Bowra to St George

Tuesday 27th July

As we were unable to check in to Bowra Wlidlife Sanctuary until 2 we visited the bakery(again) and then spent some time sitting in the van catching up on our IT requirements, Michael with shed stuff, me with blogging.

By midday we were ready to get moving so headed out to Bowra early. Bowra is a 14000hectare former pastoral property that is owned and managed by Australian Wildlife Conservancy. It has a diverse habitat rich in birdlife and is a stronghold for many threatened and declining bird species.

On arrival the wheels and underside of your vehicles have to be washed down so Michael took the opportunity to give the whole rig a bit of a rinse. While we were doing this one of the volunteers, Neil, came out to greet us and give us the run down on the place. He also showed us our site, facilities and told us the rules etc. Even though our facilities were all cleaned and the site was empty we weren’t allowed to move on to it …because it wasn’t 2 O’clock!

So we had lunch then moved at the appointed hour.

There are a variety of tracks to explore but many of them require a drive so we decided to explore the walkable Bore Drain track which starts and finishes at the campground.One of my target birds for here is the White-winged Fairy-wren but despite hearing it I didn’t see it. I did see the Bourke’s Parrot and a first look at wild Budgerigars.

Each evening at 6 there is a Birdcall of the days sightings so Michael stayed at the van soaking up the last of the evenings rays while I went along. It was useful as an indicator of where certain birds may be found….hopefully.

Wednesday 28th July

We made the decision to drive out to the Saw pits/Mulga Walk early and then return to camp for breakfast about 9.30. Once we were out that way Michael then suggested we may as well look at Ian’s Place so it was around 11.30 when we returned for a brunch cook up of bacon, mushrooms, tomato and egg. Delicious!

Some of the morning sightings wereWhistling Kite, White-necked Heron, Splendid Fairy-wren and Red-capped Robin.

Once the hunger pangs had been sated, Michael decided he’d had enough for the day and was happy to potter round at camp. I took the car for the Airport Road and Homestead Circuit and was lucky enough to spot a couple of new birds for me. When I got back I decided on one last effort for the White-winged Fairy-wren (everybody kept telling me it was so easy to find) and I was finally rewarded. Unfortunately I couldn’t get a decent picture but once seen never forgotten.

New birds. Crested Bellbird, Mulga Parrot, white-winged Fairy-wren, budgies.

By this time I was very dusty and in need of a shower and a drink…in that order. Fortunately, although it was windy and overcast, it was about 25 degrees because our shower was certainly the most ‘rustic’ we have encountered….but the water was hot and strong.

In my absence Michael had befriended the prolific Brown Treecreeper which were almost standing on his feet. Although we weren’t allowed to have a fire here we were blessed with another beautiful sunset.

Thursday29th July

Today we had one of our longest days ahead.I know our northern friends would scoff at the idea of 300km being a long day but we have been taking it pretty easy up till now.

We still didn’t need to rush so I had time for a loop around the Lagoon and back via the road. When we arrived here one of my target birds was the Budgerigar. Well this morning there must have been about 600 of them. Sharing a branch with them was a snuggle up of Black-faced Woodswallows valiantly trying to ignore their presence.

On my return for breakfast I found Michael out with his camera as he had spotted the Red-backed Kingfisher again.

I enjoyed our stay here and look forward to returning someday as I barely covered a quarter of the tracks/sites. It was great to add my 4 Lifer birds as part of a total of 66 species. By the time we left here my Bird count was 152 for this trip and I expect it will not increase from there so a great success birdwise.

After a bakery/coffee stop in Cunnamulla ( the lady knew our order before we made it) we made tracks for St George.

We took a lunch stop at the small town of Ballon on Wallam Creek. For such a small town it had a pleasant walkway along the creeks edge with samples of Aboriginal Dreamtime Artwork along the way. For such a small place it has an abundance of public toilets, 3 lots in about 100m and even one with showers.

Once we were settled in to Pelican’s Rest in St George we still had time to head downtown for a visit to the Info centre and a stroll around the town. We found artworks that indicated the towns history as well as an amusing sign or two.

We stopped in at The Unique Egg which is located within the local Sports Store. Local artisan Stavros Margaritis has hand carved an amazing variety of patterns and scenes on emu eggs and illuminated them with various coloured lights. An emu egg has 8-10 layers and the patterns are created by carving away layers to create varying thicknesses .

We finished our day with dinner at the Australian Hotel.