Central Australia

Hello everyone! I have spent the past two months in Central Australia, a harsh yet beautiful land of red sand dunes, ancient ranges and a wide diversity of wildlife. Through a series of field trips with Parks and Wildlife, and some independent trips of my own, I have grown to love this part of Australia. I was co-hosted by Parks and Wildlife, and the Department of Primary Industries. I assisted in the field with the former, and helped to develop a research program for the latter, involving some work related to my M.Sc. research. I stayed at a visitor house at the Arid Zone Research Institute, located about 7 km south of Alice Springs. The best features of this house were the geckos that hung out on my kitchen window on warm evenings, catching bugs.

Storm over the sand dune affectionately known as "Big Red"

I went on four field trips with Parks and Wildlife: three trips to the Simpson Desert area and one trip to Palm Valley. The Simpson Desert work primarily involved small mammal/marsupial trapping, with some general biodiversity monitoring. The Simpson desert is at first glance a desolate, lifeless environment, but I came to realize that although it is a harsh place, it is far from lifeless. Our focal species were plains rat and mulgara, two rare species in the Northern Territory. In addition to these species, we also caught fat-tailed and striped-faced dunnarts, kultarr, inland sandy mice and the ubiquitous house mouse. We camped in the bush on these trips to the desert, so my little tent was finally put to good use (and abuse).

Crest-tailed mulgara

Kultarr (slightly ruffled-looking from handling)

Fat-tailed dunnart

The final field trip took me to Palm Valley in Finke Gorge National Park, located about two hours from Alice Springs. The task was to measure the height of the red cabbage palms that are endemic tto this small area of the Northern Territory. It was a spectacular area and the palms were pretty amazing too, appearing to grow out of solid rock. It was a good trip, on which recorded my 280th bird species!

An oasis in Little Palm Valley, Finke Gorge National Park

I took a trip to Coober Pedy, a small outback town renowned for its' opal fields. It is an interesting town, albeit very rough, and I had an enjoyable few days in the area. The majority of the town's inhabitants escape the searing summer heat and freezing winter temperatures by residing in "dugouts", underground homes dug into hills. The churches are all underground, with remarkable carvings in the walls. I went fossicking (looking for opals in the mine tailings) without success, and also took a 12-hour tour with the mail truck in the area. I stopped in the outback posts of Oodnadatta, where visiting the pink roadhouse is a must, and Williams Creek, where the pub is apparently quite the attraction (I didn't have anything more potent than a ginger beer!).

The Breakaways, near Coober Pedy

On another independent trip, I went to Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park and Watarrka National Park. I enjoyed doing lots of hiking, especially along the Giles Track in Watarrka. I did the obligatory sunrise viewing of Uluru, which has great cultural significance for the Aboriginal peoples of the area. I particularly liked Watarrka, it's incredibly scenic with all the canyons and rock formations (despite the huge numbers of tourists, most of whom seemed to be older Germans with hiking poles!). I managed to completely exhaust myself out that week, as well as wearing out my feet, but it was well worth it - if you make it to Central Australia, you must visit Watarrka!

Uluru and Kata-Tjuta at sunrise

Watarrka National Park

I did a number of other really cool things in Central Australia, including hiking in Ormiston Gorge and birding at the sewage lagoon in Alice Springs. As always, I refer you to my online photo album for a complete record of my time here: http://picasaweb.google.com.au/elk2378/CentralAustralia?feat=directlink

I will be spending four days in Sydney, visiting some local national parks and hopefully getting a few last bird species for my list, before flying back to Canada on July 17. I'll be spending a week with my folks in Nanaimo and then driving to Edmonton to start work on July 27. I plan on posting one last blog with my impressions of Australia and things I've learned while here. It's been a life-changing experience, and I think I've grown as a person. Anyhow, I'm looking foward to seeing you all soon.