Birdsville

We have have finally ticked Birdsville off our bucket list!

Yesterday we left Windorah and headed off to Birdsville not knowing what to expect in regards to the road conditions, we were just hoping they were as good as the reports we had received. We were pleasantly surprised how good the gravel sections of road were, we were able to travel along at 80 -90 klm per hour, when we encounted the sealed sections we could take it up to 100 klm per hour.  We had to keep a good lookout for cattle and kangaroos along the way, we have found that the older cattle only lift the head to see what is passing but the weaners are unpredictable and flightly. It would have been OK for us to take our van in but still think we made the right decision leaving our van at Windorah in regards to the dust and gravel rash to the van. We are staying at the Birdsville Lodge that is situated in the same block as the pub, it has only recently been completed, it is modular donga style, completely self contained with access to an amazing camp kitchen also laundry facilities.

The population of Birdsville is usually around 160 but swells to 7,000 or more in September when the Birdsville Races are held, in July it will also swell in numbers due to the Big Red Bash a music festival that is being held out towards Big Red and free camping has been allowed on a dry lakebed.
Birdsvilles's water supply comes from a bore sunk to a depth of over 1200 metres into The Great Artesian Basin, it is pumped into cooling ponds as when it hit the surface it is 98 degrees Celsius, once cooled then transferred into the water tank that supplies the town.

This morning we travelled the 35klm to the eastern edge of the Simpson Desert from Birdsville to see what Big Red was all about.  We arrived at Little Red and took the track to the right for 3 klms, to where the enthusiastic adventurers with their 4 wheel drives attempt to get over the largest sand dune.  I am sure we would have made it on the well compacted sand, but we elected to walk to the top and watch others.

This afternoon for lunch it was a visit to the bakery where Baz enjoyed a curried Camel Pie, I was not so game stuck to what I know a chunky steak. (I hope it was!)

Tomorrow we tackle to trip back to Windorah and our trusty van.

Curious cattle and Weaners

Road to Birdsville

Deon;s Lookout showing the scale of the outback

Snake art

Birdsville Hotel

Royal Hotel ruins

Our friends Sharmon & Jack have their names on the ceiling of the pub

Water towers at sunset

Getting a beer at the bar

Water being pumped up into cooling ponds

Track up Big Red

Simpson Desert recovery vehicle ex German Army

Roadtrain making dust

Windorah

A brisk SE breeze was blowing this morning as we packed up to head off to Windorah 250 klm NW from Quilpie, the last stop before Birdsville. The road was good, alternating between one and two lanes, with wide gravel shoulders that gives you plenty of room to pull off to allow road trains to have the black top. We were also quiet happy to pull off and wait for other vehicles to pass hoping they would stay on the black top saving us from flying stones when they have two wheels off on the gravel shoulder.

The caravan park here in Windorah is very basic but does have power and water for $15 a night, if you stay three you get the fourth free. We will be taking advantage of the free night as we are leaving the van here for two days while we head into Birdsville. We are booked into the new Birdsville Lodge that has only recently been completed, accommodation is at a peak in Birdsville when the Big Bash and the Races are held there annually. We enjoyed a drink in the pub this afternoon where we spoke with a guy that had stayed at the Lodge last night, he said we had made a good choice. Tomorrow we will get on the road nice and early for the 5 hour drive into Birdsville  380 klm, we have been told the road is in good condition, lets hope so.

The road to Windorah

Fellow Jurgens owners that were camped at Coopers Creek

Windorah Store

No green grass here at Windorah

Quilpie

Wednesday morning we had lovely blue skies just a little on the fresh side, with a stop at the dump point as we were leaving the Bush Camp at Charleville couldn't help but have a photo shoot on the outdoor loo, Baz thought it wasn't a good idea for me to drop my shorts!

The road from Charleville to Quilpie was dual lane, straight and flat very easy driving. Roadkill had gone from kangaroos to cattle, wasn't good when a whiff of a decaying corpse penetrated the car. At the Channel Country Caravan Park at Quilpie there are three Artesian Hot Tubs it was great to soak in the lovely warm water and later after a shower and hair wash, I was feeling squeaky clean, this was a good excuse to go out for a meal to the Heritage Inn. A beautiful old pub that has been very tastefully restored, so fresh and clean after everywhere else being a tinge of red.

Artesian Spas Channel Country Caravan Park

Enjoying the hot tub

Heritage Inn Quilpie

Cunnamulla - Charleville

Sunday we left Bourke and headed to Cunnamulla on the Mitchell Hwy, it was frightful the number of kangaroo's dead on this section of Hwy. We have encountered roadkill along the way but not as prolific as this, we had to weave around the carcasses to avoid hitting them, lucky no oncoming traffic as we weaved to the other side of the road at times. It seems that the Dog Fence that has been erected to keep wild dogs off properties is probably a contributing factor, is spans approx 95klms along the hwy. Once we crossed the border into Queensland we saw dozens of emus many were along the roadside others in large numbers in the paddocks.

Somewhere on our travels we picked up a Grub Screw in our front tyre, lucky Baz noticed it and headed to the local tyre place to have it removed first thing Monday morning. Luckily it had not gone right through and could be removed with no ill effect, and we were able to head off to Charleville.

Once again we encounted lots of roadkill on the way to Charleville, we only ever see Kangaroos the Emus and wild goats must be more road wise. We had thought we would stay at the Evening Star Caravan Park which is north of Charleville, until we passed a bush camp along the way that took our fancy. We have spent the last two nights here it is only good if you are self contained, there is a dump point and water for $10 per night. The camp host provides a great happy hour starting at 4.30 and also cooks damper to share, we made use of his coals and cooked a lovely roast beef & vegies in our camp oven.

Today we did a tag a long tour to learn about American Secret Squirrel stuff in World War 11, it was quiet interesting hearing how many Airforce personnel were stationed here in Charleville and the large number of Bombers that were here at the airfield.

Cunnamulla Fella

Emu's

Charleville Bush Camp

Happy Hour Charleville Bush Camp

Camp Oven Cooking

Bourke

In my last post I said it was a pretty & peaceful free camp at the Newey Reserve, forget the peaceful as we had barking dogs constantly ALL night!! We had an early breakfast deciding to head off to Bourke and would shower once we arrived as we could not stand hearing those dogs any longer.

We have been at the Kidman Caravan Park for the last couple of days and have caught up with the washing and even managed to cook a Date Loaf,have also made some veg soup. Yesterday the temperature was a very nice 20 degrees and it was even better today reaching 23 degrees, no wind very pleasant sitting outside the van relaxing, our winter clothes are now stored under the bed.

 As we were travelling to Bourke yesterday we were listening to the local country radio station and they were talking about the Flicks in the Sticks, that was showing La La Land on Saturday night, it was a free film night and the CWA ladies would be selling Curried Sausages. Baz heard Curried Sausages and thought this sounded good, so tonight we headed into town to experience their country hospitality and watch the film on a big screen in the outdoors. The Curried Sausages were a pass but cannot say the same for the film, I don't think Baz & I like romantic musicals, this one was certainly a bit different. As there were only about 25 people there and the exit was up near the screen we stayed & saw it through to the end, thought it may look rude if we left early. Baz now says he only went to please me!

The Jandra on the Darling River

Darling River 

Outdoor Film Night

Cobar

Leaving Hay the next day (Wednesday) we travelled around 230 klm to Lake Cargelligo usually when we stay here we free camp at Frog Hollow right beside the lake, but after the Thunderstorm the previous night it was very wet a sloshy so it was mutually agreed to go to the caravan park. We spent a great happy hour around the fire pit talking to fellow travellers while our spuds cooked in the coals. 

Today we were back on the Kidman Hwy heading to our next stop Cobar. We saw a lot of road kill today mostly bush pigs that had been hit by vehicles, glad it wan't us as I am sure they do a lot of damage. We are free camping tonight at the Newey Reserve camping area, a pretty & peaceful spot that is well maintained by the Cobar Council. This afternoon we went just out of town to the Fort Bourke Hill Lookout, where we were able to view the Open Cut Gold Mine, the pit and entrance to the underground mine, a very impressive sight.

The Pit

Open Cut Mine Cobar

Great Western Hotel Cobar

Newey Reserve Cobar

Hobart-Hay 2017

Saturday 20th May we left home for our annual trip to the Big Island, hopefully to find the warmer weather. We delayed our departure by a week as Baz was unwell, we were very lucky to be able to change our booking on the Spirit and that Baz improved enough to travel.

I spent Saturday morning at the grandsons soccer games while Baz did the final check of the van and car. It was then time to say goodbye to family and head north stopping at Longford for the night, we were able to have a leisurely morning before later heading to the boat. Could not believe our eyes seeing a crocheted wheel cover, especially when it was on an off road vehicle a Lotus Trooper, that was at the caravan park at Longford. (Had a little chuckle!)

QLD visitor to Tasmania

We called over to Ulverstone see our friends Lyn & Dennis as we will not be crossing paths this year in our travels, then it was time to head to Devonport to catch the boat. Thinking we would have plently of time to pack our overnight bag while we were lined up in the cattle grid we were pleasantly surprised to check in and be directed straight onto the boat. It was then a hasty grab of our overnight gear to take on board. Leaving our bag in our cabin it was then down to the lounge to grab a wine and wait for Pauline and Les to board.

Monday we docked in Melbourne at the early hour of 6.30am after a very calm crossing of Bass Straight with only a metre swell, which was nothing just enough to rock you to sleep. We then made our way to the Citilink to head out of Melbourne to our first stop Echuca.  We wanted to check that our hot water was working in the van on 240v because when we were at Longford we had a little trouble, Baz had accidentally drained the cylinder, then hooked up to the power and tripped the hot water. Thankfully all was working and we didn't need to call the mobile caravan repairer. Of course while in Echuca we had to have a Beesting at the Beechworth Bakery.

Baz enjoying a Beesting at Beechworth Bakery Echuca

Our next stop was Deniliquin known locally as Deni, a delightful town situated on the Edward River north of Echuca. It is well known as the Ute Capital of the World hosting the famous Deni Ute Muster a unique Australian rural festival. A couple of attractions in Deniliquin is the Mosaic covered ute which was an arts project completed in 2008, also the Ute on a Pole a bright red WB Kingswood.

Back on the road again we travelled to Hay where we enjoyed a free camp at the Hay Services Club. I had a night off cooking as we went over to the club for a lovely Chinese meal. Later that evening we experienced a severe thunderstorm that was passing across NSW so much electrical activity!

Checking out the padlocks on the walkway

Deniliquin 

Edward River Deniliquin

Deniliquin Ute Capital of the World

Hay Railway Station