EIGHT turquoise-blue emu eggs sit on their bed of twigs, glowing in the sunlight like beads for a gigantic necklace. A male emu lurks behind the encircling wall of grass and lignum, ready to get back on the nest as soon as we have gone.
The eggs’ burst of vivid colour is an intense contrast to the grey-brown-green of the surrounding landscape. Over our three days of walking there’ll be other such pops of vivid colour: the royal-blue sheen of Purple Swamphens glimpsed among wetland reeds; Ringneck Parrots displaying the traffic-light green of their tail feathers to potential mates high in the trees; spots of flaming scarlet dancing before our eyes as Red-Capped Robins flit from branch to branch. And we wouldn’t see any of them, were it not for our guides.
This is an environment that requires interpretation to yield its full value to the visitor. Unlike some of Australia’s coastal and mountain regions, the Murray River Valley doesn’t show all its charms to the casual observer. Yes, there is spectacular scenery: red cliffs and yellow sand hills along the riverbanks, perfect reflections in the
