A Lazy Day and a Long Dinner

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We both slept in until 11am and decided we needed a rest day so we didn’t do anything much today. We did have a short walk around the Van Park and watch the birds. We then looked at the camp shop and bought an ice lolly each.

As we walked back to the van we passed two birds in the paddock beside us, standing frozen, not moving a muscle. On investigation in the bird book, we think we’ve identified them as Bush Stone-Curlews, which is a vulnerable species. The freezing behaviour was the key.

We’d noticed that the house batteries were very low after the long drive yesterday, which means the rear battery in the ute was not charging them as it’s supposed to. Barry set about trying to identify the problem, a slow process of elimination.

Later, we rang Ros and Arthur to arrange meeting up for a meal tonight at the Parkhurst Tavern which Barry had found a brochure for. It offered Sunday Roast and Dessert for $18. We were all happy with that so we got ready and went there. Turned out that the brochure was old and we actually only paid $16 for the roast and a cheesecake dessert. It was all delicious, although too much for me. Lucky Barry is a dustbin! He gets all my left-overs.

As always, we had a lovely time talking about what we’d all done recently and what our plans were for the next few weeks. We stayed until the staff started turning out the lights so we took the hint and said goodbye. This is where we separate and start heading in different directions – us towards Winton and then the Gulf and them up to Cairns. We may see each other in Darwin later. It’s been fun catching up and doing similar things.

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Photos

A Straw-Necked Ibis
The "black" wings are really a lovely metallic sheen that changes colours when in full sunlight and gleams purple, green and copper. They are lovely. They roam all over the Caravan Park.

A pair of Bush Stone Curlews
These birds are a vulnerable species. This pair surprised us the first time we saw them by freezing so still for more than 5 minutes, that we wondered if they were real. It is their danger response. It is funny that such shy birds choose to roost so close to a busy caravan park.

Big Tree
I have no idea what kind of tree this is but what looks like yellow flowers are actually really long dried seed pods, so many that you can barely see the leaves.