31ST MARCH 2013 – MIKKIRA STATION, EYRE PENISULA, SOUTH AUSTRALIA

Raining & miserable this morning for several hours, so we delayed packing up until it eased. Our Tassie ‘neighbours’ left before us as they have a long drive to Broken Hill today, leaving only the big 5th wheeler (2 kiwis) who will stay until after Easter. We are heading back to Port Lincoln to an historic sheep station which ‘supposedly’ has many koalas, birdlife etc. The weather improved & was quite good by the time we arrived . A dear little elderly lady with walking stick owns the property, & is obviously on her own now. It no longer runs as a working station ‘I can’t chase sheep around anymore’ she said. In order to have some income the decision was made to open up part of the property for camping & day trips to view the wildlife. Its $20 p.n. but only has a couple of toilets & a shower – don’t know how they cope when it is busy as it is a very large area for camping. There is no water or power so again it’s not cheap for what we get.

The property is very historic, has been owned by one family since 1842. The first owner was a scotsman & it’s easy to see what attracted him to this area, though he later left for NZ from whence he never returned.  In later years one of his sons returned to carry on.   It is covered by limestone rocks embedded into ground, & with a little imagination would be easy to think you were in Scotland. There a lots of rock walls where the shearers hut chimney still stands, accompanied by a working windmill. We are warned to stay away from the walls as they are full of scorpions & snakes – we didn’t need much persuading to obey, though Stu did see a couple of scorpions without going too close. The original little limestone homestead with thatched roof still stands complete with furniture & bits & pieces from the old days, though the thatched roof is now corrugated iron covered with thatch made from nearby bush.

The main attraction for us was the koalas. In 1969 4 females & 2 males were introduced to this property from Kangaroo Island because of the plentiful Manna gum trees which koala love. There are now over 100 koalas. The Manna gums here have fertilised & cross pollinated other species & have now become quite unique. There are marvellous old specimens with most interesting shapes, especially the large trunks & because of the poor, shallow soils they do not grow to the height of those in most other areas . The leaves actually contain poisonous chemicals but koalas have a special detoxification system in their liver to deal with it. It does however take a lot of energy for them to achieve it which explains why they are so lazy, sleeping all day & grazing at night.

 

Anyway, once we set up camp & eaten lunch it was R & R, then exploring. We firstly examined the trees right next to our van (good place to start), but didn’t see anything, nor did we see anything in trees further along. I was preparing for disappointment but we ventured along a walking trail close to camp & behold! I was quite excited to spot my first one & once we got accustomed to it found lots of others, in fact 14 in all.  They each have a tree to themselves being solitary animals. Some were asleep but one or two were quite aware of us & gave us good pics. On the way back we got a terrible fright as there was a sudden very loud, scary noise & as we couldn’t see anything we started to back away the way we had come. Was it an emu? Stu thought it sounded like a wild pig? Just as we backed off ready to run I realised it was two koalas, one each side of us. I think they were playing an April Fools day joke ready for tomorrow.

On our return to camp we had to laugh as the nearest tree to the van did have a koala, we had just missed it. We fully expected to be woken in the night but nothing occurred. A very peaceful night indeed as there are only about 6 camping sites taken over a huge area.

After the November fire
 

Already regenerating

 

Next morning we explored another trail which was through a big area of bush razed by a bushfire last November. It still smells of fire but there is already some regeneration, especially by the gums & the Blackboy trees (Yakkas).  The casuarinas do not seem to be so lucky. We did see a small group of roos, one large daddy one & a few emus yesterday. It will be very quiet indeed today as there are now only 3 campsites taken while the others with young families have obviously gone back for school & work.

Janice beside giant Yakkas