June 20th  & 21 st  2017

The Granites Rock formation

What have enjoyed two warm and relaxed days here in the Currawinya NP. Both days I made our lunch and we set off to explore the park. The Granites were an interesting formation of rocks about 10 kms away. We ate our lunch after which we walked for 40 minutes around the many granite rocks, both large and small.

The second morning we drove a distance to view the nearby lake system. The road was excellent but quite wet in patches. With the puddles and the green bushes we assume that a recent shower of rain has been through.

The first lake we stopped at was Lake Numalla which is Currawinya’s largest freshwater lake covering 3,000 hectares. Disappointingly there was no water in this lake only ‘mirage’ seen across the dry bed. It was crusty as if salty but evidently it is not…maybe calcium?

We went for along walk around the edge where there was little to see but we did come upon 2 dead tortoises…the poor things out on dry land and nowhere to go.

Dead tortoise

Wetland or saltpan… Secondly we visited a huge saltwater lake called Lake Wyara which covers 3,800 hectares. As Currawinya’s largest wetland, it also, was dry so we did not see the birds for which it is noted. Thousands of pelicans, ducks, swans, waders, stilts, terns and other waterbirds live and breed here as long as there is water.

We lunched amongst the shrubs at the edge of the lake, then returned to our camp along the same track calling at a couple of other lakes on the way. One was dry but the second one had some water and distant bird life. Through binoculars we thought that the single bird was a white necked heron and the other flock were terns.

We have enjoyed the emus and various birds coming in to drink at the waterhole near our camp. Galahs, swallows and treecreepers are not disturbed by our presence. John has identified the Desert Blood trees nearby. We the same trees as we travelled the Canning Stock Route in 1996 & 1998.

There is a bilby enclosure quite close by here. The special wire netting fence encloses 25 square kilometre sanctuary for bilbies. It acts as a barrier to foxes, cats and dingoes, as well as the large grazing animals and rabbits that compete with bilbies for food. Cats are so strong and breed so quickly that it is a real challenge to eradicate them from the area. Evidently trapping is the most successful method of catching them. It is a long slow process to develop the area into a safe sanctuary.

Bilby sign Currawinya NP

The days have been warm preceded by very cold mornings. We will leave this delightful camping spot in the tomorrow.