19/6/21 heading across the Tanami

We spent the morning getting organised and then explored the Olive Pink Botanic Gardens while we waited for our whole group to be ready to go.

At the botanic gardens we had a really good look at a juvenile western bower bird and white plumed honeyeater as well as a yellow throated miner and ring neck parrots.

Olive Pink, who created these gardens must have been a very single minded lady. It sounds as though she created all sorts of havoc around the area, mostly on behalf of the local aborigines. She lived a tough old life and still made it to 91!

This is my verse ( purely imagined) on the subject of this lady with the unusual name.

A posse  of  young ladies
Lived in Hobart town they say
Back in the 1900s
And there was hell to pay

Educated ladies 
they  were thinkers and strong minded
And to societie’s desires 
They seemed to be quite blinded

Young scarlet  Green, the youngest one
Spurned all the lads advances 
She loved to climb the mountains but she wouldn’t go to dances

Primrose Black , a writer
Had her nose stuck in her books
And didn’t even notice
When there were admiring looks

But Olive Pink she beat them all
With wit as sharp as nails
It seemed to all the upper crust
That she was off the rails

Instead  of gently settling down
And painting pretty art
She took off to The Territory
And the natives stole her heart

She left Hobart for the Alice
With never a ‘beg your pardon’
And instead of raising family
Raised a botanic garden!

At 11.30 we were on the road and we ended up going 408km. The Tanami was excellent ( except for the roadworks) until just after Tilmouth Well (300km) when it turned to quite corrugated dirt. ( still much more pleasant than the Ghan road)