SOUNDS LIKE: Laying in a hammock, your eyes closed, no-one for 500km, surrounded by red sand, listening to the wind in trees that've been around since the dinosaurs. Perfect conditions for a nap.
Sometimes, you just need to a bit of silence. Of course, nature is rarely silent. She's even better than that. She's better than ANY noise machine a human has ever invented.
Let the sound of wind through needle-leaves on Akerre Country lull your worries away.
CONTAINS: Wind. Quiet. Zebra finches. Budgies. Mysterious rustling of small critters.
RECOMMENDED FOR: Fans of gentle soundscapes and wind in sheoaks, those who don't want machine white noise but need to put a baby to sleep.
ANN'S NERDY SOUND NOTES:
I have a weatherproof recorder that I can stick out in almost any conditions and in this case I attached it to what has been called 'Australia's loneliest tree' in the Simpson Desert.
To get there from Alice Springs, you travel through dune country, past ridges and through dry creek beds. And then all of a sudden a loose grove of skinny pine trees peak over the horizon. It is one of only two patches of Acacia peuce in the entire world. They're on opposite sides of the same desert and they're called lonely because they are solitary trees in an otherwise treeless landscape.
It's also known as waddi waddi, or maybe Birdsville wattle and this stand is on Akerre Country.
It is one of the rarest plants in the world and the wind through the needle-like leaves sounds gorgeous.
This recording was taken while I was on site in the Simpson Desert, NT filming for Australia's Favourite Tree.
We camped right near the Mac Clarke Reserve. And this is what I listened to all night.
00:00 I'm not sure I've ever been anywhere in Australia where there wasn't a cricket calling.
03:39 Zebra finches popular in aviaries worldwide but a native bird here in arid Australia, and for me they're one of the sounds that lets me know I'm somewhere arid.
08:12 They sound like desert fairy wings.
12:51 I *think* that that slightly… complaining sound is the contact call of singing honeyeaters. which are, somewhat ironically, not singing but sounding like they're complaining about their lunch order.
18:40 I wonder who it is hopping around the tree, making sounds like they're shuffling along the branches the recorder is connected to. It's probably not the zebra finches, as they don't seem to be able to go anywhere without talking about it.
25:40 See? The finches arrive, you can hear their wing beats and they say something about it immediately. I'm still not sure who was jumping around making those clicks and tocks. In fact, there is a phenomenal amount of activity throughout this recording.
27:20 There's also a chance it is something non-bird scrabbling around. It could be a reptile, a mammal like a plains mouse? Or a microbat (though I doubt that as I didn't pick up any of their calls)? A DUNNART? It could even be an insect scrabbling? Please leave your opinions on who is creeping around in the comments (if the platform you're listening on has comments)!
30:47 This sounds a little like the animal is shredding something.
33:25 A beetle, or an insect of some description flying by like it is at an air show!
42:50 The signature sound of dove wings.
43:50 Though it sounds a little like a swan (which don't really do deserts like this) it is actually a little bit of a diamond dove calling.
44:15 Budgerigars! WOO HOO!
50:00 Interestingly the insect / cricket that has been calling intermittently really starts a constant call from around this point. Insect noises and choruses can be driven by temperature, so it might literally have hit the right heat.
01:20:00 I could listen to the wind through these trees for the rest of my life and be a happy woman.
02:04:45 Someone with wings whispers in then lands with a slap/shuffle. Sounds like an insect to me, the texture of the wing beats sounds papery and dry.
02:10:38 I rarely take a recording like this where the microphones or recorder don't get 'investigated' by a local. I've left this one in here for your enjoyment.
02:15:20 The wind is so perfect, it sounds fake. (It's not.)
With thanks to Dr Elliot Leach and Gus Daly for putting up with a group chat where I send snippets of sound for them to identify. And more seriously, thankyou to the Akerre people for standing with these trees for so long - they are a true wonder of the world.
Recording: Dr Ann Jones.
Mastering: Isabella Tropiano
Executive Producer, Audio for ABC Science: Petria Ladgrove.
