Some years ago, we went on a driving holiday in the Northern Territory. We flew to Darwin, hired a car, and firstly headed south to Katherine and the Stanley Chasm. We went in October and it was very dry.
Part way on our boat trip up the chasm, we ran out of water and had to leave the boat, walk across some dry ground, then take another boat to continue. For most of the year, tourists would be able to stay on the boat for the whole trip.
Quite a few locals told us we had come there at the wrong time. Early in the year after the rains was the time to see the country at its best.
At one place on our drive north again, we stopped for a break where there was a picnic table under a roof covering. It was near what must have been a long and fairly wide water expanse in the wet season but had dried up significantly to a small waterhole well down from where we were.
As we were having a cup of tea, a small flock of Diamond Doves arrived and spread out along the water’s edge to drink. Even at full zoom on my camera, these birds were far too small in the frame to get a good photo.
At about 20cm in length, the Diamond Dove, pictured here, is the smallest member of the Pigeon species found in Australia. Its habitat is mainly arid regions of the inland, generally being north of the Tropic of Capricorn.
We continued our trip, heading back northward, then going east through the Kakado National Park as far as the town of Jabiru. However the waterhole was the only place that we saw the Diamond Doves on that trip.
