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Published: October 20th 2014
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Playing Peekaboo with a Bearded Dragon
This lovely large dragon was just sitting on the plant I had come closer to look at and gave me quite a surprise. The wind this morning was still very strong and southerly. I did the washing and pegged the clothes very firmly onto the line, where the sheets and towels promptly tangled themselves up. I hope they stay untangled long enough to dry while we’re out.
We had a coffee and our second cake from the bakery yesterday (mine was a Beesting and totally delicious). We then set off for the Australian Arid Land Botanic Garden, which was opened in 1996 after 15 years of getting it ready to show. They were having a sculpture show and competition there with pieces of all types scattered throughout one area of the beds in this very large garden (much to Barry’s disgust).
We made a slight detour before entering the park to go to the Matthew Flinders Red Hill Lookout (originally found and named by Flinders in 1802) which had wonderful views across to the Flinders Ranges, up to the head of Spencer Gulf, across the mangroves at the water’s edge and of the rail bridge over the Gulf.
As we entered the park we saw a sandy coloured lizard on the road, which we think was a Gould’s Goanna. We found
Matthew Flinders Red Hill Lookout
You can see part of the Red Hills on the left and the head of the Spencer Gulf just beyond the Railway Bridge in the centre back, looking across mangrove trees sitting in the water's edge. a car park spot and set off along the attractive path to the Visitors Centre, past many beautiful flowering plants. We also passed a French-speaking man who was standing on one of the garden beds poking around in the bush looking for a lizard he’d seen go in there. Some people have no idea how to treat wild animals – scaring it to death and risking hurting it with the stick.
Shortly after that we were strolling along the curved paths through the beds in the forecourt area of the Centre when I noticed a large head peering at me from the bush I had gone to get a closer look at. It was a large Bearded Dragon who was lying along one of the thin branches that ended at the top of the bush, as did his head. We stared at each other and he didn’t move. I was very surprised that such a large lizard could be supported by such thin stems but he seemed very secure and comfortable sunning just his head, and no doubt keeping an eye out for passing insects. We had a good look and I too a photo then he started bobbing
Arid Land Botanic Garden
This is just a very small area at the front of the Visitors Centre, filled with all the kinds of flowers we've been seeing in the desert. You can see the last few Sturt Desert Peas, the bright red flowers, on the left and at the front. The white and yellow flowers near the back are the Poached Egg plants. his head and moved a bit further into the foliage (hiding but we could still see him clearly) so we left him alone.
We saw quite a few lizards during our time at the park, including another, smaller Bearded Dragon also showing just his head, and three shinglebacks – one crawling on the Ant sculpture; one near the path back to the car park and one who had been going to cross a path I was walking along when he spotted me. He froze and then really slowly started backing up into the plant behind him, still watching me. It was very funny watching him moving a rear leg back and getting it caught on a twig so having to reposition his leg, all without taking his eyes off me. Then the next rear foot was lifted very high over another twig so it almost looked dislocated, still without looking where he was going. He took a few more painfully slow paces back until he was against the stem of the plant where he froze. Trouble was the leaves didn’t cover him at all and he was still in full view. I took pity on him and moved away.
Shingleback on SEdge
This Shingleback Lizard decided to become part of the sculpture SEdge by Kirsten C. Wechslberger. The line of ants is actually much longer than this. He probably thinks he evaded me, too!
In the front beds there were a few late-blooming bright red Sturt Desert Peas amidst the remains of most of the other fl.owers (at least we saw a few of this very lovely flower). We also saw lots of the white daisy-like flowers with a yellow ball at the centre which we’d seen in the desert on our travels, and was labelled “Poached Egg Plant”. Its flowers turn into fine white filaments that eventually blow off the plant and spread on the wind to find a new home away from the parent.
The whole garden was set out into areas that showed the plants that grow in various regions, like the Mallee or the Flinders Ranges (which I thought was the best) in a natural bush setting. They also had some examples of “Backyards” within each region and how you can set up a garden that will need minimal intervention and yet still grow healthily.
We came across about twenty sculptures, some of which were good and realistic, like the row of HUGE red and black Bull Ants striding in a line over one bed (complete with the shingleback); the
The Flinders Region
This was my favourite area of the Regions. large black metal butterfly; or the miniature scenes which had been made in tobacco tins and placed on top of an old Formica 1950s kitchen table; and others which were odd or weird, like the six-pointed stars made of twigs, stuck on wonky poles and decorated with feathers and scraps of fabric. I really liked the metal “gates” which cast lovely shadows over the ground, one with crows and another with kangaroos.
Mid-afternoon we had some lunch in the Blue Bush Café on site, some delicious open sandwiches and side salads and iced coffees which were delicious and noticed the ice creams, we'd have one after we'd seen more of the garden. We continued around the regions and sculptures.
Later, we just made it back to the café in time to get some special Outback ice creams before it closed at 4pm. We chose doubles with Quandong as the top scoop and Lemon Myrtle as the second one. The Quandong was pleasant but rather bland, just as we’d found the fruit at Curtin Springs but the Lemon Myrtle was a strong flavour and totally scrumptious.
Having finished our ice creams we set off up the hill to
Crows - Murder
This is one of the best sculptures in the Arid Festival Sculpture Competition. It is made of black steel by Craig (Cello) Ellis. the Arid Lands Lookout and Boardwalk, which had a good overall view of the park and especially of some of the habitats. It had been built originally to allow the locals to see the progress being made during the years it took to build and establish the gardens. There were detailed boards about the plants, birds and animals you would see in the park (although only the names and no pictures to help identify them) and about how they recycled the water from the toilets to use on the plants.
After climbing slowly back down the hill and making our way back to the car park, we went to fill the ute with fuel and go to the van. At one junction Barry decided to explore a different road – that went to Perth (“I’m just checking out the road for next time”). We could see some buildings ahead (“We’ll just go that far and turn back”) which turned out to be an Army Barracks and which we passed and continued on (“I just want to see what’s over that hill”) to the top of the hill, which led to another one (“I suppose I’d better turn back now” said very reluctantly). We’d gone 16 kms toward Perth and he clearly wanted to continue all the way, without the van attached.
We finally made it back to the van and I took the washing off the line and ironed the creased ones before making dinner. It had been a long day and tiring and we’d expected to do more than just the Arid Garden but we’d really enjoyed it.
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