Birdsville Track - Mungerannie Hotel Campground

7 – 12 September 2023

We had arranged to catch up with a birding friend at Mungerannie so we continued north along the Birdsville Track. We had a quick lunch in the car at Cooper Creek Camp, which looked like a good place to stop but the wind had us continuing on. The wind was still way too strong when we arrived at Mungerannie so we took a room for the night – a bit of a luxury, but we had always planned to do that from time to time.

Later in the day we met up with Paula and enjoyed dinner and a couple of drinks together. In the morning the wind had dropped quite a bit, and we were able to snag probably the best campsite in the whole place. The campground is just a big open area that backs onto some scrub which borders a wetland. There is very little shade for most of the day, but we found a spot that backed onto the scrub, with a small stand of vegetation in front. We were able to get some shade and were also quite private from the rest of the campground. Sometimes it pays to be early.

We ended up camping for four nights while Mick went out chasing birds. He went out with Paula a couple of times, by himself a few times, and I joined him on one early morning excursion up the Kalamurina Road onto Cowarie Station. He had some moderate success and was generally happy with his photos, but disappointed not to get the Grey falcon that everyone else seemed to have been able to photograph.

We had one mishap while we were at Mungerannie – one of the gas bottles ran out just as we finished cooking dinner and when Mick connected the other to heat water for washing up, it started to leak. It looked like a problem with the valve. We carry a Jetboil for roadside morning tea stops so used that and considered our options. We were due to leave in the morning but had also thought about staying another day. With only the Jetboil we wouldn’t be able to cook so we had to think carefully. After an early start to go out to Cowarie we decided to stay at Mungerannie another night and have lunch at the pub, and cold meat and salad wraps for dinner.

We enjoyed hearty burgers and chips for lunch and paid for another night’s camping. When we returned to camp Mick decided to have a closer look at the gas bottle. It turned out all it needed was a new “o” ring. Crisis averted. Mick chatted to some other birders and received some information about stops on our trip further north. He went out early on our final night while I did some initial packing up of the camp. We were back on the road again by mid-morning.