Blooming Desert

A fledgling forest of young Desert Oak

The Desert in Bloom

This is my last post on Uluru and it's desert in the Northern Territory before we move onto more loud and rumbustious things.

The Desert here is also known as the Red Centre for its deep rusty, red sand. Back in 1988 when Hubster was last here he explained that this red carpet stretched endlessly as far as the eye could see, seemingly barren and lifeless. There was not even a hint of green in sight

However, on our trip the desert floor was far from lifeless. It was teeming with beautiful desert oaks, myrtle and flora and fauna of all kinds. The rains have been exceptional this year and the dormant shoots buried into the sand waste no time at all in springing into life.

The rock formations contrasting with the red sands, the variegated greens of the plants and the deep, azure blue of the sky is quite a sight to behold.

The guides said it has been so long since the desert has been like this that many of them are seeing plants and flowers that they have only ever seen in text books before.

It is a bountiful time for all the birds, insects, rodents and reptiles and they are prolific in their numbers. We were thrilled to see so many.

Gallah Parrot

Mr Monitor Lizard catching some rays

A very healthy looking Emu

Thorny Devil (incredible creature)

The only thing we expected to see lots of here and we didn't see one was; kangaroos and wallabies.

The explanation is simple. A type of grass grows everywhere here called Spinex. The roos find it totally abhorrent  It tastes awful, it is impossible to chew and it is spiky and uncomfortable to jump on and sleep on. I can't really blame them.

We felt very lucky to have the chance to see the desert like this.

This trip will certainly go down as one of my highlights of our time here in Australia and a lifelong dream fulfilled.

It undoubtedly left a lasting impression on us both.