Marree Day 2

The flight over Lake Eyre yesterday was fantastic and I only felt a little bit guilty about leaving Bob on the ground. The fact that the nurse had said he was not well enough to fly and he certainly looked too sick eased my concience. We paid for the 2 hour flight right up over the North Lake in a "hang the expense we will only do this once mood" and it was well worth it. The South Lake and the southern part of the North Lake have water in them from the rainfall over the past five weeks but the northern part of the main lake have floodwaters coming in from the Cooper Creek, the Warburton River and a couple of others with names I can't remember just now. So it was up in this northern area that we saw quite a few black swans and flocks of pelicans. Maria couldn't get over the fact that the area of the lake system is larger than Switzerland. We flew 150 kms up the length of the lake and it is 65 kms wide. The pilot was very informative telling us  the names of the inlets and rivers as we flew over them. We flew in at 2500 metres but he dropped down to 500 metres when we were over the area most likely to see birdlife. Then we came home at 3500 metres to get a broader perspective and also to avoid  another plane in the area  I suspect. He also took us over a very beautiful creek system adjacent to the lake on the bordering station which he said was his favourite area. It was beautiful with the system forming a delta of meandering creeks. Lush and green among red sand dunes.
We cooked dinner in the camp kitchen of the caravan park with Maria and Roland doing the honours.  It is a well set up kitchen and we took our own table and chairs over to get the corner most protected from the wicked little wind that blows around here.
This morning we encouraged Maria and Roland to go on to Birdsville without us. Although the antibiotics are starting to work for Bob he is not well enough to drive on sealed roads let alone these ones. Tomorrow if he is well enough we may follow but I think we will be waiting here for them to come back in three days to give hime a chance to really get over this infection. Innaminka is completely flood bound so that part of the plan must be abandoned anyway. From here we will go down to the Flinders Ranges National Park.
The weather is cloudy here so it is no hardship for Bob to curl up under a blanket and sleep. Today we will move into the "donger" that Maria and Roland had and he will be more comfortable still. Besides it means we can plug in the Engel and recharge all the batteries. That is the update for today. I  will probably walk down to the Telcentre to chat and compare notes while Bob sleeps.