This morning I once again drove the scenic drive in Mungo National Park, except this time I took my time and read all the signs and tried to learn a bit more about the place. It really is a pretty fascinating place and it is hard for me to grasp the timescales. I won't go into all the details, but evidence of human occupation has been discovered in and around the Mungo Lake shoreline that dates back 60,000 years. To use an example from the signs, consider that the pyramids in Egypt were built something like 4,500 years ago and Christ walked the Earth 2,000 years ago, you might have an appreciation for how old this place is. In all of my work on the Florida Everglades, I was working with a system that was only about 5,000 years old. Quite an impressive place.
By late morning, I left the park and headed south to another system of lakes, this time with some water in it. I now am in Hattah-Kalkyne National Park in northeast Victoria. I arrived this afternoon but didn't really do anything except a bit of planning. I hope to spend the next few days exploring the area and photographing some of the area's specialty birds like the Striated Grasswren, Mallee Emuwren, and Red-lored Whistler.
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