Driving through the desert is quite a challenging experience. First of all, it isn't quite like driving on a paved/sealed road as though the track is well maintianed, it is also quite rocky. Second of all, at first glance the scenery is a bit monotonous. Wildlife is scarce and the road seems to go on forever. However, this monotonity really only occurs when traveling at high speeds. If you take the time to slow down and really look at the surrounding landscape, you find that it is quite variable. Sure, the large pebble covered gibber plains are a bit intimidating and vast, but the bits of grass that cover other plains or the tops of dunes hold a wide variety of wildlife. While I didn't see that much, signs of wildlife were everywhere. Everywhere in the sand were tracks of small lizards and skinks as well as small marsupial rodents. Most of the various critters are skittish and nocturnal making them hard to see, but they are obviously around hiding from the sun's heat.
I finished the Birdsville Track today and decided to continue south and detour from my schedule a bit. In South Australia (which I entered yesterday morning), the Flinders Ranges are one of the most scenic areas and only a few hours south of Lyndhurst where I planned to head back north on the Strzlecki Track. Flinders Ranges National Park is home to yet another species of grasswren and I decided it would be more convenient to look for it now then in March when I would be spending more time in South Australia. After a stop at the visitor center to pick up some information I found a nice campsite and settled in for the night.
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