Towards Yaraka

It was almost impossible to tear ourselves away from our three relaxing days at Lara, but it was time to move on.

Today's drive of just 94 km is the sort of distance we should do more regularly. We steered ourselves south to spend two days camped at Blackall. 
The Barcoo rest area is beside the town with a nightly fee of $8.00. This gets you toilets, drinking water, a dump point and within easy walking distance to town.

We stayed here in October several years ago with just three other vans, but this has now become a very popular campsite. This time we shared the site with upwards of thirty vans.

A tour of the Blackall Woolscour (wool washing) today. It operated between 1908 and 1978. After sheep were shorn, the fleeces were washed in water to remove dirt that had accumulated in their wool. Originally the wool was washed by hand in large vats then rinsed. You can just imagine how labour intensive that process must have been.

The wool scour process was fully automated using a steam engine and powered by the abundant amount of wood sourced from the surrounding area. 
The sinking of bores provided unlimited amounts of water, required to wash and rinse the fleeces.

Our two day stop at Blackall turned into three days and on our last afternoon the heavens opened up for about twenty minutes. The normally dry black soil that surrounds the Barcoo River quickly turned to mud. 

We eagerly watched several vans leave the site the next morning and even though I walked to the rubbish bins and came back with mud stuck to the bottom of my thongs we really had no trouble making our way towards the safety of the bitumen.

Another shortish drive today of just 164 km. When we first visited Yaraka, the vast majority of the road was unsealed but it's now fully sealed from the Blackall end. 
We stopped briefly at the Emmet railway station, to take a photo. At one time this busy railway siding was home to thirty people but sadly now there are just two living here.

Last year we camped behind the Yaraka Hotel and that's where we are going to spend the next three nights.
Camp fees are $3.00 per night, yes I know its hard to believe but this includes toilets, showers, water and even a swimming pool. 
Mind you the pool might be a tad too cold this time of year. The fees are collected by the pub on behalf of the Longreach council. 

Friday night is pizza night and because we enjoyed our pizza here last year we ordered one to be ready for us after we arrived back from the sunset tour to Mt Slowcombe. A gold coin donation to the RFDS gets you a bus trip to the summit.

Our plan was to head towards Windorah the following day but our travelling companions required some repairs to be carried out on their van in Longreach. We retraced our steps to Emmet before heading north through Isisford and onto Longreach.

We are booked in to the caravan park here for the next six nights waiting for some parts to arrive and be fitted.

Lara Wetlands Again!!

We arrived in Barcaldine to meet friends Deb and Hank who have recently picked up a 17' Zone RV which was built for them on the Sunshine Coast at Coolum. 

They are interested in a shakedown trip to test their van, so we thought we would introduce them to the outback and desert areas, that we love so much. 

It's guaranteed that their diesel heater will certainly get a work out fairly early during this trip as well.

This will be our fourth visit, so we have decided to introduce Deb and Hank to this wonderful area with its wetlands and for them to take a tour of the homestead built-in 1912. 

Our other visits have been very relaxing and enjoyable and I'm sure this visit will be no different. At this time of year, there are usually more people out and about, but we did stop here in October one year, and there were just three other vans here. Just the sort of numbers we prefer.

On our first evening, we camped several hundred metres away from the water and then moved the following day to spots that had been vacated earlier the next morning.

We were also joined by Peter, Vonnie, David and Wendy who both previously owned Bushtrackers but have now purchased  Zone vans. Both had relatively new 20.6' vans.

They joined us each night for drinks around our campfire and on one of those nights Peter and Vonnie supplied a lovely New Zealand smoked trout that their friends had bought over with them. 

Towards Longreach

The Bash concluded on Thursday, and we left Big Red on Friday, July 13th, in convoy with many thousands of others returning to Birdsville. 

 

It was much slower to exit the "Bash" than when we arrived. 

 

We could only imagine that the three access roads leaving Birdsville would be congested with traffic and dust, with people either heading home or northward to the Bedourie camel races scheduled for the following day.

 

Considering this, our decision to stay for another three days and camp again south of town proved to be a wise choice. It also gave us plenty of time to wash and clean the van's interior. It was almost impossible to keep the dust at bay while camped at Big Red.

Many others had the same idea, but not in the same numbers as before the "Bash".

Minimum temperatures have been very low here as they were during the "Bash." Most mornings have been well below zero, with the coldest at -3.1°C.

 

We left Birdsville on Monday, 16th of July, and by then, only a few stragglers like us were heading north towards Bedourie.

The corrugations were quite severe, but we expected that, given the thousands who had already left.

In the worst sections, we actually drove through the bulldust outside the road markers to avoid the worst of it.

 

We had planned to camp 319 km north of Birdsville at a spot we had visited the previous year, near Marion Downs Station. The creek there has water and is part of the Georgina River system. We arrived just after lunch, but the flies were swarming in plague proportions, so we decided to stay in the car with the air conditioning on and drive the extra 64 km to Boulia.

 

We last camped beside the Burke River just outside town six years ago and thought that would suffice. You can imagine our surprise when, on our way out to the river, we passed over more than a hundred vans camped near the toilets at the racecourse. We then realised that the camel races were happening here this weekend.

 

We continued towards the river, and although we didn't camp right beside it, we found a lovely spot nearby. 

We enjoyed happy hour with a couple who invited us to sit around their campfire before heading back to cook dinner just after dusk.
 
We had both forgotten how bad the Kennedy Development Road was. The vast majority of the 361 km road to Winton is mostly single-lane bitumen and in a dreadful state. Our preference would have been to drive on the dirt rather than this road.
 
The surrounding countryside is relatively flat and featureless until you reach the Lilleyvale Hills. Cawnpore lookout is situated in these hills, and the surrounding flat-topped hills, or mesas, are incredible formations that have resisted erosion over time.
It's now not possible to drive up to the lookout, but even though the climb is quite steep, it's not that far. 

Just 55 km later, we stopped for lunch beside the Middleton Pub. It's hard to believe that we camped opposite the pub six years ago and spent time having a few beers with Lester, the publican.
 
After leaving Middleton, we followed a B-triple cattle truck for the remaining 169 km into Winton. Numerous vans and 4WDs were heading towards Boulia for the races, and all had to move onto the dirt while the road train continued on, with us following closely behind.
 
We arrived in Winton just after 3 pm and stopped at one of the pubs for a carton of beer and some wine. We've both become accustomed to drinking the XXXX bitter full-strength beer. 
We spent the night camping at Long Waterhole, just south of town, with quite a large number of other vans.

We are currently in Longreach for the next two nights. Our Anderson plug that connects to the van's battery charger must have been hit by a rock as we were leaving Birdsville, so we are here to have this fixed.

The Most Remote Musical Festival on the Planet

The Big Red Bash is held 39 km west of Birdsville on private property, with a stage for the artists performing over three days and nights against a 40-metre-high sand dune backdrop. Big Red is the largest and first major dune to cross if you're heading west across the Simpson Desert.

 

Adria Downs is an organic cattle property, and one of the conditions for camping there is that no greywater is allowed to be poured on the ground. There is a facility to siphon your greywater into, but no provision for emptying your toilet cassette.

 

Although the event organisers supply toilets, we prefer to use our own. Considering we are staying for five days, we purchased an extra toilet cassette just in case.

 

Our van's grey water tank holds 90 litres, so showers will be limited during our stay. Buying several packs of extra-large wet wipes as backup was also a smart move.

 

Our early entry pass allowed us to arrive at the "Bash" site two days before the music officially started. Mal Leyland gave a talk on one of these days, along with a screening of one of their films on the large screen. After the movie, the crowd was given the chance to ask Mal questions about his life, which we all found very interesting.

His fondest memory of the 1966 crossing of Australia was seeing rain cascading down Ayers Rock/Uluru.

 

This was our first "Bash" attendance, so we're not entirely sure whether we will enjoy the experience or not. No doubt time will tell.

Our decision to take out insurance in case of breakdown or illness was also a good move, especially considering we paid $1200 for the experience.

 

When camping, our preference is to avoid crowds whenever possible, but we thought we would give the "Bash" the benefit of the doubt and see what it's like to be surrounded by thousands of people. In this case, 10,000 attended.

On Saturday morning, July 7th, the "Bash" office opened, allowing for the mandatory car stickers and wristbands to be organised before heading out to Big Red. We also purchased some of the merchandise on offer at the same time.

 

First thing on Sunday morning, we were hooked up and ready to rock' n' roll just before 7:30 am.  We joined the queue of 4WDs, caravans, and camper trailers on the slow, dusty trip out to Big Red. At times, speeds dropped below 40 km/h; at that time of the morning, there was very little wind.

Although we have been to Big Red before, we have never travelled in a convoy with so many others. I was totally surprised that the trip there only took one hour and fifteen minutes.
 
Impressive organisation has gone into moving so many people in such an orderly manner, but this is the fifth year, so they have had time to perfect it.

The headline act at this year's "Bash" is John Farnham, supported by acts such as the Hoodoo Gurus, The Angels, Daryl Braithwaite, John Stevens, Kate Ceberano, Adam Brand, Russell Morris, The Black Sorrows, The Wolfe Brothers, and Amber Lawrence.
 
It was wonderful to meet Mal Leyland. Later in the day, we wandered up and purchased a signed copy of his 2015 book, "Still Travelling."

Each day, we enjoyed wandering around the camping area, checking out others' setups. There were road vans, so-called off-road vans, and real off-road vans, as well as numerous different makes of camper trailers. There were also many tents and swags, just like we used to camp in when we were younger. Thank God that's over with!

 

Our early daily ritual was to climb Big Red to take photos and marvel at the number of campsites spread out below.

Many food vendors were selling a variety of items, including wood-fired pizzas, Mexican cuisine, coffee, seafood, hamburgers, steak sandwiches, and even a Wendy's outlet.
 
The "drag" race is undoubtedly a spectacle to see. Besides being entertaining, it significantly raises funds for the Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS).
This year, hundreds of men dressed in drag ran across and down Big Red.

A representative from the Guinness World Records was also present to oversee the world record attempt for the Tina Turner song "Nut Bush City Limit" dance. The previous record was 522 people who had to dance continuously for five minutes. This attempt was broken at the "Bash" with just over 1700 participants. 

The drag race and the nut bush dance combined raised just over $50,000 for the Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS). Ros was given an early birthday gift with a helicopter flight over Bashville and Big Red, which she thoroughly enjoyed.

Among all the artists who performed over the three days and nights, we thought that Russell Morris:

Cate Ceberano:

John Farnham:

 And Joe Camilleri and the Black Sorrows were the standout performers. 

Would we attend in future? Hmmm, that would depend on the lineup of artists; otherwise, we thoroughly enjoyed our time at the 2018 "Bash."

Birdsville

We arrived in Birdsville two days earlier than planned because the Cordillo Downs and Arrabury roads, heading north from Innamincka, remained closed due to last week's rain.

 

These road closures forced us north towards Windorah via the bitumen. We then joined the Birdsville Development Road 118 west of Windorah, where the single-lane bitumen ended. The remaining 261 km of dirt into Birdsville was unaffected by the previous week's rain.

 

Our hot water heater stopped working four days ago. Meanwhile, we have been boiling water on the stove and washing with a sponge bath in the shower cubicle.

I used a pin inserted into the small hole where the gas enters the flue, but this didn't clear the blockage. As a last resort, I used a needle attachment from my kit—designed to blow up footballs and basketballs—that fit neatly into my compressor hose. I managed to clear what must have been dust lodged in the gas line. End result: happy wife, happy life.

We are currently camped on the town common about 1.5 km south of the town. Water taps are scattered throughout this area, and there is a dump point nearby. There are probably about forty vans camped here at the moment, with new arrivals each day. The caravan park still has vacant spots, but I'm sure it will fill up in the coming days.

So our days here have been spent reading, relaxing, walking into town each day, and watching the new arrivals come in from the south.