Hi Laurie,
Well yes, but the expectations were clearly set by the AWC, advertising
their tours and the restaurant to all potential visitors. I'm not a fine
dining snob: just looking forward to some good food after a week of tinned
food. I'm happy to rough it and had been doing so for 10 days prior to
arrival, so this probably sharpened my disappointment.
My problem is the discrepancy between what's touted and what's actually
available.
I am sure that the problem is the management of this particular place: this
is not a criticism of the AWC generally, or Newhaven or any of their other
properties.
Paul
-----Original Message-----
From: Laurie Knight
Sent: Tuesday, 19 July 2016 6:02 AM
To: Paul Doyle <>
Cc: Birding Aus <>
Subject: Re: Newhaven is very green at the moment/Mornington Camp
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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