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...two travellers in search of the world's wildlife
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20 May 2011

Heart of Australia

Australia, Photos

The red centre is the landscape of Australia that you hope to find, huge and astonishing. After the summer rains it is as beautiful as it is uncompromising, and the wildlife in such a vast emptiness is surprising. We like it.

Visiting the heart of Australia we started of course with the icon that is Uluru
Up close the mighty rock can look rather surreal, like a fiberglass film set
This being the burning red centre of the driest continent, we had expected to be wandering a sandy desert
But unexpected rains this summer had turned the desert into a verdant Garden of Eden, albeit with no apple trees
Around Uluru we found zebra finches in abundance. How many zebra finches can fit on one twig?
It\'s a food chain - lots of rain means lots of plants, means lots of seed, means lots of zebra finches, means happy Brown Falcons indeed
The wonderfully punky Spinifex Pigeon was particularly common here
The verdant Palm Valley lay at the end of a particularly tough 4WD road
Here we found lizards, like this little Netted Dragon
And lots of seed also means that the red centre was experiencing a Mouse Plague! Here it is
Near to Uluru is a much less famous but equally eerie and unique chunk of geology - the Kata Tjuta, which means Many Heads
From different angles the Kata Tjutas look very different - here it almost appears to be an ordinary rocky valley
Next day we drove on to the spectacular Kings Canyon - another wonder that gets forgotten in the pre-eminence of Uluru
Evidence of the shallow lake where the rocks of Kings Canyon were deposited can be found in these 250 million year old ripples
Our hike up and around the canyon was probably the best day hike we had in all of Australia
I can report that the ochre certainly daubs very effectively
And at night at the Kings Canyon resort we were lucky to spot a tiny Spinifex Hopping Mouse
Next day and we\'re on the road again, this time taking on some proper rough terrain in our rented 4WD
These odd squashes are a common sight along the dirt roads. I assume they must be inedible, or someone would collect \'em
And back on the road we saw a distant Brumby - these are feral horses which have been roaming the wide open spaces for over 100 years
We also spotted Dingos, one of which was an unusual black fellow - I promise it isn\'t just an alsatian
Our resting place at the end of this day was Glen Helen, another great beauty spot
One of the Ghost Gum trees that are another icon of this landlocked landscape
On our final day we stopped at the colourful Ochre Pits, where aborigines collected colours for ceremonial daubing
This is a Peaceful Dove apparently. I\'m not convinced, I think he looks more like an Evil Thoughts Dove
Our final wildlife sighting in the red centre was the lovely Black-footed Rock Wallaby
Landscape, wildlife and surprising greenery all made for a memorable trip to Australia\'s heart

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