G’day Paul
I guess it depends a bit on your expectations. As far as I know, Newhaven
doesn’t have any restaurants or guided tours. For us it was a self-service
place (well someone keeps the toilets and showers spotless and smelling good).
The folder with comprehensive track notes in the information shed was very
informative.
John Ireland, one of the managers there was very knowledgeable and provided
helpful tips. A couple camping near us discovered they had a major mechanical
failure with their vehicle (a stuffed CV joint) and they found the staff very
helpful in arranging a vehicle rescue service (we saw the vehicle coming up the
Tanami Rd the next morning as we were driving out).
My one “criticism" of the management is that they didn’t validate the reports
on the bird sightings board - someone had reported hearing a Gilbert’s Whistler
- which would be a remarkable observation given the location is 1000 km north
of the GW’s normal range.
Regards, Laurie.
On 18 Jul 2016, at 9:06 pm, Paul Doyle <> wrote:
> Hi Laurie,
> Since you mention the AWC, I may as well throw in my recent experience with
> them.
> In the Kimberly we booked in for 3 nights at Mornington (my birding birthday
> present) with an expectation of indulging myself in guided birding tours,
> slide show presentations and dining out in the highly-reputed restaurant,
> after 10 days of tinned food out of the boot of the car.
> The reality was a bit different. On arrival we were greeted by rude and
> grumpy staff (one overhead complaining to another that she had 6 weeks to
> go, and couldn't wait to leave).
> The restaurant (which you can't book in advance of your arrival) was fully
> booked out for the next 8 days. I don't understand how that works. No one
> we met there was staying for that long, so if everyone only stays on average
> 2or 3 nights, and you can't book prior to arrival, how can it be booked out
> for over a week? Not just implausible, it actually defies the laws of
> mathematics!
> The guided tours were also fully booked out: I could not get onto a single
> one of any description, despite there being numerous guided tours (some
> birding, some not) allegedly available. Once again, everything was booked
> out for a week.
> So, decided to indulge in some of the slide shows, beautifully set out
> (seating and all) with an outdoor screen in a lovely grassed area beside the
> restaurant. No luck there either: the next slide show was 10 days away!
> The staff were for the most part unsympathetic and could not have cared less
> that none of the things that they advertise as being available actually are
> available for visitors. we were lucky to have enough food with us for the
> family during our stay: others had turned up with little food expecting to
> be able to eat in the restaurant. The nearest shop is about 150km away!
> The place is fantastic, but from a business perspective, whoever is running
> that pace has got no idea how to do it. Most of the people we met were
> similarly underwhelmed.
> I hope other AWC sites are not so poorly managed.
>
> Paul.
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Birding-Aus On Behalf Of
> Laurie Knight
> Sent: Monday, 18 July 2016 5:59 PM
> To: Birding Aus <>
> Subject: [Birding-Aus] Newhaven is very green at the moment
>
> G'day
>
> My friend Lionel is walking the Larapinta Trail at the moment and needed
> some help setting up his food drops (and leaving his car in Alice Springs
> for him to collect at the end of the walk). I had a week of leave up my
> sleeve, so the Friday before last we left Brisbane after an early breakfast
> and arrived at Newhaven on the afternoon of the fourth day.
>
> Newhaven is managed by the Australian Wildlife Conservancy -
> http://www.australianwildlife.org/sanctuaries/newhaven-sanctuary.aspx .
> Most people would access it via the Tanami Rd from Alice Springs (now sealed
> all the way to the turnoff - 20 km past the Tilmouth Roadhouse. Newhaven
> has a well maintained ~130 km access road.
>
> Newhaven has a large amount of topographical and ecological variation, and
> is a very interesting place to visit, particularly after good rain. With ~
> 200 mm of rain in June, Newhaven was a mass of green, with plenty of water
> in the lakes and lots of plants in flower. Newhaven has a good internal
> road network with good signposting. It has an excellent campground with hot
> showers. It costs $10 per person per night to camp there.
>
> The AWC has written up 6 "tours" which take you through the property and
> cover many ecosystem types. We did 5 of the circuits in the 3 full days we
> had there (it is easy to combine the dune & lakes circuits, and the gorge &
> home range circuits). Mt Gurner is a bit more of bushwalk for off track
> walkers.
>
> On the birding front, there were heaps of Bustards, Brown Falcons, Budgies,
> Zebra Finches, Pink-eared Ducks, Aus Teal, Grey and Hoary-headed Grebes,
> Black-fronted Dotterels, Fairy Martins, Pallid Cuckoos, Rufous Songlarks,
> Hooded Robins, Masked Woodswallows, Black, Pied and Grey-headed and Singing
> Honeyeaters. There were also Black-breasted Buzzards, Little Eagles,
> Stubble Quail, Little Button-quail, Spinifex Pigeons, Orange and Crimson
> Chats, White-browed Babblers, White-fronted Honeyeaters, Inland Thornbills,
> Red-capped Robins, Crested Bellbirds, Painted Finch and Mistletoebirds etc.
> Sadly there were no Princess Parrots at the time.
>
> The songlarks, woodswallows and honeyeaters were very vocal. Many times I
> heard the sparrow-like call of the woodswallows while photographing flowers
> on the dunes (at one stage there were over 50 circling overhead).
> Photographic highlights included a trio of partly fledged songlarks on the
> ground and a Little Button-quail walking through a field of Mulla Mullas.
>
> Actually, I was wandering through a hectare of Mulla Mullas (as you do) with
> the landscape camera. I noticed that some lazy sod had driven a vehicle
> through the flowers and was muttering words to that effect when I flushed a
> Button-quail (it had a two syllable call) and noticed another one of the
> ground in open ankle-high grass nearby. It was very frustrating being on
> top of a BQ with a camera that was useless for photographing birds. I
> remember that it did a funny sort of nervous walk at one stage. After I
> lost sight of it, I went back to the car, retrieved the bird camera, made my
> way back to the tyre marks, and would you believe it, refound the Little BQ
> and got a respectable photo.
>
> Overall I had a great time and found the AWC staff and volunteers very
> friendly and helpful. Right now is a great time to be in Central Australia
> .
>
> Regards, Laurie.
>
>
>
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