Our week in Gluepot.....

Once all our chores were done on the first morning we sat back with a coffee to think about how we were going to make the most of our week here.  We decided that we would have a look in the visitor centre first and decide from there.  We picked up a mud map of the reserve and had a look on the board to see what birds had been sighted and where during the last week or so.  

Our first trip was to one corner of the reserve where we had a look at the Sitella campground which is the furtherest away.  There were 2 couples camped here and it looked like there were a few more trees than where we were.  As we drove around we were accompanied by the beautiful little Rainbow Bee Eaters flitting from tree to tree after their insects.

From here we drove the few kms along the road and came to the old homestead site. The remains of an old cattle yard are still here, as is the remains of the old homestead.  The well and garden can still be seen and right in the middle of the fenced block is an underground cellar which you can still walk down into.

There is a bird hide here where we spent some time watching numerous little birds come in to drink at the water trough that is placed there.  We saw lots of Yellow Plumed Honeyeaters and little Brown Headed Honeyeaters but not much else that afternoon. We drove around to Bluebird Dam where there were more Honeyeaters in the bushes.  

Driving back to our van a little later we stopped at the Emu tank bird hide and it was here that we saw our first Mulga Parrots and a little later Australian Ringneck parrots too.  

After a drink at home and watching Lizzie dig her 'hole' we took ourselves off on one of the many walks in the reserve.  These walks range in distance from 2.5 to 10.5 kms and the varied vegetation allow the walker to have the chance to see many different birds.  For our first walk we chose the 2.5 km Babbler South walk and really enjoyed wandering through the Mallee scrub to see what we could find.  Not at all sure we found what we should have but loved the little birds we did find.

For the rest of the week we enjoyed doing some of the longer walks.  We stuck to the 5.5 km ones and loved wandering through the changing vegetation.  Four of the five hides could be reached by car but the closest one to us was a 3 km walk.   We did this on the second evening and once again it was Parrots and Honeyeaters who came into drink.

Another day the Mallee fowl walk gave us the opportunity to see the mounds these amazing birds build.  Unfortunately it was not an active mound but we believe there are some mallee fowl around though we did not see them.  

We dropped into the Bellbird camp ground one day on and met some lovely people there from around Sale.  Slightly smaller sites more suited to tents and we found about five pitched here.  

The hide at Grasswren tank proved to be one of the most entertaining and we found it hard to pull ourselves away from the many birds who called in to drink. Honeyeaters and Parrots topped the list but here we saw beautiful Red Capped Robins, Common Bronzewings, Spiny Cheeked Honeyeaters and the gorgeous but strangely named white fronted Honeyeater which has a black bib in front.

A few kms along the road at another hide we found all the usual culprits as well as the striped Honeyeater which we hadn't seen before.

The next two mornings we got up early and drove to one of the hides where once again we were entertained by lots and lots of our feathered friends.  I'm not sure who got the bigger shock when the Raven flew in for a drink, us or the little Brown headed Honeyeaters, but they all came back once he left.

The second morning we went back to the old homestead hide and were thrilled when we were visited by lots of Regent Parrots.  These birds are listed as one of the rarer birds here and they were just beautiful.  

There was another couple there and together we watched and waited hoping for a visit from the Major Mitchell Cockatoo  they had seen the day before.  It was not to be though we did see one later that afternoon but only from a great distance away.  If we were 'real' birdos we would have been thrilled but Bill wants a lovely picture and that was not to be this time.

And so all too soon our week here at Gluepot was over.  We had booked in for five days and stayed for six but it was time to move on for the second part of our trip to the Flinders Ranges.  We had loved every moment of our stay and the most amazing thing was that we had not even emptied one tank of water.  Our freezer was still providing wonderful dinners each night, who said camp cooking had to be boring!  Of course this meant that our Solar Panels had been a great success.  

We packed up and headed out on Sunday morning but first we had to negotiate the couple hours of 'bone shaking' road again.  It had been a very windy week and it seemed that most of the 'cushioning' sand had been blown off as it seemed worse than before but that was probably just an illusion.  You've no idea how smooth the bitumen felt after our ride out!  But first we had to find somewhere to stop to put air back into the tires so we'll leave it there for now

until next time........