Wet, Windy & back to Winter!

Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Slept with only sheet & windows open till I pulled light rug over us about 3.30am. Dressed in summer clothes & then the weather changed - wind came up, temperature dropped & the clouds started to build up. Changed clothes before going out at 9.30am! No rain yet but it is forecast.
Spent morning at The Australian Arid Lands Botanic Gardens. Have a look at the web site for more information http://www.aalbg.sa.gov.au/ . Took guided tour around parts of the gardens & found the information very interesting. Soo.. many varieties of Eremophila, which means 'desert lover'. The only frustration was the wind, again! - made it very difficult to take close-up pics of flowers! We did, however, manage to get quite a few reasonable ones. John took more flower photos than I did but I had a lucky day with insects on the few flower pics I did take! The last area the guide showed us was the landscaped AridSmart garden designs for different plant types. Customers can look at these garden designs, write down the names of the plants & buy them in the Gardens Nursery. Excellent idea for encouraging people to use plants suited to their growing area.

Port Augusta, SA: The Australian Arid Lands Botanic Garden, Entrance & detail of steel artwork; several varieties of Eremophila flowers; AridSmart garden design for Eremophila plants & Desert plants.

After completing the guided tour we drove a short way to Matthew Flinders Redbank Lookout, which looks out over the head of the Spencer Gulf. Stood at the spot where Flinders stood in March 1802!


Port Augusta, SA: Matthew Flinders Redbank Lookout - View towards the head of the Spencer Gulf; A pair of Singing Honey Eaters; Aniseed Boronia; Flowering gum, just opening; White Scaevola type flower; Native Bee on purple flower, ?Solanum.
[Don't have good flower ID book for this area!]

Back to van for lunch then out to do a bit of food shopping to last for the next 5-6 days when we will be staying near Wilpena Pound & food will be expensive. Light rain started about 3.30 pm but only short showers. Just had a bit of heavier rain, but stopped again. Hope we don't get too much rain tonight!