Although the trip didn’t officially start until Birdsville we all found ourselves in Mitchell on the same day. While we were waiting for Don, Tracy and Bluebell to rock into town the rest of the group, Cos, Keri & Paul, Mark & Arie, Graeme & Iwana (this was their first outing with Breakaway) decided to visit the Artisan Pools. It was $8 entry and it had 2 pools you could sit in, one at 25°c and the other at 40°C.
The Artisan Pools
We all met up for dinner at the only pub in town serving dinner. Sadly, Dave was unable to join us for this trip due to his 4WD having troubles. When we came out of the pub after dinner, we realized it had been raining and we could still see lightning off in the distance. Cos, Don and Tracy went back to their nice dry motel rooms whilst the rest went back to their free campsite to their tents.
As it turned out the storms were the least of their worries. When they set up their tents, they found some nice lush green grass that nobody else had camped on. Little did they know the reason it was so green was because sprinklers went off at half past midnight every night for half an hour. So after the storms had blown over and thinking they could get a few hours sleep the sprinklers went off and started flooding the tents. One tent was set up right on top of a sprinkler and they ended up trying to sleep in their cars. Needless to say there were lots of sprinkler jokes made throughout the rest of the trip!
Day 2, Mitchell to Windorah, 637 km and no camels seen.
We departed Mitchell in two groups and met up in Charleville for a supply stop and bakery visit. Our next stop was Quilpie for lunch, another small town.
In Windorah some of us set up camp at Cooper Creek 10 km east of town while others stayed in town. After a rough night caused by said sprinklers not everyone was up for a runout to one of the sand dunes to watch sunset. Don led the way out to one he had been to previously that was further out than the one most people go to. It was very picturesque and we had the dune to ourselves as the sun dipped below the horizon.
Day 3, Windorah to Birdsville 379 km and no camels seen.
We met Keri & Paul, who had packed up and went out to watch sunrise from a sand dune, on the road out of Windorah. The road was bitumen all the way until just after the left turn onto Birdsville Development Road. This was the last long stretch of bitumen we would see for several days so we dropped our tyre pressures to make the dirt roads more comfortable.
We hadn’t been off the bitumen long before Iwana pointed out our first sighting of a wedge tailed eagle. The Development road was in good condition and we made good time into Birdsville. It turned out we had timed our trip perfectly with nearly all the unsealed roads we drove on in good condition after recently being graded. Not only that but there was always a strong wind to whip the dust off the track meaning we didn’t have to drive kilometres apart to avoid each other’s dust.
After a very brief stop to photograph a famous hole in the rock
we stopped for lunch at Deon’s Lookout. This lookout with fantastic views was named in memory of an 20 year old who tragically died in a helicopter crash not far away.
Following lunch we took a 14 km detour to see the Betoota pub. There is nothing else around, just the Betoota Hotel. We all enjoyed a nice cold drink and read about some of the history of the pub. Surprisingly for a pub in the middle of nowhere we weren’t the only patrons.
Coming into Birdsville we got stopped by the cops doing their border checks but we hadn’t been out of state so we all got through with no problems. In Birdsville we picked up our Desert Passes for $174 from the visitor information centre. We stayed at the caravan park which was next to a big billabong. This meant there was lots of birdlife around.
Some of us went up Big Red for sunset while the rest stayed back to do some organising and vehicle maintenance before hitting the sand dunes. We all had dinner at the Birdsville Hotel when they got back from Big Red. Everyone enjoyed their huge meals but it was a struggle to finish them off.
Day 4, Birdsville to Desert Bush Camp 126 km and no camels seen.
After filling up with fuel we left Birdsville and drove out to Big Red. At the bottom of Big Red we aired down even further and took the easy route up where we stopped for the obligatory group photo.
From here we headed into the surprisingly green desert. Due to recent rains the whole way from Windorah was really green and the Simpson was no exception. Graeme who had been out this way several times before kept remarking it was amazing to see everything so green.
Once we left Big Red we made slow progress and ran into a few problems with the vehicles. It started with Little Red, which most of us needed more than one attempt to get over, but get over we all did. Here is a link to some footage from a cheap dash cam of Cos taking 2 attempts to get over.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/l4fameckqvyxv ... d.AVI?dl=0
This was to be one of the hardest sand dunes to cross but there was still the occasional soft dune. The tricky ones were the really bumpy ones where you had to get enough speed to get to the top but not so much that you took off. Keri had a great view of first Don getting airborne at the beginning of a dune when he didn’t realize how big a dip was. And she watched Cos bounce rather than drive his way up a later dune. Click the link to see footage of Cos bounce his way up.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/c0d6a6wty077h ... 4.mp4?dl=0
We started running into problems quite early on. Mark’s roof rack brackets collapsed and so he had to shed some load onto some of the other vehicles. Cos found that the bracket holding his sand flag kept rotating so the flag was in danger of hitting the car. To fix it required the use of duct tape and cable ties. At lunch Cos also discovered a couple of eggs in the fridge had broken and a beer in there had leaked too.
Keri & Paul had the biggest problems though. Going up one sand dune Keri came to a stop and she couldn’t go forwards or backwards. Mark winched her back down the dune where they discovered her front bash plate had bent at a 90° angle. The only option was to take it off which she did. A few dunes further on her remaining bash plate folded over even more than the first (someone else will have to supply the photos). This too had to come off and it was almost plain sailing after that. There was one more sand dune that Cos had 4 attempts at, 2 each on different routes up. Being conscious that we were behind schedule he gave up after 4 tries and let Don winch him up the last metre.
There was some wildlife to be seen along the way
A Brown Falcon, I think
A Painted Dragon
And a Sand Goanna
In between sand dunes we also crossed several large salt lakes. Unfortunately, a lot of these weren’t in pristine condition because people liked driving out onto them and leaving tyre tracks everywhere. You had to careful when walking on them too as you could quite easily break through the salt layer, as one of group can attest to.
Crossing a salt lake
With all the delays it was obvious we wouldn’t make Poeppel Corner until well after dark. So, we found a nice spot to set up camp and settled in for the night. There were some ominous looking clouds as we were setting up camp but thankfully it didn’t rain. We didn’t get the clear starry skies we were hoping for either.
Day 5, Desert Bush Camp to Warburton Crossing 230 km and no camels seen.
Whilst packing up camp there were lots of the cool birds flying right over our heads. They flew around in big groups and when they all turned at the same time and the light caught them just right they lit up.
Groups of Budgerigar flying overhead
We kept driving along the QAA line until we hit the K1 line. Here turned south and arrived at Poeppel Corner. After stretching our legs and checking out the corner we pushed on to try and make up some of the time we had lost.
We drove south along the K1 line past more salt lakes to the junction with Rig Road. From here the K1 line became the Warburton Track and we carried on following it south. Not long after the track leaves the Simpson Desert Regional Reserve it turned east towards the Birdsville Track. The scenery changed a lot along the drive. The further south we went the dryer it got. There was a strange dust haze on the horizon as well which made everything seem eerie.
We made camp at Warburton Crossing and had our first clear night for star gazing.
Day 6, Warburton Crossing to Cadelga Ruins 375 km and no camels seen.
It wasn’t long before we were turning onto the Birdsville Track to head north. We aired back up at the junction and set off along another nice smooth dirt road. Along the way we passed two graders in the process of grading the track for us. We made good time but had one minor worry when Mark told us he was stopping to investigate a disturbing metallic grinding noise coming from one of his wheels. Luckily it just turned out to be a stone stuck next the break calliper. The stone was easily cleared and we were back on our way towards Birdsville and some much anticipated showers.
We stopped in Birdsville long enough to fill the cars, shower and have lunch. A couple even managed time to put on some washing.
From Birdsville we drove 117 km east back along the Birdsville Development Road to Cordillo Downs Road. This is actually a private road that goes through Cordillo Downs Station and is maintained by them but the public are allowed to drive on it.
The road took us back into South Australia and to Cadelga Ruins. We decided it would be a good place to camp and spent the night. There were lots of photo opportunities here and Cos made the most it taking lots shots.
A lone Budgerigar
Probably a Black Kite
White-breasted Woodswallows feeding each other
Cadelga Ruins at sunset
And under the Milky Way
Day 7, Cadelga Ruins to Innamincka 288 km and no camels seen.
Cadelga Creek early in the morning
Our first stop on the way to Innamincka was at the historic wool shed at Cordillo Downs homestead. We found some shade along a creek for lunch and had a few stops to take photos of the scenery along the way. The sand here was the reddest we’d seen and with blue skies and all the green it made for a very pretty drive.
If you look closely you can see sand blowing off the top of the dune
We arrived in Innamincka early afternoon and enjoyed a nice cold drink at the pub. It was here we heard there was a good amount of rain coming. Luckily it wouldn’t hit Innamincka for a couple of days, giving us time to enjoy the tiny town and get back to QLD and bitumen roads before the roads out of Innamincka closed.
In the afternoon a few of us drove out to visit the place where Robert O’Hara Burke, of the Burke and Wills Expedition, died. This expedition impressively made it all the way from Melbourne up to the Flinders River in the Gulf of Carpentaria and back as far as Cooper Creek at Innamincka.
We camped at the Town Common camp ground, one of the few local camp grounds that was open. It was $5 and had an honesty box at the entry. Someone brought along some magic beans that made the flames turn green and blue.
Day 8, Innamincka to Thargomindah 408 km and no camels seen.
After a short drive we crossed through a border check and back into QLD. We stopped at the Dig Tree, where Burke and Wills returned from their expedition hoping to find the rest of their party waiting with supplies. However, the rest of the party had left earlier that day and left some supplies buried with the message DIG carved into a tree. There are now three Dig Trees, the real one, one that was thought to be the actual tree but wasn't and one used to carve a memorial.
The memorial carving
For lunch we made a detour to the Noccundra Hotel, another outback pub off the beaten track. They serve good burgers but they are messy to eat because there is so much in them. From there it was almost one long straight road to Thargomindah. When we got to a crest we could see the road stretching off into the distance.
Thargomindah was a busy, friendly little town where even the kids were polite and would say hello as they passed. There was launch of the new Toyota Hi-lux at the Thargomindah dealership.
Cos took an afternoon drive out to the nearby (80 km round trip) Lake Bindegolly NP to do some bird watching.
Day 9, Thargomindah to St George 494 km and no camels seen.
Cos paid a visit to Pelican Point in the morning to squeeze in one last bit of bird watching. Pelican Point was a nice spot in town where you can walk along the creek. I was lucky enough to see an echidna as well as lots of birds.
We said a fond farewell to Graeme and Iwana at Thargomindah. They were continuing their travels for another week while the rest of us headed for home. It was a pleasure travelling with them both, and Graeme was full of useful information along the way.
To break up the long drive to St George a few of us stopped in Eulo along the way for short break.
We passed a cute family of Emu’s on the side of the road. Keri got a great photo of the six chicks that had to chase after the adult who had just run across the road leaving the chicks to fend for themselves.
After lunch at Cunnamulla Cos was in the lead and wasn’t paying attention so almost missed the turn to St George. We had gotten so used to driving straight roads that we didn’t expect any turns. This would partly be why one couple did miss the turning and drove towards NSW for about 100 km before realising their mistake and having to back track to Cunnamulla. They still made it to St George before 7pm though. It was perfectly timed to finish off Don & Tracy’s giant pizza that was so big the two of them together could only eat half of it.
Day 10, St George to Homeward Bound and still no camels seen.
We said our goodbyes in St George. Some of us went straight home while others took the scenic route home.
I’ve got so used to scanning the horizon looking for camels over the last 10 days I still find myself looking around hoping to see one on the streets of Brisbane. It seems I’m just as likely to see one on the streets of Brisbane as I am in the outback too!
Thanks to everyone who came along and made it a great trip and thanks to Mark for coming up with an interesting itinerary.
