27/09/2019 My last day at Finke Gorge National Park and what a way to end it. Working in the magnificent Palm Valley. Tasked with spraying weeds. To my surprise, there was a large variety of weeds. You could see how they were competing with the native flora. Please see my […]

26/09/2019 Today we went back to the water hole to collect the four camera’s that we set up. We were really keen to see what animal life is active in this area. We went back to the office and downloaded all 4 memory card images onto the computer for analysis. […]

24/09/2019 Recording rainfall is very useful information. You can determine minimum’s, maximum’s, averages and maybe even trends. We got 9.7mm of rain in this 24 hour period. This is over half of the total rainfall received in Finke Gorge for the entire year, thus far. This could be the driest […]

23/09/2019 Rain is the stuff of all life and it has been a rare event this year in Finke Gorge NP. It usually has an annual rainfall of 350mm, which is quite low in itself. But this year in Finke Gorge there has only been 17mm to date. It is […]

22/09/2019 Even on my rest day’s I’m still learning. Whether it’s at Alice Springs Library, catching up on my studies. I learnt that you can’t pick up deoderant or mouthwash from the shelves at Alice Springs Supermarkets. You have to ask a shop attendant to unlock the cabinet. This is […]

21/09/2019 Also on my day off I checked out the Hermannsburg Historic Precinct. It is situated near the turn off to Finke Gorge NP. It was the first Aboriginal Mission in the Northern Territory. Established by the Lutheran Church in 1877. For over a century the Lutheran Church educated and […]

21/09/2019 I have the whole weekend off, so it’s off to Alice Springs again to stock up. But this time I did a bit of a detour and went to Gosse Bluff. Known to the Aboriginals as Tnorala, it is a registered sacred site. Also scientists believe that around 142.5 […]

20/09/2019 Mostly did service checks today. But in the camp ground I spotted this Western Ringneck or Port Lincoln Parrot. One of its preferred habitats is the River Red gums, Desert Oak and spinifex. Which are all plentiful in this part of Australia. This one was feeding on the seed […]

19/09/2019 The brief for today was to set up cameras at a water hole in Palm Paddock. We wanted to determine what animals were coming in for a drink. The main concern was the wild horses. We grabbed 4 motion sensing cameras and head off to set them up.  The […]

17/09/2019 Went to check the Western fence of Illamurta Springs, first thing in the morning and to our surprise we sprung this Camel walking up and down the fence line, inside the park. It was quite clear who had pushed the fence down, to get inside the park. Once the […]

16/09/2019 The task was set, to patrol the fences to the South of the Park, including Illamurta Springs Conservation Reserve.  Along with some sign maintenance and erosion control. It required another overnight stay, because it would take the whole day getting to our final destination of Illamurta Springs, which is […]

14/09/2019 – 15/09/2019 After work on Saturday, I left Finke Gorge NP to go back to Alice. I needed to stock up with more food. It was getting late when I left, but the timing was right to see this magnificent moon rise, as I was driving.

14/09/2019 This morning I went on a patrol of the Mpaara Walk. This walk introduces the mythology of the Western Arrernte Aboriginal culture. The story was told to Aboriginal children to discourage them from walking in the hills alone. It was a hard walk, but once again very rewarding. This […]

13/09/2019 Today was another day of service checks. I cleaned some tables at the day use area. A tour operator made mention that they needed a clean.  The tables were pretty gross. I wonder if the tour operator contributed to it? After reading the visitor book. One of the campers […]

Check out my video below. I hope you like it. And yes, I do have a permit for my Drone. See Below

12/09/2019 Started off the day spraying some broadleaf weeds in a patch of palms near the ranger station. From there we did a patrol near an Aboriginal Outstation and surrounding water holes. It was so tempting to have a swim in the rock pool. It was a magnificent spot. After […]

11/09/2019 One important aspect to managing a National Park is to ensure all visitors and staff have fully functioning amenities and services. This involves checking there is enough water, power is being supplied, facilities are clean. These checks are carried out 3 times on weekdays and on Saturday’s and Sunday’s. […]

10/09/2019 What an awesome night sleeping out, under the stars. Looking at the Southern Cross and working out where South was. I crawled out of the Swag for another day of weed survey further South on the Finke River. The Athel Pine weed was less in number, on the link […]

9/09/2019 There’s no time to ease into it. We are tasked to identify, map and remove Athel pine weed along the Finke River. It is regarded as one of the worst weeds in Australia because of its invasiveness, potential for spread, and economic and environmental impacts. It forms dense stands along […]