April 8 - the beginning of our Mungo Outback Journey

Lake Mungo which is within the World Heritage Willandra Lakes Region, is devoid of water just as it has been for the past 10,000 years. Out there, time seems irrelevant. Years of wind, searing sun and droughts have eroded this region of dry lakes leaving a fossil landscape. It is rather surreal this pock marked desolate landscape, rather like one imagines Mars might be. But once the lakes were full of water and teeming with life providing an important meeting place for generations of Aboriginal people. And not so long ago Cobb & Co coaches stopped for water at the well at Vigars Rest. But I get ahead of myself.

It took us a couple of days to get from home to Mildura from where our journey with Echidna Walkabout Tours was to begin. The first day after a gigantic breakfast, we had an early start heading out to Hattah-Kulkyne National Park. This huge park is part of the flood plain of the Murray River and extends into the red sand dunes of the Mallee deserts. Quite magnificent.

We drove over dunes and beside ephemeral lakes surrounded by towering River Red Gums and through stands of Black Box trees and mallee. Quite wonderful. We identified over 60 different birds species but little other wildlife except for a shy little Military Mallee Dragon and Western Grey Kangaroos - and numerous ant species. Sadly I didn’t get a photo of the wildlife but the trees were wonderful. We picked our way through mallee and spinifex looking for birds and reptiles - and me for plants of course.

The dark line through the stand of trees in the photo above indicates flood level

This lake spilled out across mud flats the edges of which were decorated with deep emu footprints. And surprisingly there were a few wee flowers.

We were also looking for Mallee Fowls and their huge nests. We found one but the chicks had long gone. We did however see cute Chestnut Quail-thrush darting about. Above Martin, our amazing guide, is telling us about the nests of the Mallee Fowl. We learned so much as we wandered the bush.

One of the lakes we visited was guarded by tall muddled twisted clumps of Tangled Lignum. Not the most attractive plant but look close and you can see the tiniest wee flowers sprouting from the hairless branchlets. This plant, like the chenopods, is drought and salt resistant. We identified many species as we wandered - Mallee cypress-pine (scrub pine), mallee, spinifex, Stemodia florulenta (blue rod), Lomandra leucocephala, Willow wattle.

Flowers are important to bird and insect populations but when there are no flowers, Lerps (seen above on the left) provide a sugary feast for insects and birds alike and were collected by the local aboriginal people as a sugar delight (and I indulged in a little sample too!). On the top right is an ant nest. It’s quite fascinating if you look closer you can see that the ants expel balls of sand as they excavate. The image on the bottom right is a bit blurry but it is there to remind me that as we wandered we walked through clouds of small butterflies - white, pair blue and yellow and a few orange. Quite lovely. Look closely and you are rewarded with magic!