Tuesday, September 13, 2011
Port Augusta
Today we stayed in Port Augusta, actually 40 kms to the west at Nuttbush Retreat. Our first stop of the day was the Australian Arid Lands Botanic Garden. What a spectacular place!!!! Jill & Greg would just love it. I think every visitor to Australia should come here to see the spectacular colours of the arid lands and to see what a diverse eco-system that exists. At the moment, the trees, scrubs and plants are all blooming and the Singing Honeyeater and Spiny-cheeked Honeyeaters are having a wonderful time with the blooms. Some of the gum blossoms are so big and the colours so bright. Sat and watched a Willy wagtail harass an Australian Raven. It was a real hoot. What I found really amazing was that some of the saltbush family can live for 200 years!!! Went to a bird hide but the only birds that visited were the Zebra Finches.
In the afternoon we drove along Spencer Gulf along a road called the Shack Road. I presume in the early days the fishermen built their shacks there but today there are some very trendy homes. The signs to the houses are quite funny - eg “Peyton Place”, “Footrot Flats”. It was really pretty with the dark blue of the Gulf contrasted with the colours of the distant hills. Recently some whales came right up the Gulf to the bridge that crosses over to the Eyre Highway.
No comments:
Post a Comment