Dryandra

The two-hour drive was quite an adventure. I had input Dryandra into Google Maps and was taken to the middle of Dryandra Woodland, where there was nothing at all except forestry tracks. I had to drive back the way I came to get a mobile signal, so that I could ask Google for Dryandra Lions Holiday Village. Even before this, I had run into a problem on the gravel road. I swerved sharply to avoid an oncoming vehicle and went into a skid. I nearly ended up in the ditch, except there was no ditch, only a barbed wire fence which I avoided by some miracle and got back on the road. The Prius is definitely not an off-road vehicle! I hadn’t realised that Dryandra was such a remote place. There is no wi-fi, except in the office, and a very poor and intermittent 3G phone signal.

Our cabin is approx central, with a big water storage tank.

The Nats group was all booked in for the Barna Mia experience for Saturday night and it was fully booked. Luckily there was just one remaining spot for Friday night, so I jumped at the chance, even if it meant I should have to venture out on my own.

It was a wet night when I set off for the 15-minute drive: alarmingly along more gravel roads. I tried to follow another car, as I had no idea of the way or even seeing the signposts in the pitch dark. I got there just in time for the 6.15 pm start. A group of about 10 had gathered, some of them from nearby camping sites. We were treated to a film and then a talk from a volunteer ranger lady. She explained about all the different animals and showed slides. I have to say, as a complete novice, it was not easy to distinguish one from another! There was a huge mural covering one wall of the viewing room, an artistic depiction of all these animals in the bush. The rain was drumming on the roof all the time: this had not been on the forecast!

Barna Mia is home to five species of marsupial: bilby, boodie, woylie, quenda and mala. They live in two x 4 hectare enclosures that keep out predators. One predator is the chuditch which has white spots. We didn’t see one, but there was a brush tailed possum with lovely big eyes. He was my favourite. The predators are foxes and feral cats. The marsupials under protection are tagged so that the rangers can monitor their comings and goings. If they haven’t moved for a while, their collars are said to be in “mortality mode” i.e. they are dead. There is only one bilby in the reserve at the moment: they would like to source some more to start a breeding programme.

Pouring feed for the little creatures.

This one jumped into the feed bucket!

Possibly the possum?

Not sure what this one is!

I was nervous about finding my way home, but one woman of my age offered to sit in my car and direct me. It was 9.00 pm by this time and most people in my cabin had already gone to bed. It took me a while to get warm under my duvet. My feet were OK in bed socks, but my hands were freezing cold, like blocks of ice. It had been drizzling all the time we were walking round Barna Mia.

We also learned more about numbats: they are day time creatures: we are looking forward to seeing one. Their population got down to 100, now there are about 400 it’s thought. There is another colony near Pemberton. They are very solitary beasts apparently. They have a long sticky tongue, designed to get into termite nests. They eat thousands in a day.