Keep River National Park
Although it had been long approaching, I didn’t feel quite mentally or emotionally ready to cross into the Northern Territory. Perhaps we can thank COVID for compounding the significance of the state border. I was immediately hit with the feeling of just how far away Western Australia is from home (from anywhere). While travelling I’ve often thought about returning to some of our favourite places. Upon leaving however, I was reminded that in my almost 40 years, I’ve never just "popped over" to WA. We’d had such a fabulous nine month love affair with Western Australia that at the time, the nostalgia to be leaving seemed to outweigh the excitement of embarking on a new chapter. The doors of Narnia had closed behind me and I’d suddenly woken from an amazing wonderland dream. There was also the unmistakable feeling of now being on the home stretch. It wouldn’t be long before we would throw a right hand turn and start heading south back down to Adelaide. But that would come. We still have a lot of ground to cover and we were excited to discover what the Territory holds in store.
Perhaps our first surprise was the time difference. The 1.5 hour change threw us all. It means we're now comfortably eating dinner in daylight again rather than having to race to get something cooked by 5pm. And it's much easier to rise with the sun at 7am rather than 5:30am.
The Keep River National Park was our first stop in the NT. Already the error prone new campsite booking system had us dubious about what facilities and services we could expect from NT parks and wildlife. But we left Keep River positively impressed. On our way into the park we stopped at the ranger station and spotted for birds at the Cockatoo Lagoon and we walked up the short Ginger's Hill lookout to discover the secret of the Aboriginal stone shelter.
We had two nights booked at Goorrandalng campground and another three at the more northern Jarnem camp. Goorrandalng boasted a spectacular two kilometre loop walk which we all ended up walking twice. We shared the site with another family (Helen, Jonas and Aida) who we'd met briefly at Windjana. Hugh and Aida were happy to be reunited and shared almost every waking moment of their time there together.
Jarnem was a beautiful campground, full of chattering birds and well cared for by resident camp hosts. We learned on our arrival that Gouldian finches had recently been sighted nearby. With that news we wasted no time and went for an after dinner walk that evening, but returned unsuccessful. I tried again at the crack of dawn the following morning and Matthias the morning after but still, neither of us had luck.
When we finally set out as a family to do the full Jarnem loop walk I was resigned to the fact that with an estimated global population of only 1200 birds and our lack of success thus far, the Gouldian would likely remain a stranger to us. That being said, I hadn’t packed the binoculars away, they still swung ready around my neck, but I wasn’t paying a whole lot of attention, certainly not with the two kids at foot doing their best to imitate wild animals. Then out of the blue, Matthias called stop. He’d seen some little birds fly across our path. Indeed, I’d heard a faint, unfamiliar peepsing. Up went my binoculars and in my field appeared what did in fact look to be finches, but none that I could recognise. They were a soft fawn colour with no distinct markings. Then a few long tailed finches came into view so I assumed maybe the others were juveniles, or perhaps masked finches which we’d read on the park bird list. Sweeping my binoculars across the path, my breath caught in my throat. [Actually, I think I might have breathed the F* word, but the kids haven’t repeated it so I can’t be certain]. One of my little fawn finches appeared to have some splashes of colour. One of my little fawn finches was DEAD SET a Gouldian Finch. I actually flung the binoculars at Matthias, whether for him to enjoy the experience or to verify the sighting I’m not entirely sure. But as soon as I handed them over I wanted them back again. I was beyond excited. If it had been the whale shark tour I’d have drowned from inhaling too much water. I’d seen these birds in my mind’s eye so many times and in my imagining the sighting had always been fleeting. We were treated to a full movie-length show. After they disappeared briefly, they returned again to feed in the grasses just off the path and then they took roost in two nearby trees. We counted six mature birds in total, one with a red face, the others all black faced and with classic Gouldian colours. There were a lot of the little fawn ones in the flock and some that appeared to be definite juveniles with their colours just starting to take hold. A later inspection of the bird book confirmed that juveniles do infact start out fully beige/fawn so there is a good chance that the whole flock of 20 or so were Gouldians. The kids did a good job waiting for their wrapped bird-crazy mother, and Matthias did well to participate in my enthusiasm. The birds eventually moved on and so did we. It was a big, hot walk for the kids and it passed through some beautiful scenery with a great lookout, but by far and away, the Gouldians stole the day.
Completing our Keep River stay, from Jarnem we also drove out to the Jenemoom walk which took us along the Keep River Gorge. We spotted a fresh water croc in a small water hole and some rock art and middens left by the local Miriwoong people.
