Departing from Parafield Airport out of Adelaide, the flight plan includes Port Augusta- Wilpena Pound- Arkaroola- Innamincka- The Dig Tree- Birdsville- Goyders Lagoon-Warburton Creek- Lake Eyre North- William Creek- Oonnaddata -Dalhousie Springs- Painted Hills- Coober Pedy- Olympic Dam- Woomera- Pt.Augusta- Parafield.

We are looking to fill another 4 seats and we are offering  these at a specially discounted price of $2950.00. This includes Parafield Airport transfers from the Adelaide CBD, 3 days flying, 2 nights accommodation, 2 breakfasts, a 3 course dinner and entrance to the Birdsville Historical Museum.

Departure is early September 2010. Please contact us for further details and itinerary.

Presumably science still hasn’t come up with the answer as to how these pelicans know when the Coongie Lakes fill with water.

Since it happens only once every decade or longer it’s hard to know how ‘they’ know.

Even birds in Russia get on the wing and head down for a paddle and a bit of mating.

All that aside, it’s even harder to figure out how they can come back to the same island in the lakes to breed.

I mean, when they left, they weren’t much more than chicks and have cruised around our coasts for ten years or so.

This is the same place that The Sentimental Bloke, Peter MacDonald photographed in 1999. Click here to look at the island back then (it’s the third photo down). It doesn’t look much like the same place. Yet they know.

Soon, if not already, the larger of the two islands will be crammed with pelicans and not long after that there will be almost as many chicks ready to start the cycle all over again. Its an amazing,unknown piece of nature that can only be described as “Pelican Business”!

As reported on the TV screens late last week, it is now official that in South Australia’s Lake Torrens, there has been a colony of an estimated 150,000 native Banded Stilts that have bred more than 200,000 chicks!!!!

This is something else! The long beaked wading birds have trekked from their coastal habitat of South Australia’s, Coorong coastline, to breed in Lake Torrens when rain turns the salt lakes into a “shrimp brine soup”!

Up until recently, the total population of these “outback flamingos” was thought to be only 200-300,000 in the world, so this is a significant event. Full report. The Sentimental Bloke, Peter Macdonald also posted an excellent blog on this breeding event back at the end of May, which make good reading and also some great photos before the lake filled.

Our new 3 day Flinders Ranges/Lake Eyre Scenic Tours, takes you directly over Lake Torrens and you can see this colony plus a lot, lot more throughout your day in the air on this trip. For more information, please contact us.

It’s almost impossible to convey just how much water is in the Coongie Lakes at the moment.

It just goes on an on, almost as far as they eye can see in every direction. Hundreds of islands amid a thousand lakes.

Hard to imagine this is a formidable desert most of the time and at the time of this post, we have had confirmation that Lake Eyre is covered with water! Go to Lake Eyre tours for more info. Thanks again to The Sentimental Bloke for the stunning images.

The vision from the plane is unreal with endless miles of flooded plains.

Aircraft is your best mode of transport here at the moment; not much chance of getting down this track, or indeed any others around here for long while! Check out our Lake Eyre Tours for more info.

For $1500 per person, you can get on board for a 4 night/3 day, ultimate great white shark cage diving experience to the Neptune Islands off Port Lincoln in South Australia. These dives also include the world first bottom cage dives to view the sharks on the ocean floor plus rays and other fish species. With 8 different sharks spotted last week, this is fantastic!

This offer is exclusive to Goin’ Off Safaris & we have 2 trips available with limited positions.

Departure dates & times are;

• 9pm July 15th to 9am on July 19th (8 positions available)
• 9pm July 19th to 9am on July 23rd (5 positions available)

Contact us asap as these spots will go very quickly!

The start of the winter season has been excellent and up to 8 different sharks have been seen daily, with plenty of action from both the boat and of course, in the underwater protective shark cage. In a world exclusive, the ocean floor cages are really proving to be a big hit for those that are certified divers, not only to see these predators scan the ocean’s bottom, but to view the massive rays and other schools of fish. It really is incredible!

Tags have been implanted in a number of sharks in recent weeks to be able to track their movements. “Marine” is a 3.2 feisty little female (see pictured bottom left) which has just been implanted with CSIRO acoustic tag.

Other regular Great Whites that have been seen recently are Mrs.Moo- a 4.5m female, Moo – 4.3m male, Kallel- 4m male (see very bottom) and also some smaller sharks such as Punk-a 2.8m female, Ropey, 3.5 female plus 2 other large females which haven’t been named as yet. With all these females around, Moo and Kallel must be in their  element, but as they are regular habitats of the Neptune’s, they will know that “Jonny” is about to make an appearance any time now!

Jonny, pictured bottom right, is a very big male who historically appears about now & hangs in the area for usually 2-3 months and certainly makes his presence felt! Kallel is another shark that is enormously popular and is renowned as the most photographed Great White by the way he presents himself to the camera’s & his inquisitive nature.

The season is shaping up to be a belter & we have some great offers for the month of July. We have availabilities for 3 different, 4 night/3 day trips for a special half price deal of $1500 per person. Departure dates are July 5th-9th, July 15th-19th and July 19th- 23rd. Contact us for more details.

Goyder Lagoon, part of the Strzelecki Desert in the far north eastern part of South Australia – a million streams, large and small that have turned a once dry desert into hundreds of square kilometres of rich green landscape.

This really is quite remarkable & in this image by The Sentimental Bloke, you can actually see the water flowing at a rapid rate, on the bottom left hand corner of the picture. To see this and loads  more check out our Lake Eyre Tours.

A rare sight indeed. How good is this shot by the Sentimental Bloke, Pete MacDonald!

In fact something that may not be repeated for another 20 years or so.

The headwaters of the Cooper Creek heading for Lake Eyre in central Australia.

Apart from it’s historical significance, an almost surreal situation as the waters steadily and silently roll on through the desert sands.

It’s tipped these fresh waters, which have travelled more than a thousand kilometres from Outback Queensland, will reach Lake Eyre any day now. If interested in seeing the area from the ground or the air like Pete is at the moment check out our Lake Eyre Tour options!

Departing ex Adelaide, you have two great days on the road driving through the well renowned Clare Valley wine region & also the magical Flinders Ranges. We stay for 2 nights at one of Australia’s best known outback pubs, the Prairie Hotel in Parachilna, where a 3 course dinners & cooked breakfasts are included with exceptional hospitality!

The second day is spent flying around exploring the natural wonder of Lake Eyre filling up. See the endless flood waters & bird life at Jackboot Bay, the ferry crossing at Etadunna on Coopers Creek & loads more on a big day in the sky & also on land.

This a great & rewarding experience & all inclusively priced at $1750 per person. For more details visit please visit our Lake Eyre Tours page.