It was much slower exiting the "Bash" than when we arrived.
We could only imagine that the three access roads leaving Birdsville, would be choked with traffic and dust, with people either heading home or heading north to the Bedourie camel races that were being held the following day.
With that in mind, I think our decision to stick around for another three days and camp again south of town was a wise move. It also gave us ample time to wash and clean the interior of the van. It was almost impossible to keep the dust at bay while we were camped out at Big Red.
Mind you there were also many other people who had the same idea, but not like the numbers that were here pre "Bash"
Minimum temperatures have been very low here just like they were at the "Bash" Most mornings have been well below zero degrees, with the coldest at minus 3.1
We left Birdsville on Monday 16th of July and by then there were just a few stragglers like us heading north towards Bedourie.
The corrugations were quite bad, but then we expected that this would be the case with the thousands who had already left.
On the very bad sections, we were actually driving in the bulldust on the outside of the road markers to escape them.
We had intended to camp 319 km north of Birdsville at a spot we camped last year. It's close to Marion Downs Station and the creek has water and is part of the Georgina River system. We arrived there just after lunch but the flies were in plague proportions so we decided to remain in the car with the aircon going 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 do us just nicely. You can imagine how surprised we were on our way out to the river as we passed over one hundred vans camped near the toilet facilities at the racecourse. We then realised that the camel races were on here this coming weekend.
We continued towards the river and while we didn't camp right on the river we found a lovely spot close by.
We enjoyed happy hour with a couple who invited us to sit around their campfire before heading back to cook dinner just after dusk.
I must say 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 country is quite flat and featureless until you arrive at the Lilleyvale Hills.
Cawnpore lookout is in these hills, and the surrounding flat topped hills or mesas are incredible formations that over time have resisted erosion.
Its now not possible to drive up to the lookout but even though the climb is quite steep its not that far.
Just 55 km later we stopped for lunch beside the Middleton Pub. Its 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 trip into Winton. There were lots of vans and 4wd's heading towards Boulia for the races and they 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 have both become accustomed to drinking the XXXX bitter full strength beer.
We spent the night camped 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 vans battery charger must have been hit by a rock as we were leaving Birdsville so we are here to have this fixed.
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