Thursday 18th July 2013 – Zebra Rock Mine to Parry’s Farm.

Up early this morning to check out a very small pool of water behind the gallery.  Ruth had told us that this was a watering point for all manner of finch species and she was not wrong.  We saw our very first Gouldian Finch in the wild – how amazing.  Also saw our first Pictorella Mannikin (pretty special) and double bars, long tails, zebras, masked finches and quite a few other bird species.  It was incredible that so many birds were using this tiny little pool of water as the watering hole.

Pictorella Mannikins

Double Bar Finches

Long Tail Finch

Masked Finch

Gouldian Finch

From the Zebra Rock Mine it was back to the highway and to Kununurra where Jill bought a few things at the supermarket while I went to check out the auto accessory shops for some car window sun protectors.  With it being so hot we thought it best to try to keep some of the heat out of the car.  It’s all right while we are travelling and the air conditioner is in but that’s only part of the time.

From Kununurra we headed west a few kilometres and then turned north onto a connecting road to the Parry Creek Road.  This was a bit of a detour to get around the closed Ivanhoe Crossing.  The road surface was quite stony and some way along the Parry Creek Road we had a call from Mark and Karen that they had a flat tyre. Bugger!  I guess it’s not too bad considering the miles we have done and particularly the miles we have done off the bitumen.  We’re heading into Wyndham tomorrow so a tyre repair will be on the list.

At one spot we checked out a boat ramp at Mambi Island on the Ord River.  Lots of water here and from what one hears quite a few salties as well.  We didn’t see any.  It was not a bad spot to camp either but our plan was to have two days at Parry Creek Farm.  That way we have one less day of packing up to do.

The Ord River

Called into Parry Creek Farm about lunch time.  Set up in a nice shady spot (it’s very hot again today – 33) and Jill and I had a quick swim before lunch.  Another nice restful day – lazing around, sleeping for some, catching up on blogs etc.  Dinner tonight is at the station.  Local caught barramundi and very nice it was.  The station owner who was also the waitress was telling us stories about the salties in the area.  In the last few years they have lost three chooks, 2 puppies and a pet brolga.  They had to relocate a 4m croc last year.