schedule and they would upgrade us to a nicer room. Well, we lucked out and got the “Vince” suite, named for Vince O’Reilly, patriarch of the clan during the 80s and father of ten (most of whom seem to run various jobs around the hotel). The “Vince” is a beautiful house with two large bedrooms, one with a view spa bath, living room, wet bar, and a large porch for viewing the tame birds and Red-necked Pademelons (very small kangaroos) who live in the meadow below. We settled in and headed for the bar, drinks and small dinner before hitting our king-sized four-poster beds.

Sat, Sept 22 - Uluru to Alice Springs

(photos: desert spider, Hil at Emu Walk)

22 Sept Sat

Had a delicious breakfast of the last of the eggs and some of Bob’s leftover steak from last night and packed up. Said goodbye to the enormous (4”) spider who lives between our screen door and sliding glass door in our kitchen and is always in a different place when you try to go outdoors. Packed up the car and started east towards the Stuart Highway that runs from Darwin to Adelaide. We passed lovely rippled red sand dunes, the flat-topped mesa of Mt Conner and arrived at Erldunda, at the intersection of the highways. In this empty, lonely land, every homestead and gas station rates a name on the map! This place was a classic with gas, giant model of an Echidna in a cage, souvenirs, full bar, and great hotdogs. We revived ourselves and continued north, finally picking up a radio station 100 miles out of Alice and caught up on the Footy finals.
After 400 km, we arrived in Alice Springs and checked into the A.S. Resort, our last Voyages hotel. Very nice room overlooking the Todd Riverbed. Hilary and I decided to walk into town while Bob cleaned up and watched a little TV. The downtown is quite nice with bookshops and cafes. We were looking for a particular fabric shop that specializes in local botany prints, but found that most of the shops sensibly close early on Saturday. We retuned to the resort and, as I was feeling gin-deprived, I retired to the pool and inhaled a G ‘n’ T. At seven we drove downtown and had dinner at Oscar’s. Chili and garlic prawns and salads; not as good as QC, but pretty good.

Fri, Sept 21 - Uluru & the Olgas

(photos: "Wot Flies??!!", the Olgas, Uluru)

21 Sept Fri

Hil and I got up early and left at 6 to see the sunrise. We walked through the red sand to a little hill near our condo designated as a lookout point. The sun came up and we watched Uluru turn from lavender to pale orange.

We returned and Bob eventually emerged and we breakfasted on fried eggs and toast before setting off to drive again around Uluru to see it in the morning sun. We were planning to take a couple of hikes from the road to the rock, but the parking lots were already full of tour buses and we couldn’t face another fiasco like King’s Canyon and so left and headed west 40 km. to the Olgas, lovely, lumpy lavender shapes on the horizon. Until you get very close, the Olgas appear to be made of very similar rock to Uluru, but when you start walking among them you realize they are all conglomerate pudding stone, not sandstone.

We hiked up a canyon and suddenly saw a pair of Red Kangaroos feeding on the grass. Red are the biggest ‘roos and most resemble the Quantas symbol. Until they hopped off they were indistinguishable from the red rock around them.

We drove back to the Resort, divided up a sandwich and I took my computer over to Sails-in-the-Desert Hotel where I bought a password number in order to use their wireless and blog at last. I looked rather disreputable in their lobby surrounded by their smartly dressed guests, but blogged away anyway for a couple of hours.

At four we drove back to the Rock and took a couple of short walks to cave paintings and a water hole and admired the wonderful colors and textures of the massive rock. We drove back at sunset and went to a café near our condo and had lamb, steak and risotto with red wine.

Thur, Sept 20 - Major Mitchell's Cockatoo & Uluru

Another good buffet at six and checked out by 7:30. We drove to Kathleen Springs and hiked again to the pond at the head of the canyon. Lovely flowers but few birds except a few pretty red, black and white Mistletoe Birds.

We started the 350 km drive from Kings Canyon to Uluru (Ayer’s Rock) at 9:30 passing through areas of Spinifex grass and Desert Oaks, and Mulga woodlands. Hilary was driving when she yelped and screeched to a stop, made a U-turn and drove back 100 yards. There in the Mulga trees were two Major Mitchell’s Cockatoos, the birds Bob most wanted to see in Australia! One flew away, but the other, a female, remained in the tree, ripping small branches off and eating the attached Mulga pods. The male and females are identical except that the male has a black eyes and the female red. They both are large snowy white parrots with pale pink breasts and deep coral coloring above their beaks, on their crest, and under their wings. It was really thrilling to get such good views of such a beautiful bird that we had been searching for so long!

We stopped in Curtin Spring, the only stop on the way, for a snack, and a look at Mt Conner, which looks rather like Uluru and often fools people, and would have fooled us if Lonely Planet hadn’t warned us.

We drove on and suddenly could see the purple shape of Uluru on the horizon. It really is amazing, even though you have seen images of it everywhere. When you come upon it, rising suddenly out of the flat surrounding plain, it is stunning, other worldly, and really unique.

We stopped at the Ayers Rock Resort, several hotels all run by Voyages, to check in. The cheapest rooms are $400, but we had cleverly reserved a two-bedroom condo at their Emu Walk hotel for the three of us, very pretty, 3-level with full kitchen. A small shopping center is right next-door and we stocked up on food, dumped our luggage and drove onto the Rock.

The smooth rock faces drop vertically into the sand and the sides are streaked with black and gray and studded with caves of all sizes. We stopped at the Cultural Centre for some interesting exhibits on Aboriginal mythology, ice cream and a Red Centre flower book before driving around the rock and watching its changing colors in the late afternoon sun.

We returned to the Resort and went to the Frontier Hotel where you can buy take-out liquor and got a bottle of wine for dinner and had cans of “Bundy ‘n’ Cola”, premixed Aussie rum and coke. Pretty bad but did the trick.

Home for delicious dinner of scrambled eggs, onions, mushrooms and tomatoes and the bottle of wine.

Wed, Sept 19 - King's Canyon Nat'l Park

(photos: King's Canyon, Straw flower)

In order to avoid the 90-degree midday weather, we met at six for a good buffet breakfast of filter coffee, fruit and pastries and then drove to the trailhead for King’s Canyon. Although we arrived at 7:15, several large buses had beaten us there and were disgorging school kids and tour groups. The main trail starts with a 500’ climb up stone steps to the canyon rim and continues around a horseshoe trail of 4 miles. We climbed up the steps, stopping to let high schoolers dash by. When we reached the top we encountered the students bunched together listening to a lecture; we passed them, they passed us, gathered for a lecture, etc…

The trail has beautiful overlooks showing smooth sheer red sandstone walls and mushroom shaped domes, but the constant jockeying for position on the trail made us walk much faster than we would have done otherwise and made it difficult to ID flowers and birds. Finally we came to the “Garden of Eden” at the head of the canyon where all the students stopped for their promised swim in a desert pool. We had a respite from the crowds and had a little time to enjoy the trail. We even got a life bird: the Fairy Martin. We returned to our car as the students caught up to us and drove down the highway a bit to Kathleen Springs, a lovely paved trail through flowers and Mulga trees to a small canyon pool. It was an amazing contrast to the chaos at Kings Canyon and we really enjoyed it. We returned back to our rooms, and Bob gave us the afternoon off! Hilary and I took advantage of the hotel’s laundry room, and the pool next door, and had a pleasant relaxing few hours. We met at five and took the trail that circles the hotel and found ourselves unexpectedly hiking up and down over rocky walls with few birds around. We retuned to the grill bar of last night and got a jug (pitcher) of VB beer and some grilled chicken. Sat outdoors next to a squabbling flock of beautiful pink and white Galah parrots and the guitarist of last night.

Tue,l Sept 18 - to King's Canyon Nat'l Park

(photos: Gosse Bluff Crater, Finke River)


At 6:45 we met and drove a short ways to where the Finke River crosses the highway and walked in along the sandy wash to some pools and saw Hardhead Ducks,
Eurasian Coot, and Purple Swamp-hen. We returned to Glen Helen and bought a fabulous veggie frittata and filter coffee for breakfast and then checked out and said goodbye to the very nice owner and staff.
The road west immediately turns into gravel/sand/washboard for 261 km that makes for a long, noisy day. Half way along we stopped to explore Gosse Bluff, the remains of the crater formed when a comet crashed into the area 140 million years ago. The 5 km-wide red crater walls rise from the surrounding plain and are a pleasant place to picnic and bird watch. Hilary picked up a Splendid Fairywren.
The stressful drive required that you had to really hold onto the steering wheel to get through the worse of the washboards so we all took turns creating dense rooster tails. Fortunately the scenery was quite lovely with valleys of Spinifex grass dotted with Desert Oak, a graceful tree that looks somewhat like a pine but belongs to the Casuarina family with drooping “needle” branchlets. We also drove through areas full of Grass Trees and yellow, white and purple flowers. Amazingly we saw no houses, fences or any signs of civilization other than an occasional vehicle during the entire trip. Quite wonderful to be that far off the grid.
We arrived at Watarrka National Park (Kings Canyon) at three and settled into the Kings Cyn Lodge, a Voyages resort. This is our fourth Voyages resort in the three trips we’ve taken to Oz and they all are similar in that the rooms are attractive, the hotel blends pretty well into the scenery and they have an outrageously expensive restaurant and a reasonable one that is usually crammed. Hilary and I walked around the Lodge trail and id’ed a few birds and then we all went to the open-air restaurant for pizza and beer and were entertained by a great old guy on guitar.

Mon, Sept 17 - Exploring the West MacDonnell Range

(photos: White-necked Heron, Ochre Pits, Glen Helen Gorge)

Breezy and 85 degrees. We all met at 6:45 and drove back on the highway to Ormiston Gorge and took a short hike up to an overlook and got a view of a large swimming hole with red rock walls. We returned to Glen Helen for our meager, but free breakfast and instant coffee, and then set out again to explore more canyons and try to see some of the unique birds of the region. We walked to the Ochre Pits, an area of gorgeous purple and yellow clay walls that the Aborigines still use for collecting materials for ceremonial body painting. The hillsides are covered in mounds of Spinifex Grass that look innocuous but are incredibly sharp and can pierce your pants and socks with ease. Many animals and birds live in and are protected by the grass and we were lucky to see a covey of Spinifex Pigeons, golden brown pigeons with red, black and white faces and a long plumes extending straight up from their heads.

We returned back to Glen Helen for a rare afternoon at leisure; Hil and I sat on the lawn looking at the beautiful Finke River and red cliffs beyond and read and painted watercolors.

Dinner of steak and spaghetti and more amusing visits from Flash.

Sun, Sept 16 - Alice Springs to Glen Helen Gorge

(photos: Standley Gorge, Cycads)

Slept in a little, got up at 7, packed and had another delicious breakfast in the garden with Wil, Anne and Toffy and Molly, the toast begging spaniels. We said goodbye and drove off on the Larapinta Highway that parallels the West MacDonnell Mountains, a low mountain range that run east-west for about 100 miles. We made several stops, driving off on side roads that lead to narrow steep gorges cut into the red sandstone. The first of these was Simpsons Gap, a dry sandy-bottomed cut that revealed pools of water when you dug into the sand. Then we pulled off into Standley Chasm, a lush well-vegetated canyon full of flowering shrubs and many cycads. At the end of the Chasm the red walls close in and the sunlight at midday makes the whole area glow beautifully. It was very hot, about 90, and thankfully we were able to find a little snack bar back at the car and lunched on ice cream. before continuing on to Glen Helen Gorge.

It’s only about 100 miles from Alice Springs to Glen Helen so even with our stops, we arrived about three and checked in. The Glen Helen Lodge is a comfortable, but bizarre collection of RVs, tents and motel located on a stream that widens into a small lake that runs through a wide gorge. It has a bar, restaurant, laundry, pool, BBQ, store and caters to a wide variety of travelers. We unloaded our stuff into our cinderblock room with double bed and bunks and the smallest sink every created. Hil and I walked down to the lake and watched people swimming (no crocs here) and then ambled back to the bar for happy hour and chatted with some exuberant Aussies. Bob joined us from a nap and we eventually went over for dinner in a lovely adobe room decorated with a series of very nice watercolors by a local Aboriginal artist. The dinner was amazingly good considering how isolated we were: we had thick spicy tomato soup and chicken breast stuffed with mango and rice, and the very amusing chef, Flash, entertained us by introducing everyone in the room and sitting down with us for a chat. A live band in the next room sounded great.

Sat, Sept 15 - Birding in Alice

(photos: Alice Springs Desert Park, Rainbow Bee-eater, Poached Egg Daisy)

The three of us met at 6:45 and walked around the neighborhood and down to the dry riverbed that runs through town and were greeted by a large flock of cockatiels, beautiful gray and yellow parrots with round pink cheek patches. When we returned to the B & B, Anne had set the table in the garden with fruit, coffee, and croissants and served us an asparagus frittata. The five of us had a great breakfast together, and Wil offered to go birding with us again in the morning. So in a short while we set off for the great Alice Springs Sewage Ponds and with Wil’s key was able to enter the gate! A great first destination for Hil’s vacation! Fortunately she was very good humored about it and we saw quite a few birds as sewage ponds really attract them.

We dropped Wil off at home and drove west out of town to the Alice Springs Desert Park, grabbed a bit to eat in their café and set off on the trail through the park with headsets and commentary explaining the unique ecological features of the Red Centre. We saw beautiful displays of wildflowers and lots of birds in aviaries. We even saw the long-sought Bush Stone Curlew as he hissed at one that was inside an aviary. (You can’t put a caged bird on your life list, but a wild one attracted in by food, caged birds, etc, is OK).. We completed the tour with a bird show in which a ranger talked about various raptors as one by one they flew out, swooped around and caught bits of homburg on the fly and returned behind a rock wall. The last bird to fly out was a Black-breasted Buzzard who was supposed to crack open and eat an Emu egg, but he just took off and flew away to the embarrassment of the ranger!

We returned to Nthaba and Wil invited us up to the top of their garden for several glasses of wine and then we all went out to a great dinner at QC of more roasted scallops, chicken and steak.

Fri, Sept 14 - Hilary arrives in Alice

(photos: Mulga Parrot, Splendid Fairy-Wren, Euros)

Alarm went off at five and we managed to get up and dressed and meet Wil at 5:45.

We drove north on the Stuart Highway and west on single lane highway to Tanami for about 40 minutes, turning off onto dirt and parked by a cattle pond. Will set up a table and cut up fruit, made coffee and set out Anne’s sandwiches. The sun was just coming up and there was a chilly wind, so we shivered and ate until it got quite light and then the action began. Flocks of Mulga Parrots with their greeny blue bodies and yellow and black wings flew in to drink and then very fast-moving screeching groups of Budgies appeared looking just like my old green pet parakeet, Flip, from 50 years ago! We hiked into the bush, and saw several other species including the Splendid Fairy-wren, a tiny bird of several shades of irridescent blue and fantastic ant nests, some shaped like miniature nuclear power plants and some small mounds with coin slots on top.

We left at ten and drove back to Nthaba B & B, changed, put a load of laundry into our personal Miele washer and set off for the airport. At 12:45 the Quantas flight from Sydney arrived and there was my sister, Hilary!

This her first trip to Oz, so we had tons to show her starting with pink Galah parrots at Wil and Anne’s backyard feeder and a group of Euros (medium size kangaroos) running across the street!

Visited the terrific Olive Pink Botanic Garden, half a mile away, and saw a great variety of native plants in bloom and then drove to a motel just out of town where every evening about 30 Black-footed Rock Wallabies come bounding down a rocky hill to feed and be fed. Saw a couple of Joeys sticking their heads out of their mother’s pouches!

We went to Alice Springs Hunaman restaurant since we had so enjoyed the one in Darwin and the food was good but some disaster was happening in the kitchen and our order apparently got lost under a table as we sat there for almost two hours waiting for our main dishes….when they finally came we were too weary to enjoy them. Oh, well…

Thur, Sept 13 - A town named Alice

We got up at six and left at 6:45 to return to East Point to try and catch the shore birds a full high tide at 7:15. We got to the beach just as the tide was turning and could actually see the water receding as we stood there because of the immense tide. But we got several new species of “peep” and terns before we had to leave at 8:30. Feathers Sanctuary has a checkout time of 10 AM; I had asked if we could extend it a bit, but they are going to be full tonight and couldn’t stretch it. RRZ wasn’t pleased as this a rather expensive place and he felt they could have juggled things a bit, but then he was already irritated by the outdoor shower with its mis-engineered floor that floods the entire bath/toilet/sink area, whereas I loved the whole idea of it…so we had quite different opinions of the place!

We cleared out our luggage and then relaxed by the pool in the cool shade for a while before driving a quarter mile down to the airport where we had a 1:50 flight to Alice Springs. The airport was air conditioned and had wifi so we spent a happy two hours checking email and finally sending off a couple of blogs.

Our 737 took off on time and we circled over Darwin at dead low tide and were amazed at how far the tide had gone out since we birded earlier. Whole bays were exposed. Quite amazing.

We flow over miles of scrub with the vegetation getting sparser and the soil getting redder until we reached the well-named Red Centre and landed in Alice Springs. We emerged from the plane into a wonderful dry warm desert! Very much like Tucson with similar vegetation, except no cactus. As we both love desert, we were thrilled! The town is quite small with a population of ~30,000. We got another Nissan X-Trail and easily found Nthaba B&B on the outskirts of town. We were greeted by Anne Cormack and shown our four-room cottage and invited over to the main house for wine. We had a very enjoyable white wine hour with her and her grandsons until her husband, Wil, appeared and he poured us some red! He was thrilled that we wanted to go out tomorrow, very early, to try and find the Bourke’s Parrot and asked if he could come along. Anne packed up a huge picnic breakfast and we’ll meet at 5:45 on Friday.

We drove downtown to have dinner at Oscar’s, but they were fully booked and we walked down the street and into QC, an fancy little bistro, where we split an excellent dinner of scallops with squid ink fettuccini and a steak with wild mushroom and Colombian potatoes. Great!

Wed, Sept 12 - Birding Darwin

(photos: Darwin River, Botanic Gardens, mangrove swamp)

We slept ten hours until 7 AM, got up, and dashed off to Lee Point, north of the city to check out the shore birds. The tide was already going out and the shore birds were quite a distance out. The beach is lovely with coral reefs and little surf, but with the danger of crocs and box jellyfish, swimming isn’t recommended. It was very hot and humid by 9 AM, so we headed back to our room terrace for breakfast. We were entertained with visits by the brolgas and bustard and hotel puppy. After a bit we set off downtown to visit the Botanic Gardens where the Rufous Owl roosts. It had been seen this morning according a ranger so we spent a couple of very hot hours staring up into trees trying to locate a large brown mass sitting on a brown branch to no avail and finally left and drove to the Art and History Museum. After a tasty tuna sandwich we visited the Cyclone Tracy exhibit made famous in Bill Bryson’s “In A Sunburnt Country”. The cyclone came ashore in the middle of the night on Christmas Eve, 1974, with winds over 200 mph and devastated the city of Darwin. At one point you enter a totally dark room and hear a recording of the sounds of the Cyclone: metal ripping, trees crashing. Pretty amazing and scary, and a pretty impressive museum with also exhibits of natural history and aborigine art.

We returned home and picked up some garlic stir-fry beef and ate it with our room wine while watching the ubiquitous John Howard on TV.

Tue, Sept 11 - Katherine to Darwin

(photos: Rainbow Lorikeet, Darwin coast, Brolgas)

The alarm went off at five and up we got and had coffee, yogurt, and toast and set off at six. Drove north on Highway 1 to Edith Falls turnoff on the west side of Nitmiluk N. P. We continued on a few km. until we crossed a stream and turned off on a dirt road that paralleled the creek and stopped at a trash-strewed turn around and started seeing bird action right away. Mixed flocks of finches come down to billabongs only early in the morning and spend the rest of the day scattered and feeding. We saw Long-tailed and Crimson Finches and then finally saw the rare Gouldian Finch, a beautiful small bird with green back, yellow under parts, purple breast and a black or red face edged in turquoise. Quite a bird!

We spent about an hour there and then resumed driving north towards Darwin through rolling woodlands and microscopic towns. We reached the outskirts of Darwin about three and easily found our B&B, Feathers Sanctuary, north of downtown Darwin. Run by Peter and Suzanne, the B&B consists of their house and about five “huts” and several aviaries. The huts overlook a billabong full of ducks, Jabirus (Black-necked Storks), Brolgas (beautiful, amazingly graceful gray cranes with red heads) and other species. Some are wild, but most are rescue birds that the Park Service or individuals have brought them. Some birds in the aviaries are endangered species that Peter is breeding.

Our “hut” is a large elegant room with a metal roof and a large corrugated-metal enclosed, open-air bath area with palm fronds cascading over the metal walls. Our breakfast and wine and cheese are in the frig.

We had some cheese and crackers as we hadn’t stopped for lunch and were visited by the resident bustard, a three-foot high ostrich relative, which proceeded to pick up my hat and walk away with it! Definitely a unique place!

We cleaned up and set off for East Point, one of Darwin’s many costal parks and checked out some shore birds. Darwin has a twenty-foot tide so the waves are either lapping at your toes or the beach extends to infinity. It’s a lovely tropical paradise, probably like Miami 50 years ago.

We drove into downtown and found the Humanan Restaurant where Peter had made a reservation for us and had an exquisite Thai-Indian dinner. We split an appetizer sampler of oysters in cilantro/lime/chili, pork wrapped in rice paper, tandori chicken, and prawns. Then we split a red curry duck and finished up with black rice brulee. Great meal! Back to Feathers and collapsed.

Mon, Sept 10 - Exploring Katherine Gorge

(photos: Katherine Gorge, Blue-faced Honeyeater)

Slept in to 7:30! Outside our cottage we found a cooler full of fruit, yogurt, milk and coffee with which we made a delicious breakfast. Drove a few more kilometers to Katherine Gorge Park and signed up for a boat trip at 11. The main feature of the Park is the deep chasm cut into the red and orange sandstone and the series of gorges that line it. There are many trails, but all but two are rated difficult with the most extreme being a five-day, 66 km trek that takes you up to Gorge Five. We took a short steep moderate hike to an overlook looking down on Gorge One. Along the way Bob spotted a Great Bowerbird under a bush: a large brown bird with an iridescent purple patch on the back of his head and powerful feet that he uses to build an “avenue” bower in grass that he lines with white and green objects to seduce a likely mate. We thought that was a pretty good sighting until we later saw G. B.s on the restaurant terrace!

We arrived at the boat dock at 10:45 and boarded a wide motorboat lined with chairs and chugged up to the end of Gorge One, disembarked and walked over rocks to Gorge Two where we got on another boat. The river rises about nine meters during theWet that enables the boat company to position the vessels. Now at the end of the Dry, the water is very low and we barely got through some areas. Our guide was a local Aborigine who gave us an amusing commentary on history, plant use and mythology of the area.

We divided a great steak, chips and salad on the Park info center and returned to our cottage for relaxation, laundry and sloppy ball playing with Nina who spotted us driving in and dashed back for her ball.

Set out at 4:30 to look for the Gouldian Finch that only occurs around here; drove to an obscure little billabong and stood around for an hour or so waiting for the evening action to begin. Saw a water snake slithering through the water, but little else. Too bad, because that means we have to check out of our delightful cottage at six AM in order to have a chance of seeing the damn finch which can only be seen reliably at dawn!

Back to Maude Creek Lodge, paid our bill and returned to our cottage for more scrambled eggs, wine and bananas. Compare and contrast food in Spain with country fare in Oz! Much as I love Australia, it’s stunning how wonderful the food is in every corner of Spain!

Sun, Sept 9 - Kakadu to Katherine

(photo: Red-tailed Black Cockatoo)

Checked out of the Crocodile Hotel and headed south, past Nourlangie and Yellow Water, through 120 km more of Kakadu National Park. The southern end has more hills and therefore is more interesting. Stopped at several billabongs and overlooks, leaving the park and drove into Pine Creek and up to its water tower where Bob’s bird guide said the Hooded Parrot was supposed to be, so we stood there on the dusty hillside in the blazing heat for a while before driving back into the tiny town for a sullenly served and overly fried chicken burger and their featured treat, a mango smoothie, that tasted very tinned. We were feeling a little discouraged by then, but spied a huge windmill at the end of the street and discovered that somebody in this micro town had had the gumption to pump water from a nearby lake and create a marvelous water park right in the middle of town. A series of lily ponds surrounded by lush vegetation had been constructed in an old railroad right-of-way and the parrots, being no fools, were right there! We only saw females, but they were a lovely lime green with turquoise rumps and yellow under parts. There were also Sulfur-crested and Red-tailed Black Cockatoos, and Rainbow Lorikeets.

We continued down to the town of Katherine and turned east off the Stuart Highway toward Nitmiluk (Katherine Gorge) National Park. We drove 30 km to Maud Creek Country Lodge, where Wilhem greeted us with his rambunctious dogs and took us to our wonderful cottage complete with swimming pool, shady porch, kitchen, ceiling fans. We sat on the porch, rehydrating with Cokes while Nina, one of the dogs, kept bringing us a slobbery chewed-up ball to throw. She was thrilled to find two pushovers like us to play with.

Places to eat at are a good distance away, and the Lodge had stocked our frig with wine and beer so we decided we’d rather relax and cook than drink and drive and went back to Katherine to “Woolie’s”, the local grocery chain, and stocked up on eggs, mushroom, tomatoes.

Good dinner of wine and scrambled eggs.

Sat, Sept 8 - Dingos, Bats and Crocs

8 Sept Sat

(photos: Crocs!, Short-earred Rock Wallaby)

Split a “health” breakfast delivered to our room at 6:30 and set off at 7, driving east to the border of the park with the Aborigine Arnham Land. Along the road we saw a pack of Dingos and a few wallabies. We parked and walked around a camping area and saw a fantastic Red- winged Parrot, emerald green with deep salmon pink wings. We drove over to a boat launching area on the East Alligator River posted with “Extreme Crocodile Warning!” signs and “People have been eaten here!!!”…and saw two crocs right off, one sunning herself on a rock and one very long snout floating on the surface. A huge colony of Black Fruit Bats (Flying Foxes) was nearby very noisily roosting, bickering, and moving around in the trees. They have furry reddish backs, 4-foot wingspans and wrap their wings around themselves just like Dracula.

The road ends, unless you have permission to enter the Aborigine lands, at Ubirr, another great rock art site, overlooking lush green wetlands. We climbed up and over rocky outcroppings, stopping at several wall painting sites with detailed anatomical drawings of barramundi and other fish. Bouncing up one rocky area was a Short-eared Rock Wallaby, a small roo with a fluffy tail and the ability to hop effortlessly up rocky crags. Amazing to see four different mammals, three of them life animals, in one day!

It was almost 100 degrees so we retired back to our hotel for some restorative air con and set out again at 4:30 back to Ubirr. The light was low which made the area even more beautiful. We took a self-guided trail around hoo-doos and through rock tunnels and heard wallabies bounding away through the underbrush and returned to the car just as it got dark. Drove back listening to the quarterfinals of the great Aussie passion, footy, played between the Hawthorne Hawks and Sydney Swans. No crass commercial interruptions as in the US, just pure footy.

Soup and salad at the Croc for dinner.