While the fires did make the final hours of our trip a little interesting,
we also got to see how they originated. We were caught in a storm as we
were approaching Murray-Sunset National Park, consisting of a bit of a
downpour (we were told 40mm in parts) and much later that night, while sat
outside the Shearer's Hut relaxing with refreshments, we watched the rather
stunning lightning strikes that eventually set off the fires through the
night. The next day, on our way out of Sunset, we passed Parks personnel
that had cut a clearing and were waiting for a helicopter to arrive and take
them further into the park to extinguish a small fire. We passed through
Pink Lakes but must have just missed that fire. By the time we arrived near
Hopetoun that fire was in full swing and certainly put me off my birding!!
Coincidentally, one of my favourite pics from the weekend was of a pair of
Little Corella cuddling in a tree at Lake Yerang. I also finally got to
see my first Rainbow bee-eater! then couldn't STOP seeing them, together
with gorgeous large families of emu - with up to 9 young - and massive
flocks of young galahs which were quite a sight and also rather dangerously
reluctant to move off the road. Lots of highlights, lots of dust, mud,
heat, flies and even smoke! A very interesting trip and hopefully Russell
won't miss the next one :-)
Cheers,
Karen.
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