Birdsville Town Common

It's almost a year to the day since we last visited Birdsville.

This will be our second year attending the Big Red Bash. As we did last year, we arrived nine days before our two-day early entry pass begins. Aside from our unplanned trip to Bedourie, our days have been spent reading, relaxing, taking walks, and checking out the new arrivals who appear each day. At first, it's just a trickle, but as the week goes on, the numbers increase.

 

Thankfully, due to recent rains, most of the camping area is now covered in grass, so hopefully, there will be less dust swirling around this year.

 

About a month ago, the entire town common was submerged underwater, reaching up to the spot 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 avoid the mad rush. There is no need to contend with people who are unaware or simply do not care about outback travel etiquette.

 

What do I mean by that? When passing a slower vehicle, it is generally accepted that you slow down and move to the other side of the road rather than passing at speed and showering the overtaken vehicle with stones. We have seen this far too often during our travels.

 

Whenever we visit Birdsville, we always camp on the town common, just south of the town. It is a vast area that can accommodate thousands of campsites. If you are totally self-contained like us and do not mind using your own onboard facilities, then it’s a great option with the added bonus of 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 sunk to a depth of 1.2 kilometres, which pours out at 98 degrees Celsius and is cooled before it can be used.

Another advantage of arriving early is securing a good spot to camp. We always seek a site free from constant through traffic, so we're not covered in dust from passing vehicles.
 
As we age, we like to think we’re also becoming wiser. 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 lifting a 20-litre bucket are behind us. Now, it’s simply a matter of connecting our portable 12-volt pump to the bladder to transfer water, powered by our Anderson plug on the van’s drawbar.
 
Tuesday evening marks the final buffet dinner at the Birdsville Hotel before the 'Bash', and we’ll be dining with fellow Bushtracker owners Glenda and Steve. From tomorrow evening, there will be two sittings with a set menu.

We both chose the lamb shanks, which were delicious, and the vegetables were still lovely and crunchy.

One of our daily walks took us past Pelican Point and to the billabong located on the outskirts of town, behind the caravan park.

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

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

As we walked back to our site this afternoon, a food truck had just arrived.

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 night's made up for the lack of them.

This morning, we picked up our wristbands 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.