Flinders Ranges Trip Part 1: Chasing Pink Cockatoos in Wyperfeld NP, Victoria

Day 1

Today we headed through the endless flat of north-west Victoria to Wyperfeld NP. Enormous fields of canary yellow canola flowers dominated the landscape, small towns sitting under towering silos, time capsules of times gone by. Straight roads that gradually became narrower and narrower, until we arrived at Wyperfeld. 

If the surrounding towns are a time capsule from a century ago, Wyperfeld is a time capsule of millennia ago. Agricultural fields give way to native open mallee scrubland. A pack of emus dart across the road. Stumpy lizards hastily retreat out of harm's way. Mobs of red kangaroos crowd the edges.

We headed to Casuarina campground from Wonga via sandy 4x4-only tracks. Dadduck track, North/South track, Ginap track, Eagle track and Moonah track was our route. Conditions turned out to be ideal. There was evidence of recent rains, so although there were patches of soft sand, it was generally hard-packed and we were able to maintain a reasonable 20-40kmhr pace. 18psi in the tyres was plenty low. 

If I was shown a photo of the tracks, I'd have assumed we were beachside. Yellow sand and scrubby bushland - It could have been a memory of riding mountain bikes on bayside beaches, 25 years earlier. 

Casuarina is a spacious campground with loads of sites, but it was almost empty. I went in search of wildlife, but came across little I could capture. Possible a white kite of some sort, some willy wag tales, various brightly coloured parrots. Roos darting off into the distance. Maybe I should have work my green shirt to blend in a little. 

Night fell, and chess lessons with Graham began. And whiskey.. as usual. But, the night was cut short when a nasty rain storm hit. Probably for the best. ...

Day 2

Waking to panoramic views of the impending sunrise and the dawn chorus of local Birdlife, I grabbed a coffee and set off to see what wildlife I could find.

My main mission for this visit was to find the illusive Pink Cockatoos. An hour of wandering proved fruitless, but as I was refilling my coffee I heard a familiar, but odd, Cockatoo screach. Like a cross between a sulfur-crested and yellow-tail cocky with a little bit of a trill in it. 

A lone Pink Cockatoo flew off in the distance. 

Once all packed up, we decided to go for a drive and explore some more tracks. Was the only thing on my mind finding those pink cockies? Yes. Yes it was. We popped into the Snowdrift campsite and walked up the absolutely enormous sand dune. I didn't think I'd be excited by a sand dune but it was really pretty awesome. Fantastic 360 views, with emus and roos dotted around the landscape. Initially we had thought to try and drive up it, there was a track and it seemed really doable. But after walking around up there for a while, and seeing how pristine it was.. we decided not to sully the serene sands. 

Continuing on, we explored some tracks on the northern side of the park, many through dry lake beds - surprisingly dry given all the rain. 

A group of pink cockies appeared out of the grass as we approached and flew off into the distance, I captured it on my car-mounted Action Cam while driving, but not ideal. At this point I can't tell if Graham is enjoying the chase as well, or thinks I'm a very strange man. 

Eventually, I find my quarry. Two pink cockies, sitting in the long grass, a fair distance off, but close to enough to get a passable proof-of-sighting photo. I think Graham really enjoyed my haphazard skid to a stop and leap out of the car.  

We headed out of Wyperfeld NP on the eastern side, the gravel roads here are big and wide, a much less dicey drive than the single lane asphalt coming in the main entrance. We hit the highway and headed to Barmera, across the SA border to meet up with the rest of the group and begin the Flinders Trip in earnest.