Geez Tony,
You're a real diehard!
The birders you know must be self selected hairshirters
who know your spartan tastes. If you charged more,offered "luxury
accomodation" on your trips and advertised in overseas bird mags., you could
be too busy to even contemplate complaining on the net. You might of course
suffer from hot high-pressure showers, mosquito and flyproofing, gourmet
food (locally farmed bustard) and wine (you could stipulate Barossa Shiraz
or Rhine Reisling), a good air-conditioned night's sleep on a comfortable
bed, a table chair and light to writeup trip reports and Atlas sheets,
appropriate videotapes of the local avifauna, and a big multi-choice
breakfast bar. Wives or girlfriends coming along for the ride as it were
are definitely more cooperative if they can contemplate a little luxury on
the next trip after roughing it year in and year out.
Seriously though, its horses for courses. If you believe
that birding wasn't meant to be easy, stick to Southern Ocean pelagics.
Klaus' website accommodation directory is one of the great creations for
birdwatchers wanting to spend time seeing birds with a minimum of bother and
maximum of comfort, and I suspect is making Oz an increasingly favorite
destination. His addition of suitable accommodation for those who don't want
to camp or stay in less expensive places puts the site up with the best
anywhere. (OK Klaus, 10% off the next trip will do).
All the site needs now is lists of homestays on farms
(Alex.A. where are you?) , partly to encourage the farmers themselves to
look after their birds,and a list of unluxurious places in key sites like
the Victoria River Roadhouse.
We love camping (except when its wet or min.temp
35degrees at 2am,) but to fly in with camping gear is impractical. As for
driving, there are better ways to spend a week than nonstop driving to
Perth, Darwin or Broome and back if you've done it before.Flying in, hiring
a small car/van (unlimited mileage deals only) and staying at the cheapest
places we can find is our standard routine, but at least one night of luxury
keeps the troops happy.
Sometimes it's cheaper to go on a tour than
do-it-yourself, particularly for out-of-the way places where 4wd
(horrendously expensive to hire and then not always reliable) and standard
hirecars aren't permitted.
Cheers
Michael
Mulgoa Valley
50km west of Sydney Harbour Bridge
Birding-Aus is on the Web at
www.shc.melb.catholic.edu.au/home/birding/index.html
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