Wednesday, Aug 17, 2011 at 19:43
Hi
We have just returned from the Cooper,
Birdsville and the Simpson. We were told that there were still rats on the northern side of the Cooper, so camped on the southern side. The first
camp site on the southern side was free of all rodents and we felt quite pleased with that.
Next stop
Birdsville and again no problems at all. Then out into the Simpson for 3 nights. First night at
Annandale, north of the
Eyre Creek Crossing point and again did not see one rodent.
Next
camp on the banks of Eyre Creek, and what a perfect location it was......until dust, then out came the rats! Not much fun during the night, with them on the swag and running behind our headboard.
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For such a very quaint location, the rats put a real dampener to
the spot. Back into
Birdsville and there was a local in the Park advising us and others to open the bonnet at night to stop the rats from doing any damage to wiring etc. We did this each night and the first night, not on rat footprint over our dusty engine back, even though we did see them near the
camp kitchen. Doing the same the next night, I was very surprised to see footprints under the bonnet the next morning, so just as
well we did this.
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Back down to the Cooper for 2 more nights, again on the southern side, but in a different location. As we were staying longer this time, we put the tent up and we had visitors during the night, and on the second night chewed a very small hole about the size of a pea in the tent (I was not very happy about that)
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There is only so much that you can do, but to save any damage to your vehicle, lift the bonnet each night, as it will not be a cosy location for the little buggers.
Have a great trip and if you are able, make sure that you visit the
Cooper Creek Ferry over the
Birdsville Track, for me being the highlight of the trip.
Cheers
Stephen
AnswerID:
462820
Follow Up By: muffin man - Wednesday, Aug 17, 2011 at 20:58
Wednesday, Aug 17, 2011 at 20:58
We recently camped on the Northern side and had plenty of rats. No damage done and interesting point about the bonnet, would never have thought of that, and I was concerned about the many things they could chew.
Only annoyance was at night they for some reason wanted to climb the tent. This would wake us but a short jab and they were gone for a while.
Before setting
camp we sought advice from the ferry operators and they reckon there were plenty of rats both sides.
MM
FollowupID:
736611