Blitzing the Great Victoria Desert

The Bush Blitz team are out on one of the most remote expeditions we have ever undertaken, in the heart of the Great Victoria Desert.

The Great Victoria is the largest desert in Australia and covers a vast area of 348,750 square kilometres. Its pristine, arid wilderness includes red sand dunes, stony plains and dry salt lakes, and is home to a number of Aboriginal communities.

The team is made up of 18 scientists including researchers from the South Australian and Western Australian Museums, South Australian and Western Australian Herbaria, and PhD students and researchers from the University of Adelaide, University of NSW and Flinders University. Assisting them are traditional owners and rangers from Maralinga Tjarutja, Pila Nguru (Spinifex People) and Anangu. All images by Tyrie Starrs.

**Dr Mark Harvey (WA Museum) shares tall tales with Dr Nik Tatarnic (WA Museum) and Dr Marina Cheng (Uni NSW) about the size of the spider he caught**

**Sam and Shane Doudle (centre), Ranger Coordinators for the Spinafex rangers, provide a cultural briefing for researchers**

**Dr Remko Leijs (WA Museum), Dr Richard Glatz and PhD candidate Ben Parslow (Flinders Uni) set invertebrate traps on a salt lake.**

Communication with the field is extremely limited, with only intermittent satellite phones and internet, but we have been lucky enough to have some amazing images sent to us by temporary Bush Blitz team member and talented wildlife photographer Tyrie Starrs (@tyriestarrs).