Way Away in WA 2023 – Day 88

The Australian Arid Lands Botanic Garden is just 3km from the outskirts of Port Augusta. It is located on the shores of Upper Spencer Gulf with views to the ancient Flinders Ranges and north into the interior (above). There is a natural area and a garden that showcases a diverse collection of Australian arid zone habitats in an area of 250 hectares.

There are local species such as this rare Red-flowered mallee box (Eucalyptus landsdowneana) …

…to species from further afield such as this Goldfields Bottlebrush (Callistemon coccinea).

Central Bearded Dragon (Pogona vitticeps)

Eremophila

Butterfly bush (Petalostylis labicheoides)

Red wattle bird

Pimpin’s mallee (Eucalyptus pimpiniana) is endemic to the Great Victoria Desert in South Australia.

Gumnut caps and fruits

Sleepy roo

Gumnuts of Eucalyptus kruseana

Lemon flowered gum (Eucalyptus woodwardii) from around the Balladonia area.

Matthew Flinders Lookout. Flinders climbed here in 1802 and Robert Brown his botanist collected plant specimens here.

Crested pigeons

Across the water, a train heads west. I was going to tell a railway joke….but I lost my train of thought.

Rail crossing of Upper Spencer Gulf

Dutchmans Stern in the Flinders Ranges

We have a lunch break in Port Augusta at a Bakery cafe with good food and a sense of humour.

Later in the afternoon, we do a drive to Yorkeys Crossing to the north of Port Augusta. I find an old Bedford truck on the roadside similar to one I drove at Clermont in the early 80s.

After seeing the elusive Chiming wedgebill at Shark Bay earlier in our journey, we see the Chirruping wedgebill in shrubland adjacent the the Yorkeys Crossing Road. It is closely related to the Whipbirds.