Australia part 6

The wildlife continued to feature largely in our trip to Australia's NW corner. The termites were everywhere we went and the diversity of their mounds was fascinating. Some huge, some small, some rounded some pointed. This huge one is built by the Cathedral termites and the mound is about 15 years old. In 'the wet' some of the mound gets eroded away but obviously not enough to deter the termites and their busy construction.  This other one pales in comparison and was only about waist high.  The colours vary too depending on the soil on which they're built since that's the substrate that is used by the termites to construct the mound. We saw black ones, dark grey, sandy beige and rusty red.



















When it wasn't termites, it was green ants that we encountered. We met them the first time at our first campsite in Wangi Falls. We were cautioned not to mess with them as they are very aggressive, (and carnivorous) though apparently make a very nice cup of tea, we learned later in the trip. No, we didn't actually try this ourselves. The ants themselves are easy to spot. Their abdomens are vivid green. Secondly, their nests are quite striking and will likely be what you'll notice first. The green ants are amazing engineers.  They basically glue leaves together and may not necessarily remove them from the tree to do so. When they can't reach a leaf, they form a chain long enough to extend out into the air to bridge the gap between ant and leaf. The ant on the end grasps the leaf and it is tugged into place and cemented there, one assumes, with a very sticky saliva. Here is the finished product. 


We camped this night in what is referred to as a "free site". The free sites are often just road side areas that have basic facilities (a long drop) and generally no potable water. Some ask for a donation to maintain the site.
They are suitable for self-sufficient campers who travel in Campervans. We noticed that many of our neighbours possessed solar panel powered batteries and occasionally generators to provide power.  We had to scrounge around in the bush to find fire wood but it was not that easy since everyone does this and the trees are very short to begin with and do not drop many branches or twigs to use for fuel. It is made more difficult with very prickly grasses that you have to walk through while looking for wood.  Dinner and bread cooked over the fire.
We then began to get into Boab territory. They are wonderfully shaped trees and are related to the Baobabs of Africa. They only grow in Australia, Africa and Madagascar. They are not good for burning or building as they have a very spongy fibrous interior. They are deciduous and drop their leaves in the winter. The fruit is not visually appealing but tasty. Kind of white powdery pulp. This tree, and the river pictured below, were within a few minutes walk of our 'free camp' somewhere between Katherine and Kununurra.

Here's what the campsite itself looked like. The trees growing here are much smaller and shorter than the ones we saw in the first week of the holiday where we were further north and in more humid conditions.

This is a campsite from the first week at Mary River where it was much more humid and hot and you'll notice the difference in the height and size of the trees.

These were our favourite trees on the holiday. The Woollybutt Eucalyptus. We were there while they were in bloom when they sport these fabulous orange pom-pom flowers. The parrots at Katherine Gorge (Nitmiluk) perched on branches picking these pom-pom flowers apart to get at the nectar they possess.
And back to Mary River again to see the bamboo forest that we walked through. A very hot day it was too and we were glad of the shade that the dense stand of the bamboos provided.










And one last 'wildlife' entry for the trip.  On our way to this stand of bamboo trees we were met by this very placid character chewing away and watching us intently. He followed us for a while but gave up after a few minutes.  They are of course native to India and were brought here to Australia because they are very much more accustomed to the hot dry climate than are the cattle brought from Europe.