Birdsville Safari Pt 1

A week after the Dig Tree Safari we were on our way again, this time starting from Broken Hill with 70 motorhomes in convoy ranging from small 4WD compact campers to top of the line Winnibego motorhomes and a converted tour coach, several towing cars or trailers. After our experiences on the previous trip we decided to leave Scruffy and the trailer in safekeeping with a friend until this trip was over.  



Wall mural at Hawker



Everyone travelled pretty well spaced out over the first few days across to Yunta in S.A. and on through Peterborough to Craddock where we camped amongst the prickles behind the pub. From Craddock we went to Hawker where there is a panoramic painting of Wilpena Pound on the inside walls of a silo type structure and there are also some floor to ceiling scenic murals all painted in great detail.  

Flinders Ranges



From there we moved into the Flinders Ranges which are 500 – 600 million years old and are just the crumbling remains of huge mountains – still magnificent! The spring wild flowers were all coming out and the grass under the trees was green so everything looked nice and healthy - good to see after so many dry years. This was the first bits of unsealed road and came as a bit of a shock to some travellers who had never been off the black stuff, causing some to slow down considerably so that the group bunched up and so learned their first lesson about travelling too close in the dust.

 After a night camping in a creek bed at Beltana Sheep Station we continued north to where the real adventure began. Lyndhurst is the end of the sealed road and here we split into 2 groups, some going to Maree and then up the Birdsville Track where they had to cross the Cooper Creek by ferry, and the smaller group which included the vehicles too large for the ferry, went via the Strezlecki Track, Innaminka, Dig Tree and then north via the Annabury Road, so that we all met up again at Birdsville for the famous annual races.

 We chose to go with this second group of 13 motorhomes as we were only repeating a short distance of our previous travels. There were a few problems along the way with two Coaster buses stopping at Innaminka to repair a shock absorber and also trailer springs, and there were a couple of flat tyres from debris off the road such as a horseshoe nail.  

Feral camels



Once again we saw lots of native birds and also the usual kangaroos and one morning we finally saw some camels. As you read in my last blog it was VERY dusty but we enjoyed every minute and although the land is basically flat, it is constantly changing and showing new vistas of vast open country and the bare bones of this remote and ancient land. It is much more interesting to travel through than the more populated and “civilized” areas.

     Our last stop before Birdsville was at Betoota where there is nothing but a pub which is closed, the local cattle station homestead and a race track. We stayed at the race track and after getting the generator and pump working we had toilets, hot showers, fresh water and power!

Montecollina Bore- hot water from the artesian basin



Several stops on this trip were “freedom camping” with no facilities at all – just the wide open spaces and starry skies. Montecollina bore beside the Strezlecki Track is a fine example.

My next blog will cover the second half of this trip.





DUST!

Road train approaching - pull off and wait for the dust to settle

Let me start by saying we have had a great time on the Birdsville Safari, and I’ll write about that in my next blog however I just have to share these photos with you. You cannot imagine how much dust has got inside our bus!







Red dust road



The guy who fitted it out obviously never intended to go off the sealed road so he didn’t seal anything. There are large gaps where pipes and cables come through the floor but the dust is so fine it finds the tiniest cracks and gaps as well and penetrates everywhere.







Dust under our mattress!



The dust on these outback roads is like fine talcum powder and is either white or red so if you can imagine a 20kg bomb of pink powder exploding inside the bus and then being fan forced through everything you might have some idea of what it’s like.



Dig Tree Safari

It’s been a few weeks since the last blog as we’ve been out of internet access areas on safari with the Campervan and Motorhome Club.
We left Gilgandra (eastern central NSW) on the 2^nd August and travelled west and north through Cobar up to White Cliffs which is an opal mining area with underground homes and tourist accommodation. In places the roads have torn up patches of seal from flooding earlier in the year but repairs are mostly complete. It is good to see water in creeks and rivers and green growth in the flood plains.

Roller coaster dirt roads

That was the end of the sealed road and from there on we were on sandy, dusty gravel and much of it was badly corrugated. 



Milparinka courthouse at sunset

The next stop was Milparinka (population 4) but where there is a beautiful restored sandstone courthouse and police station. From there we went to Tibooburra and then on to Cameron Corner where 3 states meet. This road was really bad and the constant hammering of the corrugations caused a repeat of the metal fatigue problem on the left side of the trailer. The upside was that I got to drive the Moke into Cameron Corner while Allen followed in the bus. We were at Cameron Corner for census night, blowing the local population out by around 2000%.We were able to get the trailer fixed overnight and were ready to move on to the Strezlecki Track and the Moomba Gas Fields next morning where we were the first tour group to visit their installation.



Roadside patch-up on trailer



From there it was on to Innaminka on the Cooper Creek and here it was repairs to the right hand side of the trailer, then on to Dig Tree famous for the Burke and Wills expedition final camp. Wide areas of this country were flooded and these small communities were cut off for several months in 2010.
Even though these areas have very sparse populations often towns have populations in single figures, the wider local communities are all very active supporting the Royal Flying Doctor Service and we were treated to fund raising BBQs at several sites on this trip and camp fees were usually a donation.
We travelled on to Noccundra (just an old pub by a river) then to Targomindah and finally we were back on the sealed road taking us to Cunnamulla and finally back into NSW to Bourke were we had a final official dinner, this one as a fund raiser for local Meals on Wheels service.
These small outback towns all have fascinating and often unique history and wonderful characters keeping it alive. They are all struggling to survive often in very different ways but all have the great outback spirit and down to earth approach to life.

Cooper Creek, Innaminka. Dark tree trunks indicate flood level

The colours of the outback are so vivid – red earth, blue sky, silver and green vegetation and sandy blond grasses and it seems to go on for ever. The nights have so many stars with the milky-way like a fuzzy stream across the skies. This was a wonderful time to see the outback with water in many of the creeks which can be dry for years and the waterholes are alive with birds including pelicans by the hundreds.

 It has taken us 4 days to clean the dust out of the bus and try to seal up the worst gaps. We had a wonderful adventure and made some new friends along the way. We enjoyed it so much we are off on another safari in a few days, some of it over the same roads but taking us into new territory.
















Gilgandra and surrounds

While spending a week or so in Gilgandra, we did a couple of side trips in Scruffy.

The first was to Dubbo to pick up our mail so we took the opportunity to the Western Plains Zoo. Probably not the best day for it as it was a bit overcast and cool but we drove round in the Moke and saw some of our favourites – meerkats, ring tail lemmas, cheetahs, the tiger, otters and much more in open range style enclosures.

 We visited the old Dubbo Gaol which had Gaol which has some excellent displays set up in the old cells with automated dummies made to look like actual former in-mates, and as visitors pass a photo cell sets off the automation and the “prisoners” tell their stories. Each dummy has individual features and there is even a female escapee going over the wall.

 We also spent a day exploring the Warrumbungles National Park. Some great camping areas easily accessible to motorhomes and there is plenty to see without tackling the many walking tracks. Good sealed roads, very enjoyable for Moke driving. There are some amazing rock formations left from the volcanic activity 13 million years ago and revealed by erosion. Just outside the park is the Siding Springs Observatory which is well worth a visit for the views from the mountain top and the facility itself.

In Gilgandra we visited the Rural Museum and spent some time going through all the farm machinery, tractors, trucks and ingenious home-made equipment. Gilgandra area once had hundreds of windmills and there were four different types out the front. They have been superseded by solar pumps as these are more efficient and at the sunniest, driest time of year there is often no wind.

Introducing George

Before we head off into the outback I thought it was time you met our travelling companion.

His name is George and he travels in the Moke when we’re on the road. It is really funny to see the looks on people’s faces as they spot him when we’re parked anywhere . When we stop and set up camp he usually sits in the passenger seat of the bus and creates a real talking point.

We tell people he’s our security guard. Also, as we have house sitters at home, we couldn’t leave any skeletons in the cupboard.

We get comments such as – “you need to feed him up a bit!” “Is it the boyfriend or the girlfriend?” “Where does he sleep?”

Wandering southwards again

    

<>



We spent three days at Ipswich, visiting the Railway workshops Museum - Excellent! very modern display methods and interactive stuff for the kids. Sunday morning a country market set up near us in the showground where we were camped so lots of good food bargains and stuff to see. We had to leave early Monday morning as the  circus was moving in on us so we ran away from the circus. We met a couple of fellow travellers who do signwriting so now the bus has some decoration.

    

At a lunch stop this Willy Wagtail cleaned all the bugs off the stoneguard



The road from Ipswich took us up over the Dividing Range for the third time and we knew we had a climb ahead of us as the signs said Cunninghams Gap as we approached the ranges. They also said 8% grade for next 7km. The highway was good with a passing lane most of the way up so we didn’t hold up faster traffic. However as we got towards the top we caught up with all the other traffic at some major roadworks. The road was down to one lane, one way at a time as the rest of the road appeared to have fallen off the edge of the mountain. There were several kilometres like this and in one place a double height row of shipping containers to stop the mountain falling on us! Then we were over the top onto the tablelands and heading for Warwick.
Straight through Warick and on to Goondawindi for 3 nights then back to Moree for another soak in the hot pools. This is all very flat country, growing wheat and cotton - lots of cotton - there is enough scattered down the sides of the road to stuff dozens of mattresses.

We are now at  Tamworth, the Country Music capital of Australia and in a couple of days we'll head west to join a group of motorhomes travelling the outback for about 6 weeks - can't wait!







Mokes and other things

We travelled over 2000km before we met up with another Moke!

 We stopped for one very chilly but fine night at Glen Innes and there was a Moke parked at a cabin in the caravan park. It was a “bits & pieces” car with identifiable parts covering a range of years. The young owners were on their way round Australia in so we wish them good luck.  On that frosty morning the ignition switch was frozen and everything had a coating of frost as they are travelling with just a bikini roof and no side-screens, just lots of layers of clothing.

From there we travelled through Tenterfield and over the Dividing Range to Casino to find another Moke belonging to a friend at the Casino Motorhome Village needing some help with brake repairs. Two and a half weeks later it was finally fixed after a saga of  wrong parts supplied and new problems to be solved.

Casino Village was a great place to stay with very good facilities and fine weather almost every day. Plenty of birdlife and rabbits in the camp area. We spent the time between car repairs relaxing and doing some local sightseeing and eating good country food at the local hotels and tourist sites such as New Italy which was settled in 1880 by Italian immigrants rescued from a disastrous settlement scam north of New Guinea.

Yesterday we moved north to Ipswich near Brisbane so we’ve made it into Queensland. As we left Casino we set the GPS for Ipswich but it wanted to send us through the twisty hill roads we’d already explored (in the Moke) so we took the easy route which confused the GPS completely. It then instructed us to “Proceed 60,000km”- hmmm, always knew that shortcuts were the longest route. Someone suggested it was trying to send us to Ipswich, England!

The bus has a name - BERTHA - pics on our next blog!