Ramblings32

Tuesday, November 09, 2010

Meningie, South Australia

I hope this is going to be a very brief Ramblings, as it was a very boring day today, with almost nothing to report.

I was up at about 6:30 and got out of Adelaide at about 9.  I followed a difficult route out of town, making my way eventually to a town called Goolwa, on the coast, more or less.  I had a couple of birding sites to visit in Goolwa, but they really turned out to be a waste of time.  As a result, I ended up arriving here at my motel at about 2:00 this afternoon.

So, I checked in, put my cold stuff in the fridge, and went out looking to see if I could see anything.  I didn’t really expect to see any birds, but I did manage to see a few dozen Cape Barren Geese along the road, and that was a trip bird for me.  I had fully expected to see them sometime, but in this unusual year here, actually seeing them was a good thing.

After a while, I realized I wasn’t going to see anything else, so I came back to my motel room and settled in.  To my pleased surprise, there is a microwave in the room, so I didn’t have to go to the motel restaurant for my dinner, as I had expected.  Dinners start at 22 bucks, and I am sure it would have been at least a half hour wait until I got any food.  Instead, I had a drink or two and some nuts, and then heated one of my Hormel Compleats dinners (non-refrigerated, and quite tasty) in the microwave.  For me, a much better solution than sitting in a restaurant waiting for my dinner.  I have a caramel slice for my dessert.  In the morning, I plan to visit the bakery next door, and get a pie and maybe a sausage roll for my brekkie.

They offer wi fi here, but is absurdly expensive, as usual.  20 bucks for a day, for example, less for half an hour or an hour.  I chose to use my dial up plan, which costs me 80 cents for each phone call (two so far, and there will be at least two more) plus 50 cents an hour.  It is slower than hell, but it worked fine for email and for Instant Messaging.  I imagine I will be able to upload this when I am done with it, too, for another 80 cent phone call.  Beats the hell out of paying 20 bucks for 24 hours of access.

I opened a box of quite nice wine tonight, too.  I had had a box of the Sauvignon Blanc in Adelaide, and this one is the Chardonnay, from the same winery.  A two liter box cost about 13 bucks, as I remember, and it is really quite good.  I think I liked the Sauvignon Blanc better, but the Chardonnay is just fine, too.  They are both a hell of a lot better than the five liter box I bought a couple of weeks ago for 12 bucks or so.

I updated my spreadsheet finally.  I realize that most of you don’t know what that means, but the bottom line is that I can now “project” that my total species count for the trip will be about 243 species.  As it turns out, that is almost exactly what I projected before I left home, so despite all my disappointments, I am actually right on track, as far as total species for my trip list.  My lifer projection is lower, than I had expected though.  I originally projected 17, and now I think it will be more like 13.  My actual count at this point is 223 species for the trip, of which 11 are lifers.

So, that is all I have to report for today.  A quite boring day.  Tomorrow I move along again, to a place called Mount Gambier, not a mountain at all, I don’t think, but just another town along the coast.  I don’t expect any new birds tomorrow, now that I saw the Cape Barren Goose, but you never know.

So, there is a short, boring report for you.  No photos today.  Pictures of the Cape Barren Geese will be in the next Photos, whenever it gets up.