The day before I left Bowra a
group from Nowra arrived there. Chatting to their leader I mentioned I
was heading for Lightning Ridge. “You never know what you’ll
find”, Karen said. “That’s near where we found the
Grey-headed Lapwing.” Thus alerted to the strong possibility
of a Grey-headed Lapwing, I kept my eye out for one over the next few
days, but if one was about I must have missed it from concentrating on the
road.
That day was the
second Day of the Dust. This image conveys an idea of the eerie
landscape along the Job’s Gate Road, although I understand it was much
the same over much of eastern Australia:
Knowing how keen some members of this chatline are on their
‘Wotsits’, I offer this one of a bird glimpsed along
the way. Reasonably characteristic views of it. Anyone?
My route ran through the 2
national parks straddling the border which was crossed at Job’s Gate,
where the effectiveness of the alleged ‘gate’ was impaired by the
grid being filled with sand to the road level. I had intended to
camp for a night or two at Culgoa NP, but was a bit behind schedule so I only
checked out the camping area and did the short walk to the
‘river’. This, a distributary arm of the
Condamine/Balonne system, was not flowing. A few predictable birds
were about. Black soil country, of course, probably much better bird-life
in early morning.
Later that day, I got a puncture,
my mobile got a flat battery when I needed some directions, and Geelong was
behind at three-quarter time. However, things had improved by the time
the sun went down.
