Quilpie via Adavale

After our short visit to Blackall, we were now on our way towards Quilpie. This road passes through Adavale 220 km south of Blackall.

Its one of those roads I've always wanted to take and had planned to do so last year, but due to reasons beyond our control we were unable to do so.

The Adavale road conditions posted at Blackall for 'caution', had us wondering if there may have been damaged from the recent rains so we were unsure of what we may find.

The first 15 km are bitumen with the remainder of the road dirt. Our progress was halted about 5 km outside Blackall with cattle being fed whilst walking along the sides of the road.

We were accompanied by Glenda and Steve in their Bushtracker. Once we reached the dirt we could see that the graders had been working on the road and we did, in fact, come across the grader a further 20 km down the road.

The road conditions continued to be better than we had expected and we sat comfortably on 70 km/h for the first 120 km.  

One or two of the creeks we passed by still held water from the recent rains and this spot would have made a lovely campsite.

The road conditions changed just over 100 km north of Adavale and started to turn stony, as we passed through a series of hills.

The remainder of the trip into Adavale consisted of a hard-baked clay-like surface that was quite rough in places. It was also a welcome sight to see wildflowers on the sides of the road from the recent rains.

Our plan was to spend the evening camped in Adavale after lunch at the pub which consisted of a cold beer and a steak sandwich. 

The publican suggested we camp along Blackwater Creek but neither of the areas we looked at was very appealing, so we continued on for another 100 km to camp just outside Quilpie.

We have camped at Lake Houdraman before but in those days camping was free and there were no facilities. Now it's known as 'The Lake' and its $ 15 per night whether you use your own facilities or theirs. There are also six powered sites near the office.

We chose to camp right on the lake edge and just use our own facilities like we always do.

Heading east towards Yaraka

Just like we have in the past we again took the Hammond Downs Road 25 km south of Windorah. It saves a considerable amount of distance rather than taking the Jundah to Quilpie Road.

This road runs roughly parallel to Cooper Creek and its many channels and can only be driven providing there has been no rain. Its a lovely drive through station properties and ends at the property know as Retreat. The road north of this station also gives access to Welford National Park where we have previously stayed. From here to Yaraka the road is a mixture of bitumen and dirt sections.

We continued along the Yaraka Road to spend the next two evenings camped behind the Yaraka Pub. This is our fourth visit here and we have timed our visit to coincide with pizza night which is held on Friday evenings.

Camping fees are $3 per night which includes all amenities but of course, we have all our own so we park away from those who require power and water.

Sunrises here are always very special and this morning did not disappoint.

Mount Slowcombe rises 350 metres above the surrounding plains not far from Yaraka. It gives panoramic views of the Yangyang Ranges and the small settlement of Yaraka far below.

After the Bash

We left our departure from 'Big Red', until just after 9 am on Friday the 19th of July, long after the vast majority of people had already left. Then it was an easy drive into Birdsville.

Just like last year, we stayed on the town common, for another three days while catching up on washing and cleaning.
But more importantly, it meant the vast majority of vehicles had already left, allowing us the freedom to just take our time without being overtaken and showered with stones with people in a hurry to get home.

Another lovely meal at the Birdsville Hotel with Glenda and Steve on one of our nights.

This year we headed east 168 km towards Betoota. 

Our plan was to spend two days camped by the waterhole down from the pub but sadly we were surprised to see that there was far less water than there was last year.

The hotel was built during the 1800s and is the only building here. It closed down many years ago but has recently been given an upgrade and even though that has now finished and the liquor license is in place, there are still building regulations holding up it being used as a hotel.

The vast majority of this road is dirt with the occasional section of bitumen thrown into the mix. There were no surprises with the condition of the road considering the amount of traffic that has driven over it in the past few weeks. To say it was rough and corrugated would be an understatement, but thankfully our greatly reduced tyre pressures and speed were kind enough on us, our 4wd, and our van to cope with these conditions. Most of the 168 km distance to Betoota was spent driving in the bulldust on the outside of the road markers.

After just one night we headed further east towards Windorah. We were surprised by how good the remaining 102 km of dirt were compared to yesterday's conditions.

The lady at the fuel outlet in Windorah mentioned that over the Bash period she had pumped 70,000 litres of diesel.

Big Red Bash 2019

We wandered into town on Saturday morning the 13th of July after spending the past nine days camped on the town common just south of town. 
Here we joined the large line of people all waiting patiently to obtain their wrist bands and early entry car stickers. Without them access to the Bash site is impossible.

The 'Bash' merchandise was on sale in Birdsville last year, while we were obtaining our wrist bands and car stickers, but this year that's all changed with the merchandise only on sale out at Big Red.

Last year our morning temperatures made hooking up our van almost impossible due to the cold. Soooo this year I hooked up before retiring for the evening.

The evening before heading out to Big Red, three unthinking bogans turned up and blocked off our access to the road, so we were forced to go cross country to get onto the main road into Birdsville.

This year we joined Glenda and Steve who also own a Bushtracker. We met them last year at the 'Bash' and decided to park together at the event. We left town at 7 am and enjoyed a clear run for the vast majority of the trip out to Big Red.

Here we joined the line waiting for the access to start at 8 am.

Last year we left roughly at the same time except this year our site was in the front row. We also positioned the van just like last year with our awning facing away from the prevailing winds.

Once we'd set up it was off to the merchandise tent to purchase T-shirts, caps and a Big Red Bash hoddie for Ros.

This years headline act was Midnight Oil who played on the last evening. In the past, we have never been fans but after booking our tickets months ago, we started printing off the words to their songs and downloaded some of their albums. They are just so professional with Peter Garrett out front. His onstage antics have certainly toned down over the years. Maybe that's something to do with age.

Their 2019 tour finished at the 'Bash' after playing at nineteen other venues all over Europe, Ireland and the UK.

The other bands at this year's event included:

I'm sure the organisers are slowing running out of Australian acts unless they bring some back who have already played in past years. 

These series of photos were taken during our stay....

Birdsville Town Common

It's almost a year to the day since we were last here in Birdsville.

This will be our second year attending the Big Red Bash. Like last year we have arrived nine days before our two-day early entry pass starts. 
Apart from our unscheduled trip to Bedourie, our days have been spent reading, relaxing, taking walks and checking out the new arrivals who turn up each day. At first, it's just a trickle, but as the week progresses, so do the numbers.

Thankfully because of recent rains we now have grass covering most of the camping area, so hopefully, there will be less dust swirling about this year.

About a month ago the whole town common was underwater and lapping up to where this photo was taken just before the final grid into town.

Arriving early and leaving Birdsville three days after the event has finished ensures that we aren't involved in the mad rush.  There is no having to contend with the people who are not aware or just don't care about outback travel etiquette.  

What do I mean by that? Well, when passing a slower vehicle, it's accepted that you slow down and move to the other side of the road rather than passing at speed showering the overtaken vehicle with rocks. We have seen it far too often in our travels.

Whenever we are in Birdsville, we always camp on the town common just south of town. It's a vast area that can accommodate thousands of campsites. If your totally self contained like we are, and don't mind using your own onboard facilities, then its a great option with the added bonus of having about a dozen water points spread throughout the area. Camping here is free, and it's an easy walk into Birdsville for a beer.

Birdsville's water is sourced from the Great Artesian Basin by a bore that has been sunk to a depth of 1.2 kilometres and pours out at 98 degrees Celsius where it is cooled before it can be used.

Another benefit of arriving early is getting the right spot to camp. We always look for a site that won't have any through traffic continually going past the campsite. This ensures that we aren't covered in dust from vehicles driving back and forth. 

As we are getting older, we like to think we are also getting smarter. With this in mind, this year, we purchased a 110-litre water bladder that sits on the floor, behind our two front seats. 

The days of having to lift a 20-litre bucket are now over. It will just involve a simple setup of connecting our portable 12-volt pump to the bladder to transfer the water, with power coming from our Anderson plug on our vans drawbar.

Tuesday evening is the last buffet dining night at the Birdsville Hotel before the 'Bash', so we are joining fellow Bushtracker owners Glenda and Steve for dinner. From tomorrow evening, there will be two sittings which will include a set menu.

We both chose the lamb shanks, which were delicious and the vegetables were still lovely and crunchy and had only just been blanched.

One of our daily walks took us down past Pelican Point and to the billabong that's on the outskirts of town and behind the caravan park.

In April 2017 the Birdsville Bakery was purchased by new owners, and we enjoyed some of their products last year at the bash. Unfortunately due to financial reasons, the bakery closed its doors in early June.

After our walk today and using my phone app, our site is 1.5 km from the hotel. The caravan park, along with the common, is starting to fill quite quickly.

As we walked back to our site this afternoon, this food truck had just turned up.

Our dinner last night consisted of sweet Bangalow pork cutlets that we purchased from Bellingen before leaving home with sweet potato and apple slices.

Sunsets have been few and far between but last nights made up for the lack of them.

This morning we picked up our wrist bands and our two-day early entry pass for the windscreen of the car.

A last run to the rubbish dump this afternoon before heading out to the 'Bash' site tomorrow with still more vans and trailers arriving this afternoon.