Inala Outback South Australia Tour ( Including Opals and Fossils)

22 April – 2 May 2022 Outback South Australia Tour (including opals and fossils)

Trip Report prepared by Dr Tonia Cochran, Inala Nature Tours 29 May 2022. 

Day 1. Friday 22 April 2022. Arrive in Adelaide.
We started our adventure by meeting in the reception area of our Adelaide hotel and walking together to the South Australian Museum to meet with Senior Collections Manager of Earth Sciences, Ben McHenry, who took us on a fascinating behind-the-scenes tour of the collections. We visited galleries which exhibited a collection of giant 110 million year old opalised skeletons of marine reptiles and shells that have been collected from Coober Pedy and Andamooka, two places we were scheduled to visit during the trip. We also visited the Ediacara fossil gallery as a prelude to our visit to the Flinders Ranges, the Megafauna gallery to view giant birds, mammals and reptiles that lived in South Australia over the past 100,000 years and the minerals gallery where the $1 million ‘Fire of Australia’ opal resides, amongst other outstanding gems from the state. Our tour ended in Ben’s laboratory where we were able to see one of the purest opal specimens ever found: The ‘Virgin Rainbow’ an opalised belemnite (internal structural rod of an extinct squid-like marine animal), another specimen which has been valued at over $1 million. We finally dragged ourselves away, armed with hardhats, high vis vests and picks (which we would need for future prospecting in the opal fields), back to our hotel where we gathered for our welcome dinner and met Peter, our local South Australian guide.

Day 2. Saturday 23 April 2022. Adelaide-Port Augusta-Kimba.
We departed early this morning after a hearty breakfast and travelled northwards to the mangrove-fringed foreshore of Port Gawler where we had beautiful views of a pair of Sacred Kingfishers, White-browed Scrubwren and Brown Thornbill. Several Black-shouldered Kites were seen perched along the roadside and we also saw Slender-billed Thornbills and White-fronted Chats in the low coastal heathland and samphire.   We stopped for morning tea at Port Wakefield before heading to the Arid Lands Botanical Gardens at Port Augusta, where we ate a beautiful lunch in the café before exploring the gardens to see and photograph a range of native flowers and shrubs and the birds that live there. The Green Birdflower (Crotalaria cunninghamii) and several Eremophila species were flowering, attracting Purple-crowned Lorikeets, White-fronted Honeyeater, Red Wattlebirds. A group of White-browed Babblers entertained us with their antics, while Welcome Swallows swooped around the café where they had nests attached to the building, and Fairy-wrens poked amongst the shrubs. Some of our group also saw Shingleback Skink basking in the sun. Others saw a Bearded Dragon on the road. We then birded a bit in the vicinity of Iron Knob, flushing a Little Buttonquail, catching a quick glimpse of a Western Grasswren, Southern Whiteface and seeing our first small flocks of Budgerigars; Western Grey Kangaroos were also seen. Another major attraction was the local public toilet which was artfully decorated with a mural of the local wildlife and clearly marked as to its purpose. Our accommodation tonight was in the township of Kimba on the eastern edge of the Eyre Peninsula.

Day 3. Sunday 24 April 2022. Lake Gillies Conservation Park – Gawler Ranges.
Today explored three different areas in the Lake Gilles Conservation Park, a mixture of ‘mallee’ eucalypt scrub, open woodland and salt lakes. Here we saw Western Yellow Robin, Rufous Treecreeper and Blue-breasted Fairy-wren, which is the eastern-most range of these species. We also saw Emus, Chestnut-breasted and Inland Thornbills, Crested Bellbird, Jacky Winter, Striated Pardalote (race substriatus), Gilbert’s Whistler, the eastern subspecies of Western Whistler (Pachycephala fuliginosa fuliginosa)  and more Southern Whiteface as well as Mulga Parrot, Blue-bonnets, Australian (Port Lincoln) Parrots, White-eared, White-fronted, Spiny-cheeked, Singing and Yellow-plumed Honeyeaters. There were also some very impressive Golden Orb Weaving Spiders (Nephila sp) in their equally impressive webs whose silk is reported to be up to 100 times tougher than synthetic products of equal diameter. After a visit to the ‘Big Galah’ and morning tea in Kimba, we drove to a working sheep station, Mt Ive Station, our destination for the day for a late lunch. Some of the group had a tour of the shearing sheds where they learned about farm life on the property. Then we were off to Lake Gairdner, a nearby vast salt lake which actually contained water after recent rains, after a quick stop enroute to admire some flowering Sturt’s Desert Pea (Swainsonia formosa). We were astounded to see groups of Emus walking in the shallow water and salt on the lake and vast numbers of Dragonfly nymph-cases attached to the bushes next to the lake, where they had shed their skins after their mass emergence. A more macabre spectacle was the millions of insect and other invertebrate bodies trapped in the salt as it evaporated, entombing them in the pale pink saline sculptures around the edge of the lake. Western Grey Kangaroo, Euro (Wallaroo) were also seen today. Then back to the shearer’s quarters where we were staying, for a slap-up dinner produced by Peter and Tonia which was washed down with ample quantities of local wine.

Day 4. Monday 25 April 2022. Mount Ive Station to Coober Pedy.
Until this point the trip was proceeding as planned, but predicted heavy rainfall in the area had us a bit concerned about getting out of Mt Ive Station using the little-used bush tracks along the edge of Lake Gairdner. We left early after a cooked breakfast (again prepared by chefs Peter and Tonia) and an ANZAC day dawn service being held at the station for staff and visitors alike, and decided to proceed on our original route (a 469km journey) rather than back-track to Port Augusta via the sealed road which was a far longer journey of 729kms). Followed closely by ominous black clouds and rain squalls, we managed to work our way precariously along the slippery wet roads, daring to stop only for a quick pit-stop at Kingoonya before arriving safely at Glendambo just as the road crews were closing the road behind us. Whew! We had a celebratory morning tea and birded at a nearby shallow ephemeral lake which still contained water where we saw Pink-eared Duck, Grey Teal, Pied Stilt and Red-necked Avocet, Red-kneed Dotterel and Black-tailed Native-hen. We then worked our way northwards to the opal-mining town of Coober Pedy knowing that we were once more safely on sealed roads. We stopped twice to bird enroute, seeing Chiming  Wedgebill, Crested Bellbird , Common Bronzewing, Red-capped Robin and flushing another Little Buttonquail. The highlight of the day for most people was a small flock of Bourke’s Parrot which Peter had heard had been in the area months before. Lucky for us they were still there! We arrived at Coober Pedy just on dark, where we once again met with Ben from the South Australian Museum who had flown from Adelaide to reunite with our group for the rest of the tour. Some of the group slept in the ‘underground rooms’ for which the town is famous, at the world's first 4-star luxury hotel of its type, carved out of the local opal-bearing Bulldog Shale rock.

Day 5. Tuesday 26 April 2022. Coober Pedy.
Early this morning we met local opal miner Kenneth, who accompanied us for a bit of birding to find the rare Chestnut-breasted Whiteface (where there were also some awesome trapdoor spider holes), before taking us to his open-cut opal mine for the chance to try our luck finding this precious gem. Ben explained the process of opal formation, Australia’s’ multi-coloured national gemstone and its connection with the vast ancient Eromanga Sea. Some of the finest and most valuable white opal in the world comes from Coober Pedy. Corinne also found and photographed a flock of Orange Chats while the others fossicked with their hard hats, high vis vests and picks and White-backed Swallows circled above us. We then visited Kenneth’s house for lunch where we were privileged to tour his house, which he has carved himself into the side of a small hill. Most of the local residents live in such underground dwellings to avoid the heat of the summers as no matter how harsh the climate, the underground rooms maintain a comfortable, even temperature ranging from 23ºC to 25ºC day and night throughout the year. We couldn’t access the Breakaways as planned because of road closures in the area due to yesterday’s heavy rain, but we instead visited another opal mine to view some of the machinery used in opal mining which included a ‘noodler’ and huge excavators and tunnelling machines. We then visited the local Sewage treatment plant where we saw a confiding Australian Spotted Crake with young, Black-fronted and Red-kneed Dotterels and Little Grassbird. We then visited the local Serbian Church and met a few of the locals, before heading to an opal shop where some of the group purchased some treasures. Jenny bought lovely opalised specimens of two of the area’s bivalves- a mussel (Eyrena tatei) and a cockle (Cyrenopsis  sp).

Day 6. Wednesday 27 April 2022. Coober Pedy to Andamooka.
The plan was to leave very early this morning and travel to William Creek (around a 2 hour drive) for a scenic flight over Lake Eyre. Unfortunately, the heavy rain of the past days had closed the road and we heard stories of stranded motorists having water and food air-dropped to them. Not wishing to join the marooned and unable to access the Oodnadatta Track, we retraced our steps on the sealed road back to Glendambo and then through Woomera to Andamooka via Roxby Downs. Our first stop was Bon Bon Station where we stopped to look at some Gibber Plains, not being able to access the Moon Plains yesterday, where we learnt about their formation from Ben. We also stopped to examine some Native Apricots (Pittosporum angustifolium) which were heavily in fruit, and at the waterhole at Glendambo again where an Australasian Grebe had joined the other waterbirds seen previously, and we picked up Horsfield’s Bronze-cuckoo and Red-capped Robin at our tea spot. On arrival at Andamooka, we had a late lunch and were then warmly welcomed by our hosts on arrival at our modest hotel before heading to a property near Roxby Downs to meet with Nathan and Genevieve, members of the research team from the Arid Recovery project. While we were unable to access the huge fenced area where the native mammals have been released, we were able to walk along a gully where we found lots of agates, two Earless Dragons and viewed a nearby lake with a spotting scope where we saw Pied and Banded Stilt and Red-necked Avocet. Back to our accommodation where we ate dinner on the veranda with our hosts.

Day 7.  Thursday 28 April 2022. Andamooka.
This morning after a huge home-cooked breakfast, we visited an underground opal mine owned by Ben’s friend Gabby and son Leif who gave us a tour of the accessible parts of the mine (some tunnels had been flooded by the unseasonal rains) accompanied by Ragnar the dog and gained a fascinating insight into the daily life of miners in the town that is so reminiscent of the ‘wild west’. We were then supposed to head to Marree, but again recent rains and lack of road access enforced another change in plan, and we decided to stay another day at Andamooka. We visited Chimney Hole Dam and found some giant ostracods and a water snail (Newcombe’s Pouch Snail, Isidorella newcombi)  in the water. Rosy Dock (Acetosa vesicaria) which was introduced by the early Cameleers was also common in the area and obviously enjoying the rare moisture. We spent the afternoon touring the private museum at our accommodation (some of our group purchasing very reasonably-priced opals) followed by a delicious BBQ dinner provided by our hosts, which we accompanied with more of the local wines and beers and plenty of talking with the hosts and the local publican. Some of us then walked to the nearby Observatory for a stargazing tour with the aid of a telescope and plenty of local knowledge, followed by some night noodling, which involved shining a UV light on the ground to pick up opal which fluoresces at these wavelengths. 

Day 8. Friday 29 April 2022. Andamooka to Ikara-Flinders Ranges.
This morning we headed off after another delicious and huge home-cooked breakfast to visit Olympic Dam (where the road was closed) for a bit of birding. Some of the low areas were deceptively wet with quick-sand like consistency which  we negotiated with various degrees of success and muddiness. We then headed southwards back to Port Augusta for a picnic lunch at the Arid Lands Botanic Gardens and another look around there for birds, before heading  to Pichi Richi Pass near Quorn to view some 600 million year old mud cracks then the Kanyaka ruins. Species we saw today included Red-rumped Parrot, Blue Bonnet, Mulga Parrot, Budgerigar, Emu, Diamond Dove, with three species of macropod (Western Grey Kangaroo, Euro and Red Kangaroo). We reached our destination near Wilpena Pound in the Ikara-Flinders Ranges National Park late afternoon, with a rather noisy dinner at the onsite restaurant.

Day 9. Saturday 30 April 2022. Ikara-Flinders Ranges National Park.
This morning after breakfast, we took a walk around the lodge grounds before 5 members of our group took a 1 hour scenic flight over Wilpena Pound, a magnificent natural amphitheatre of mountains. We then spent the rest of the day exploring Ikara-Flinders Ranges National Park with its stunning landscape of ancient mountains and gorges. We explored Bunyeroo Gorge, stopping at the Razorback Lookout which gives a panoramic overview of the geological layers within the area, before viewing some 580 million year old volcanic debris from a meteor impact site at present day Lake Acraman, located 280km to the west.  We then stopped to take photos at the iconic ‘Twin Gums’ site where two ancient River Red Gums (Eucalyptus camaldulensis) frame the road, before following the Brachina Geological trail westwards. Here we stopped to view  Yellow-footed Rock-wallabies, two with adorable joeys at foot who were doing very well after the rainfall in the area earlier in the year. We then viewed some Ediacaran fossil specimens in situ (Dickinsonia and Parvancorina) in the ancient 560 million year old sea-floor sediments now known as the Rawnsley Quartzite, which are the first known multicellular animal life on Earth that predates the Cambrian. A lovely Mistletoe was in flower here. We then straddled the Cambrian/ Precambrian Boundary (around 540 million years) where we saw ancient fossilised burrows, before stopping at a 510-530 million year old Archaeocyatha sponge reef. We then headed briefly to Parachilna and Blinman before heading back into the eastern end of the Brachina Geological trail to see the Ediacaran Global Stratotype Section and Point (GSSP) ‘Golden Spike’, the place where the Ediacaran geological period was formally declared and the only such reference point to geological time located in the southern hemisphere; more famous geological reference points such as the Jurassic, Triassic, Cambrian etc are all located in the northern hemisphere. Our final stop was a 645 million year old stromatolite reef (produced by the activity of ancient cyanobacteria) before we returned to our lodge for dinner. After dinner we took a walk around the lodge grounds where we heard Southern Boobook, Tawny Frogmouth and Australian Owlet-nightjar and saw several more Yellow-footed Rock Wallabies. Other notable species we saw today included Grey-fronted Honeyeater, Laughing Kookaburra, Australian (Port Lincoln) Ringneck, Emu,  Collared Sparrowhawk, Red-capped Robin, Fairy and Tree Martins and Purple-backed Fairy-wren as well as Red and Western Grey Kangaroos.

Day 10. Sunday 1 May 2022. Flinders Ranges to Adelaide.
Our first stop this morning was Arkaroo Rock where we did some early morning birding and plant hunting. Bird species included Redthroat, Southern Scrub-robin, Red-capped robin, Brown-headed Honeyeater, Yellow-plumed Honeyeater,  Striated Pardalote, Inland Thornbill and Weebill. We also saw flowering specimens of the Inland Spyridium (Spyridium phlebophyllum), various Acacias, the Northern Cypress Callitris glabophylla and the hop bush (Dodonaea lobulata). This is a significant cultural site for the Adnyamathanha people of the Flinders Ranges and Eve, Gill, Inge and Tonia walked to the first rock shelter with paintings featuring ochre and charcoal images that depict the Yura Muda (Dreaming, or creation story) of Ikara (Wilpena Pound). From here, we left the Flinders Ranges and headed south once more towards Adelaide, passing through Jamestown for lunch and the scenic Clare Valley, a well-known wine region where the lush green pastures and flowering wattles made for a very scenic landscape. Crimson (Adelaide) Rosella and Rainbow Lorikeets were seen en route.  We returned to Adelaide late afternoon for our final dinner together where we said our farewells as a group.

During this tour we saw 116 species of birds, 3 species of reptile, 4 macropod species and travelled a total of 3,162 kilometres (1,965 miles). Many thanks to everyone for their flexibility and maintaining their sense of humour as we ducked and weaved around storm clouds, unseasonal rain and road closures on our hastily-revised tour. Despite the changes we had some fabulous experiences and great memories. Many thanks to Ben and Peter for their added expertise, and Jenny, Brian and Inge for sharing their lovely images.

Kangaroo Island Extension
2 -5 May 2022

 Day 11 (= day 1). Monday 2 May 2022. Depart Adelaide/Adelaide to Kangaroo Island.

Three members of the group (Jenny, Brian and Inge) continued on with Tonia to Kangaroo Island. We headed out to the airport early, to find that our flight had been delayed by over one hour. Despite our later than expected arrival time at Kingscote airport, we still managed to make the most of the day, being greeted on our arrival by our local guide Tim and owner of the travel company Craig. Tim soon whisked us off to the residence of local entomologist Richard and his partner Janine who is an installation artist. We first visited Richard’s private collection of over 60,000 local insect specimens and learned about the very specific requirements and conservation efforts of some species such as the Green Carpenter Bee. We then visited Janine’s studio where we saw some of her amazing works which are inspired by nature and are crafted from natural objects including shells, leaves and pieces of bone. We then had a lovely picnic lunch accompanied by a family of Superb Fairy-wrens and a pair of Scarlet Robins, before heading to Seal Bay to view the Australian Sealions in the afternoon, with Sooty Oystercatchers and Pacific Gulls on the beach. We spent a relaxing hour or more watching the antics of the male Sealions chasing females and each other, with the larger bulls intervening as required. Near the visitor centre we watched Crescent and New Holland Honeyeaters drinking water from a leaking sprinkler, with Eastern Spinebill, and Silvereyes foraging in the bushes. Later in the afternoon we visited Duck lagoon where we saw several waterbirds including Black Swan, Pacific Black Duck, Grey Teal, Australasian Grebe, Australian White Ibis and Yellow-billed Spoonbill, with White-eared Honeyeater in the surrounding eucalypts, before travelling to another site to view Glossy-black Cockatoos coming into drink in the late afternoon sun and settling down to roost for the night. Here we also saw our first Koala and Kangaroo Island form of Western Grey Kangaroo. At dusk we visited Craig’s house, to see a variety of fossils that were found on Kangaroo Island that were given to him by South Australian Museum geologists. These included some 537 million year old Cambrian Trilobites. We then checked into our hotel on the waterfront at Kangaroo islands ‘capital city’ Kingscote where we had dinner.

Day 2. Tuesday 3 May 2022. Kangaroo Island.
We were collected by Tim on the waterfront outside the hotel after breakfast this morning; a fur seal glided past in the shallows as we waited. We travelled to Flinders Chase National Park where we spent the morning. Our first stop was the old visitors centre which was burnt in the 2019-20 summer bushfires that swept through the area, burning 96% of the National Park. Plants in flower here included the fan flower Scaevola aemula and Thomasia petalocalyx. We were pleased to see the regrowth after the fires and the presence of species like Koalas, Cape Barren Geese and Crimson Rosellas. We then visited Admiral’s Arch at Cape de Couedic, where we viewed Long-nosed and Australian Fur Seals basking on the rocks and playing in the shallows and Australasian Gannets and Pacific Gulls flying out to sea. We could also see Crested terns on the rock-stacks. Inge and Tonia were very lucky to see a Kangaroo Island Dunnart scuttling around the rocks and amongst the low vegetation next to the path. Apparently, this species has only been seen from trail camera images since the fires, and it was heartening to see that such small, endangered species could survive such ferocity. We then visited Remarkable Rocks a 500+ million year rock formation which has been sculpted by wind and sea-spray. We then headed to a privately owned sheep farm at Parndana, where we had a wonderful seafood BBQ lunch of local whiting accompanied by local wines, beers and soft drinks. Special plants in this area included Isopogon ceratophyllus and Banksia marginata (both members of the family Proteaceae) and the Yacca or Grass Tree Xanthorrhoea semplanata tateana. We then patrolled the northern  coastline from Stokes Bay to Kingscote looking for Kangaroo Island Kangaroos and Tammar Wallabies and admiring the male flowers of the Casuarinas (Allocasuarina verticillata), before returning to Kingscote in time for dinner.

Day 3. Wednesday 4 May 2022. Fly Kangaroo Island to Adelaide and depart.
We were collected from our hotel this morning for our transfer back to the Kingscote airport and flight back to Adelaide. On arrival at Adelaide, our little group parted company, departing for their various destinations.

A total of 41 bird species and 7 mammal species were seen during our short stay on Kangaroo Island.