Newhaven Wildlife Sanctuary 22nd August - Cobham Lake 10th September Part 2

 Newhaven Wildlife Sanctuary, Northern Territory - Cobham Lake, 

New South Wales

 

Bird Species List for this section                                                     Part 1  Part 3

 

22/8/2022 

 

It was a cold night 1ºC outside and 8ºC inside, maybe our experiment with the diesel heater warming the tent and bed before we went to sleep had worked. Survived the cold start to the morning with a hot coffee and breakfast before we got on the road to Alice Springs. We said goodbye to Newhaven by 8.45. Stopped along the way to take a few photos and had coffee at the halfway mark along the Newhaven Road. Only saw a few Grey-headed Honeyeater and a Brown Falcon here.

 

Road from Newhaven  to Tanami Track

 

Reached the Tanami Track and travelled to the Tilmouth Well Roadhouse, where we found a T-van, so naturally we stopped beside them for a chat. Whilst chatting another two T-vans came in, but they did not engage for a chat.

 

T-vans at Tilmouth Well Roadhouse

 

Had a toasted sandwich and coffee here to keep us going. The road to Alice is sealed with sections of single and double lane bitumen, unlike our last trip up here 20 years ago when it was gravel washouts and corrugations. Made it to Alice and parked up in the motorhome/caravan parking area next to the Todd River. Walked into town and checked out the supermarket for food shopping . Booked into the G’day Mate Caravan Park, set up and readied the Prado for it’s service tomorrow. We had noisy neighbours tonight.

 

23/8/2022 

 

Up early to take the Prado in for it’s 90,000km service at Peter Kittle Toyota. Dropped the Prado off and got their courtesy bus back to the Caravan Park. The rest of the day was filled with tidying up the T-van, washing and catching up on paperwork. Got picked up late afternoon by the courtesy bus that took us back to collect the Prado. Checked a few pathology labs to see if they could do a therapeutic venesection for my 3 monthly bleed (to control my Hemochromatosis - Iron Overload), but they could not. Then tried the hospital but they also said they could not do it. 

 

24/8/2022 

 

Phoned Hemochromatosis Australia to check if they knew anyone in Alice Springs who could do the venesection. They said the hospital should be able to do it, so rang the hospital and went through at least six people/departments until finally the Oncology Department said they could do it. So off to the hospital to fill in forms and make an appointment. Thought we would go to the Alice Springs Desert Park for lunch at the cafe but were disappointed to find it closed. So ordered some pies from the reception to have later. Went for a walk around the grounds, checking out the aviaries, grounds and the nocturnal house, where we had a guided tour. Had been here 20 years ago when the park was relatively new, so the vegetation had all changed and more displays were built. Pleased to see Numbat in the display as we had missed them in their natural habitat in Western Australia. They all looked very healthy and were breeding.

Numbat

 

Had our pies for lunch and continued around the park to watch the raptor display, all very good and well worth the visit. The Barn Owl was the star performer.

 

Barn Owl

 

Plenty of free flying birds in the grounds including this male Red-capped Robin.

Red-capped Robin

 

 25/8/2022 

 

Another 0ºC morning! Left early as we had an appointment with Tanya (our Alice Springs Treatment Works guide) for breakfast in the Olive Pink Botanic Gardens. Lindsay had eggs Benedict and I had a cheesy omelette, all very good, especially washed down with a good coffee. From here we went to try and find a head torch as my Led Lenser had a damaged on/off switch. Ended up after much looking at Outback Batteries, where I got another Led Lenser. Could only get really cheap or really expensive ones elsewhere, probably could have got 10 cheap ones to one Led Lenser! Anyway Led Lensers are good when they are working! (like most things) plus we’ve found their after service is good (update: They sent me a new replacement, great service). Back to camp for an early lunch as I had the appointment for my venesection at the hospital, which went OK. Then into town to post off the broken Led Lenser along with a broken radio for repair. Fueled up the Prado on the way back to camp as we were heading out of town tomorrow. 

 

 

26/8/2022 

 

Yet another 0ºC morning! Packed up, had a bowl of porridge and got onto the road north. First stop was the public weighbridge on the northern edge of town to weigh the Prado and T-van. Prado + T-van = 4470Kg, Prado = 2940Kg and T-van 1740Kg, which were all within limits. Then headed south through town towards South Australia. Stopped at Polhill Rest Area for a coffee before continuing on to the Cannonball Run Memorial, where we parked up to look for Cinnamon Quail-thrush. This is a regular spot for them and we were not disappointed as two were found sheltering under a small bush in the shade. Kept going south stopping at the Finke River Rest Area for lunch at 12.40pm. Very quiet for birds with nothing new to report. After lunch we headed to the Henbury Crater turn off and travelled 11km on the Kings Canyon gravel road until the Henbury Crater turn off for a further 5km. This took us to the car park/campground here we decided we did not want to walk 20 minutes to the crater.

 

Henbury Crater Area

 

So we returned to the main road south and stopped at the Desert Oak Rest Area for afternoon coffee. The rest area looked like a good place to camp for the night but we decided to continue on with Lindsay driving to Kulgera and an overnight camp at Agnes Creek Rest Area.

 

Agnes Creek Camp

We had mice here but luckily not in plague proportions. Pied Butcherbird was one of eight species recorded here.

 

Pied Butcherbird

 

It was cooling down in the evening so we put the diesel heater on.

 

 

27/8/2022 

 

0ºC morning again so we put the heater on again and had a coffee as the outside temperature rose to 5ºC. Birdlife was also again very quiet so we headed off to Marla 87km away, which is at the beginning of the Oodnadatta Track. Fueled up at Marla ($2.25 lt.) and had a coffee. Another T-van arrived being towed by an older Land Rover Discovery. Aired down the tyres for the trip down the gravel on the Oodnadatta Track. The track started off quite good with speeds of 60-80kph able to be maintained safely.

 

 

 Further along the road we came to Coongra Creek and stopped for lunch.

 

There was a waterhole with water in it so we decided it would make a good overnight stop so we set up camp right opposite an Australasian Hobby on a nest. 

 

Australian Hobby Nest

 

Australian Hobby

 

Spent the rest of the afternoon birding managing to add Southern Whiteface and Red-backed Kingfisher to our trip list. In the evening we saw two Eastern Barn Owl sitting in a tree beside the waterhole. An immature Red-capped Robin was flying around the camp with the adult female not far away.

Red-capped Robin - immature

 

28/8/2022 

 

Woke up to a warm 4ºC morning and some birding before a lovely cooked breakfast. There were a few fish in the creek.

 

Freshwater Fish Sp.

 

The Australian Hobby were very active in the early morning, one caught a Budgerigar and pulled it apart while the other one looked on hoping to pick up a few crumbs. Also had our second Red-backed Kingfisher for the trip.

Australian Hobby with Breakfast.

Second Australian Hobby watching On

 

Red-backed Kingfisher

 

Back on the Oodnadatta Track we stopped a few times to check out the habitats, which consisted mainly of sandy flats and gibber. One stop was made to check  out a Spotted Harrier chasing a Wedge-tailed Eagle, this went on for over five minutes.

 

Spotted Harrier Swooping Wedge-tailed Eagle

 

Spotted Harrier Chasing Wedge-tailed Eagle

 

Spotted Harrier Seeing Off Wedge-tailed Eagle

 

Morning coffee was had at Kathleen Creek, which had a small waterhole but no birds. The road from here was good gravel to Oodnadatta, where we visited the flash new toilets and drinking water station before going to the cemetery on the edge of town. Here we had lunch sitting in the car as it was too windy to sit outside. The road out of town started off well before it hit a rocky section through some hills. Beyond this was a grader in operation, here the road improved.

 

Graded Road out of Oodnadatta

 

The track followed the old railway line to our overnight stop at Algebuckina Camp, where we set up next to the waterhole on Neales River. Had 3 Bourke Parrot fly past the camp along with clouds of flies which persisted into the night.

 

29/8/2022 

 

Warm night with strong winds forcing us to take down the privacy screen and stop the kitchen door, which was open, from rattling. Up at 6.30 to try and boil the kettle in the wind which it eventually did. Went for a morning bird walk, highlights were Little Pied Cormorant, Black-shouldered Kite that obligingly sat in a tree for photos plus good views of Rufous Songlark.

 

Black-shouldered Kite

 

Packed up and left by 9.00 and stopped to take photos of the old Algebuckina Railway Bridge.

 

Algebuckina Railway Bridge in the background

Back onto the Oodnadatta Track we were treated to a good gravel surface with lots of ups and downs giving great views of the expansive landscape. Large gibber flats, sand dunes and a mixture of grasses and shrubs were the dominant cover. Stopped at Duff Creek Railway Bridge for morning coffee and take a few photos of the railway bridge. The number and designs of the railway bridges along this stretch of the Old Ghan Railway really impressed us. We were imagining the time and effort required to get these structures into these remote areas with primitive means of transport compared with today. Birds were again scarce but we did have a pair of Australian Hobby flying around along with 3 Galah and 5 Yellow-throated Miner.

 

Duff Creek Railway Bridge

 

Continued south to William Creek, where we booked a flight over Lake Eyre for tomorrow, if the wind drops down. Then booked a site at the caravan park and set up in the wind before seeking shelter in the tent for lunch.

 

William Creek Campground

 

Relaxed for the rest of the afternoon, then had a good meal of fish and chips at the William Creek Hotel in the evening.

 

William Creek Hotel

 

Back at camp we put the heater on to keep warm and drown out the neighbours snoring! 

 

30/8/2022 

 

10ºC with a cold wind starting to blow as we got up. No rush this morning as our flight over Lake Eyre was not until 9.30. So I put our Ratchet Jockey wheel onto the L/H side to where the original one used to be. The ratchet jockey wheel has adjustable height positions for uneven ground. Walked over to the airstrip and met our pilot, Mackenzie, she had learnt to fly when she was 16 living on a property in NSW. We flew out towards ABC Bay passing several dams built by the adjacent pastoralists for their cattle. ABC Bay is where Australia’s lowest point of -15.2m is. before flying over Halligan Bay Point.

 

One of the many dams on the way to ABC Bay

 

The surrounding landscape was amazing from the air with many green areas from the recent rains in the William Creek area, 5mm last week.

 

Cattle Country

 

Halligan Bay Point campground, no campers today.

 

Halligan Bay Point Campground

 

Water in Lake Eyre

 

From Halligan Bay Point we flew over a couple of islands, including Brooks Island, which had a group of nesting Australian Pelican on it.

 

Brooks Island

 

 Australian Pelican

 

Australian Pelican

The lake had quite a bit of water in it but nowhere near reaching capacity, however rains since our visit will be heading down the rivers and could well fill the lake.

 

 More water in the lake

 

 William Creek

 

After an enjoyable hours flight it was back to camp to get organised for a ground visit to the lake and lunch. After lunch we headed out to the Halligan Bay Road to stop at a bore we had visited before but were disappointed to see it was capped and the surrounding reeds and rushes burnt. Continued along the road to stop at a sand dune beside the road and found a male Crimson Chat foraging amongst the low vegetation.

 

Crimson Chat - male

 

Lindsay managed to find a black ants nest at the base of the dune and had the ants swarming over her biting as they went. We managed to get them off her clothes and move away from the nest. Fortunate move as I found an old compact camera lying on the ground covered in sand, so we picked it up to investigate it later and see if we could retrieve the SD card images. Further along the road we came across some Orange Chat.

 

Orange Chat - male

 

Orange Chat - female

 

Then we continued on to Midway Dam, which had been enlarged since our last visit, probably to make up for the capped bore back down the road. A few birds here including Grey Teal, Hoary-headed Grebe and an Australian Kestrel. 

 

Hoary-headed Grebe

 

A few curious  onlookers where checking us out!

 

 

We turned around here and headed back to camp, seeing a pair of Chestnut-breasted Quail-thrush alongside the road.

 

Chestnut-breasted Quail-thrush

 

Back at camp managed to get the SD card out of the camera and plug it into the laptop, amazing we could retrieve the images! The last pictures were April 2011! So it had been lying in the sand for over 10 years. The last images were of a group in 2 NSW registered Nissan Patrols fixing a puncture. Anyone recognise this Nissan Patrol? We will  endeavour to try and track them down.

31/8/2022 

 

Another cold start 3ºC, had breakfast, shower and packed up before we filled one tank on the T-van with desalinated water. Then continued heading south with a stop at Lake Eyre south. Here the map showed altitude as 3m but it was actually below sea level.

 

 

Lake Eyre south

 

Then a coffee break at another old Ghan railway bridge spanning Warriner Creek Some water in the creek was attracting Pied Stilt and a coupe of Avocet. A Brown Falcon was getting a hard time by four Torresian Crow who were chasing it out of a tree. It was quite a distance away but managed a few photos including this highly cropped photo.

Brown Falcon and Torresian Crow

Then onto Beresford Sidings Bore - a watering point for the old railway, this had a couple of Little Black Cormorant and Hoary-headed Grebe in it. A White-faced Heron and an Australian Kestrel flew over whilst several Singing Honeyeater were in the surrounding vegetation.

 

Singing Honeyeater

 

We investigated the old railway buildings.

 

Beresford Bore Sidings - Old Railway Buildings

 

Continued on to Coward Springs, our overnight stop arriving just in time for lunch so we found our campsite and set up. 

 

Coward Springs Campsite

 

In the afternoon we walked to the museum along the spa overflow wall and found some Little Grassbird before hearing Australian Spotted Crake calling in the reeds. Briefly saw two crake fly out of the reeds along with another two calling.

Coward Springs Museum Building

1/9/2022 

 

Lousy nights sleep with only 5 hours and a bad headache. First light we went for another walk along the spa overflow wall and this time had good views and photos of the crakes along with a very friendly Chiming Wedgebill who nearly landed on my head!

 

Australian Spotted Crake

 

Chiming Wedgebill

 

Met another couple from Perth, the lady was a bird photographer so we pointed her in the right direction for the crakes. By this time my headache had gone and it was time for a poached egg on toast breakfast. Continued heading south with a stop at Margaret Creek as we had seen some birds and water as we passed over the causeway. There was a Whistling Kite sitting on the edge of the creek with foraging Black-winged Stilt, Black-fronted Dotterel and a Caspian Tern flying over plus a few non waterbirds.

 

Whistling Kite

 

Black-winged Stilt

Caspian Tern

 

Then south to Marree where we had lunch in the park and aired up the tyres.

 

Marree Art with Old Ghan Railway Diesel Locomotive in background

 

After lunch continued south south to Farina along the sealed road, which goes all the way to Adelaide. Set up camp and sat down for a cuppa but the gas stove would not work again. We thought we were out of gas so headed back to Marree but they were out of gas, which meant we had to go back south again, passing Farina, to Lyndhurst. They had a gas bottle but wrong fitting. Checked the bottles again to find they still had gas in them, looked like the same problem we had in Alice Springs. By this time it was late afternoon so we booked into the Caravan Park and had an evening meal at the pub. 

 

2/9/2022

 

Rang Track Trailer (T-van makers) and explained the gas problems, they were very helpful and talked through the possible solutions to fix the gas supply, most of which I had already done. Checked everything again, disconnected the gas hose from the bottle and reattached it jiggling the hose fitting to make sure it was seating properly and it worked! I concluded that the hose fitting had not been seating in the gas bottle fitting correctly and was not releasing the valve. The new gas bottle connectors have a large rubber coupling which fits around the outside of the gas bottle valve with the hose through the centre. With the gas stove working again we headed north back to Farina to set up camp in the campground again and had lunch. After lunch checked out the dam adjacent to the campground, where there were Australian Wood Duck, Grey Teal and Black-fronted Dotterel at the dam plus many others in the fringing vegetation including a group of White-breasted Woodswallow.

 

White-breasted Woodswallow

 

Later in the afternoon we went along the bird trail walk where we found a family of Purple-backed Fairy-Wren, 2 male and 5 female plus a Nankeen Kestrel perched enjoying the setting sun.

 

Purple-backed Fairy-Wren

 

Nankeen Kestrel

 

Back to camp for dinner to find the gas stove was still working. Put on the diesel heater as the temperature was dropping quickly in the evening, 15°C with a cold wind blowing. Nice and cosy in the tent with the heater, however it soon cooled down after switching the heater off. 

 

3/9/2022 

 

The temperature dropped to 4°C by the morning but this did not deter us from taking a walk to the Farina  Cemetery, which is about 3km from the campground up a slight hill across open rocky ground. It was still blowing a cold wind, which made for uncomfortable walking. The open rocky ground is ideal habitat for quail-thrush and we saw one Cinnamon Quail-thrush trying to make a living in between the stones. 

 

Cinnamon Quail-thrush country

Approaching the cemetery

The cemetery makes sobering reading of the names of the many children who died here only days or weeks old. Brings home the hardships the early settler had surviving in this remote area.

Farina Cemetery

 

Farina Cemetery

 

Whilst we were there the cold wind got even stronger so we headed back to camp, battling against the strong cold wind. Back at camp we had a warming bowl of porridge before deciding to try out the T-vans shower. Put up the shower tent along with the diesel heater for welcome hot water. Quite a technique to get used to the strong flow from the pump but we managed a shower with minimal water use. Surplus shower water came in useful to wash the T-van and Prado down. Had a relaxing afternoon with a walk to the dam and along the creek, only new bird we saw for here was a male White-winged Triller. Chicken curry for dinner followed by an interesting podcast about frog sounds. 

 

4/9/2022

 

Wow -2°C this morning but not as cold as a previous visit to Farina when it was -7°C! This temperature require two jackets to help us thaw out. A cooked breakfast of scramble eggs and bacon followed by toast and coffee also helped. Packed up the T-van and headed south to Lyndhurst again, where we found the Strzelecki Track was still closed, due to flooding and resealing of part of the road. This meant we had to keep travelling south towards the Flinders Ranges. By chance we had just reacquainted with an old Darwin friend who we had been out of touch with for over 30 years and it just so happens he lives in Hawker, which was our destination for tonight. South of Lyndhurst the road follows the old Ghan Railway through rocky seemingly bare earth that had sheep grazing on it. Passed a few coal mines before stopping at Copely for morning coffee and to catch up with the internet. From here we kept going south, passing the Leigh Creek turn off and seeing signs of coal mining in the region. The scenery here started to get more interesting with the hills on the edges of the road.

Road South of Leigh Creek

 

Lindsay was driving this section and ended up at the William Greig Evans cairn, which celebrates this South Australian surveyor. This was one of very few stopping areas we had found. Had lunch here and admired the spectacular mountain views as the wind kept blowing.

 

William Greig Evans Cairn

 

View from William Greig Evans Cairn

 

This stretch of road had a high number of Wedge-tail Eagle mainly feeding on road kill along with Little Raven. Made it to Hawker and booked a night in the Hawker Caravan Park along with arrangements to meet our friend Pat. He came down to the park and we spent a few hours catching up on our lives over the last 30+ years, Used the camp kitchen in the evening and met a couple of cyclists who were cycling the Mawson Trail track. 

 

5/9/2022

4°C this morning as we packed up and headed down the road to visit our friend Pat who was only 5 minutes away from the caravan park. Pat showed us his block and plans to upgrade it, whilst we were doing this a pair of Mistletoebird flew in, our first for this trip. After an hour we said our farewells and headed into town to pick up a few food items as well as have a coffee and some raisin toast to keep us going. Then it was off to the Flinders Ranges stopping along the way at Arkoola Lookout. An information sign here focused on Birds of prey.

Arkoola Lookout

Had a walk around and found a family of White-fronted Chat, 2 adults and one juvenile, then found a male Emu with 4 immature birds following him around. 

 

White-fronted Chat bringing in food for a juvenile

 

White-fronted Chat bringing in food for a juvenile

 

Emu

Then onto Rawnsley Park Station where we booked an unpowered campsite on a slight slope but a great view.

 

Rawnsley Park Station Campground

In the afternoon we went north to Stokes Hill Lookout, where we had been before to look for Short-tailed Grasswren. The habitat has changed here due to sheep grazing so no chance of grasswren here anymore.

 

Stokes Hill Lookout

 

Called into Wood Duck Dam on the way back to camp and had 2 pairs of Australian Wood Duck who both had ducklings with them.

 

Australian Wood Duck

 

6/9/2022

Four Elegant Parrot flew over as we got up, new for the trip and a Red-capped Robin visited our camp.

 

Red-capped Robin

 

After breakfast we drove to Wllpena Pound stopping along the road to admire the wildflowers and the greenery contrasting with the hills.

 

Roadside To Wilpena Pound

  

Reached the Ranger Station where we parked up, cost $10.00 per vehicle for the day. Decided to take the same walk (Hills Homestead walk) to the pound as we had done on a previous visit, first up we saw some Laughing Kookaburra a common species we had not seen for a while. We took the upper trail towards the pound, which proved to be a good move as we saw Redthroat and Inland Thornbill. The Redthroat proved elusive for a photo, darting around in he undergrowth, this record shot was just to prove we saw one!

 

Redthroat

 

We reached the Homestead and decided to head back to the ranger station along the lower track. Saw a couple of Grey Fantail, some Brown-headed Honeyeater, 1st for trip, Common Bronzewing and Yellow-rumped Thornbill, along with a very obliging Shingleback Lizard who was trying to warm up in the sun. 

 

Yellow-rumped Thornbill

 

Common Bronzewing

 

Shingleback Lizard

 

Went back to Wood Duck Dam for lunch and saw the two pairs of Australian Wood Duck swimming in the water with their ducklings. It was not very warm and still windy so we went back to camp. Tomorrows weather report did not look any better with rain forecast and still cold and windy. It had cooled down sufficiently in the evening for us to fire up the diesel heater for a while to take the chill off. 

 

7/9/2022

 

8°C this morning. We got on the road early this morning before 8.00 to avoid the impending rain. By the time we reached Hawker a few light showers had arrived. Continued along the RM Williams Highway towards Carrieton and onto Orroroo, where we stopped to buy a few items from the IGA supermarket. Then on to Peterborough with light rain showers following us most of the way. Booked an unpowered site in the caravan park behind a shed on a sloping site which took sometime and ingenuity to get the T-van level. The temperature had not risen above 13°C so we had a cuppa soup and a roll for lunch to warm up. Following afternoon coffee we drove into town to look around and fuel up (diesel $2.03lt) and visit the Town Carriage Museum to be educated on some of Peterborough’s railway and town history. Called into the Visitor Information Centre for a few brochures before heading up a hill on the edge of town to visit a nature park. Not much birdlife here as it was too cold, windy and rain threatened. Back at camp the sky darkened and thunder was heard in the distance. Then early evening as we were using the cook shed the thunderstorm hit with monsoonal rain and a lightning show. At least 40mm of rain fell in an hour, we were glad we could seek refuge in the T-van and sleep under the hard shell roof and not canvas. 

 

8/9/2022

 

Up to another cold and windy day after a very wet and windy night. Packed up the very wet tent and took a walk to the adjacent Victoria Park. Unfortunately the park was a bit run down but it did have a few good birds in it including Black-tailed Native-hen and White-winged Chough, both new birds for the trip.

 

Black-tailed Native-hen

 

Back to camp to finish packing up and get on the road to Yunta, where Lindsay took over driving for a while. Had lunch in the car at Olary due to the cold wind blowing, sad looking old railway town but has an interesting history plus a Hotel which gets good write ups.

Olary Railway Station

 

Olary Hotel

 

As we were leaving the Indian Pacific train was heading west along side the road. This is one of the worlds great train journeys from Sydney to Perth via Adelaide. The next highlight was Cockburn on the New South Wales border, where the Caravan Park and most of the rest of the small town had closed down. Stopped at a rest area near Broken Hill for afternoon coffee. The drive from here was hilly with lots of feral goats dodging across the road, however we reached Broken Hill unscathed. Drove through town and found the racecourse, where we set up camp alongside many other travellers in a big car park. Still the wind was blowing but we had to go back into town to do some shopping at the supermarket. Then back to camp for dinner and to catch up on paperwork, mainly Birdata surveys.

 

9/9/2022

 

What a night, strong winds (40Kph) blowing the T-van around and keeping us awake. We decided to stay in town today due to the strong winds. First stop was the camping shop to buy a Jetboil so we could at least boil some water in the wind for a drink, then filled up our 4kg gas bottle. Drove into town to admire some of the architecture and visit the New South Wales National Parks office for some information before going to the information Bureau to check on road conditions.

 

Broken Hill Old Town Hall Facade

Broken Hill Court House

 

By now it was lunch time so we found a café, then back to camp to shelter in the T-van out of the relentless wind. We tested out the Jetboil in the wind and it worked faultlessly. With the wind preventing us from cooking an evening meal outside we settled on crackers with cheese and tomatoes for dinner! At least we had a hot drink. We were treated to a fireworks display in the evening, this was part the the Broken Heel Festival, which is a three day festival celebrating the theatrical anniversary of "Priscilla Queen of the Desert" (movie) at her spiritual home.

 

10/9/2022

 

At last the wind died down and the morning temperature only dropped to 8°C. After breakfast we packed up and drove over to another T-van couple who were from Brisbane. Swapped a few stories before we headed off towards Tibooburra stopping at a rare rest area for morning coffee. Kept heading in a northerly direction and took the turn off to Nundora Station Stay, where we intended to stay overnight but the road was wet from recent rain and flooding right across it. We started to loose traction so decided to turn around before we damaged the road or got stuck. Back on the road we reached Packsaddle Roadhouse and pulled off the road to have a late lunch with the flies! Found a Central Bearded Dragon sunning itself in a tree.

 

Central Bearded Dragon

 

Then continued on to  Lake Cobham, approximately 100km south of Tibooburra and pulled off the road to find a camp site for the night. Used the quick set up for this one night stay. 

 

Lake  Cobham Campsite

 

Took a walk down to the dry lake in the afternoon, where we found a few wet areas and some frogs calling along with hoards of flies. A full moon came up as we were having dinner and the wind died down along with a drop in the temperature.

 

Full Moon at Lake Cobham

After dinner we took a walk down to a wet area around the lake to record some frog calls before retiring for the night.

 

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