The Purple Penguin

(K: Joe wants to call this ‘and an emu in a field’ but it doesn’t scan.)

Up early, saw birds, drove a bit and saw more birds, arrived at Broken Hill.

K: <sigh> OK. We were up early, 5:30, which is too early to drive anywhere (I’m avoiding driving at dusk and dawn). So we got ready, had breakfast at the motel, and then drove to the reservoir which had been recommended to us. If you look at that map, you’ll see it’s quite a large bit of water with a couple of islands. Switch to the satellite view and you’ll see what’s actually left, a very small pond. Still there were loads of birds about. And under the trees on the side away from the water there were several kangaroos. So we were there for a bit watching the birds and kangaroos.

Then we got on the road. It was still sort of early, but hot enough that everything was staying under cover. Still we saw a lot of goats. And emus. Three sets of emus. The first we didn’t get a good look at, but the second group were more in the open and hung around a bit. And the third group was an adult with young! (Photos are all on flickr!)

We also stopped at a rest stop with petrol and a cafe, the only place for miles! But they served real coffee which was nice. And it was a chance to stretch our legs, though not for long because of flies and the heat. It is very hot.

We arrived in Broken Hill around 1pm but decided to stop as the next stretch is about as long again. Which reminds me, when we left Copar, Joe put the Google Directions on to get us through the back roads. But he really put it on so he could hear: “Turn left on Barrier Highway. Continue on Barrier Highway for 456 kilometres.”