(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…
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