.. when I get internet access that doesn't keep dropping out.
Here's the first day's report. I'll upload pics when I resolve the line problem. (Hopefully tomorrow.)
I would have left Melbourne earlier had I not headed off in the wrong direction. Insane, I know, but for some unaccountable reason I got onto the Calder Highway instead of the Hume. And I couldn't cut across because there's a gorge and an airport in the way. So I had to find a place to get from the outbound lanes to the inbound ones, negotiate the road works and then take the right exit. In the end I left Melbourne at about 10 am, which was fashionably late.
It got better after that.
Notable sights:
Hundreds of straw-necked ibis in a paddock between Numurkah and the Murray. They were so densely packed it looked as if they were being fattened on a feed lot for the Melbourne markets.
Willy-willies (whirlwinds) beside the road between Tocumwal and Jerilderie. One was accompanied by a trio of smaller ones — willy-willettes.
Two flocks (herds?) of emus near the road bridge south of the Urana turn-off.
A nankeen kestrel minding its own business on the power lines was harassed by a magpie. Things were going the magpie's way until the kestrel got pissed off. Then the story changed.
A huge flock of sulphur-crested cockatoos on the banks of the Murrumbidgee at Narrandera.
More apostlebirds than you could poke a stick at.
And, strangest of all, a bright purple police car.
