Oct 29 (Day 272) - Bedourie to Birdsville

 

We packed up our site and topped up the tanks ($1.75/L). The drive from Boulia was sealed all the way, but we were told the road to Birdsville turned into dirt a little way along, although a good dirt road it sounds. We had noticed on the Plenty Highway the sounds of rocks hitting the back windscreen, getting kicked up from the tyres, onto the van, and then back onto the car rear window, so we stuck a sheet of cardboard from the solar blanket box over the window to protect it from any further stone chips.

This done, we headed out of Bedourie, with a great impression of a super tidy, clean town that we would love to stay at again if circumstances allowed. The kids had had some niggling arguments so a portion of the trip was dealing with that again. Irritating, but as always, it's helpful to get to the bottom of why it's happening and address the behaviours / attitudes involved. Travelling all together is so helpful for that even if it gets frustrating at times! We stopped for lunch at Carcory Homestead Ruins. If ever you wanted to see a desolate place, check this out.

 

It's unsurprising Sidney Kidman abandoned this area back in the early 1900's. As we drove on we saw more of the same - just flat expanses of pretty well nothingness - areas described as 'Gibber Plains'. These apparently are old rocky mountain ranges which have collapsed to nothing, leaving all the rock just strewn across the land. Burke and Wills travelled through this area on their ill-fated voyage and one can imagine how oppressive the heat would have been with it reflecting off all these small shiny rocks.

It's hard to see in these photos, but there's almost a 'Captain Haddock-like' or 'Thompson and Thomson-like' mirage on the horizon all around! It's the sun reflecting off the rocks and making it look like water.

What Gibber Plain looks like up close. Lots of small shiny bits of rock,
which when viewed at an angle create the 'mirage' of water effect.

Just imagine trying to make a living out here.

We soldiered on, and eventually reached our destination - the iconic town of Birdsville! The home of the historic Birdsville hotel and the start of the Birdsville Track!

The Birdsville Hotel

The town of Birdsville itself feels maybe double the size of Bedourie. It's got two service stations, a post office, a bakery and a caravan park or two. We refilled the water tanks on the van again and then headed out of town to a free camp on the banks of the Diamantina River. It feels just like Glenlock near Waikerie! Muddy river, fine silty sandy bank, and lovely sunsets!

Travel Plans Update

During the afternoon we came across the great news that WA's border is supposed to be opening middle of November! At last! We don't quite know how we'll weave this into our plans but we had always hoped to get across there, so while there's no way we're going to get back up to the Kimberleys we might be able to cover some of the south coast we missed on our last trip. Stay tuned as we work out ourselves what we're doing!

-- Greg