Newhaven

Newhaven was absolutely fantastic!

We loved every minute of our time, and the weather was perfect except for the day after we arrived, when it was drizzling all day. Although the temp was about 15 to 19, it was really sunny and warm a lot of the time..the sun is so hot.

Newhaven is 360km NW of Alice...the Tanami track was sealed almost to our turn off (unexpected) and it was about as straight as a road could be. Some way along the dirt road, we started to see so many birds flying off the side of the road and also there were lots of wildflowers so there was great anticipation of things to come!  Some sections were corrugated, some deep sand and a few parts with water to go through but quite ok.

Although the camp itself is very basic, it has one area with hot showers and the other (where we went) with a cold shower and composting toilets.

There are 2 volunteer rangers who do a month stint at a time, and 2 managers who are employees of Australian Wildlife Conservancy..impressive young people with a very professional, scientific approach to its management.

AWC took over the management from Birds Australia.

There is also a man there who has a dog that is a dingo/kelpie cross...not sure of his role, but he was very entertaining!

 He said one day that he and "Sandy" have a cup of coffee together - the dog has a small cup with milk and 2, and that he had to give him the frisbee to play with because he had spilled the coffee !

When he goes to town, he and his dog swap their neck wear - the dog wears a bow tie and the 'dog man' wears the collar..he said it is rather confronting for the people in Alice!!
He lives in an OKA, which is an enormous military vehicle.

Bird highlights:
On the way in, we had terrific views of Crimson Chats bathing in a puddle in the middle of the road and subsequently we saw them many times.
The Diamond Doves were everywhere we went, in big numbers...also Budgies and Zebra Finches and Woodswallows. We saw Pied and Black Honeyeaters, Cockateils.

Birds of Prey highlights- Black Breasted Buzzards; Brown Falcons sitting above the camp each day

Pallid cuckoos were abundant along "Cuckoo Road"! and also in other places.
Papa went to have pee right at camp and disturbed a Button Quail which, strangely, didn't fly off....then he saw little babies!
The Pied Butcher bird sings all night - in bright moonlight...Rob S said it sings the Muppet song!!

Animals:
We saw lots of camels, (which they are trying to control as they do quite a lot of damage,) and a dingo.

There were Military Dragons in the sand among the spinifex, and we also saw a pale bluetongue lizard and a spotted snake.

Do you know whaat made this track?

A python on the side of the road and a gecko resident in the loos!  and, unfortunately, a cat. We went through a swarm of locusts in one area...a bad sign.

Termite mounds are small, and in fact most are subterranean in this area.

Flowers:
Honey Grevilleas were spectacular as were several other types of Grevillea;

and many different coloursof Eremophila

 and a Striped MintBush was often in the rocky areas too

and so many other species!

A hakea

There are wonderful tour notes for several drives through changing landscapes and varying vegetation.

The colours of the rocks and the roads...the flowers and the sky...magic!