CMCA Travellers 2013
Check the pages top right for over 300 pics
Charleville the last Safari Stop
We crawled the 220 kms from Quilpie and managed to find a small garage that can spot problems with a computer ! Steve the Mechanic had us back on the road in no time with assistance from a good pal on the trip (WallY) We are parked up in the Showgrounds and the last event should be very interesting
We were picked by the RSL Bus and taken to the club and had a fabulous nght..The Concert room was just for our use and the meal provided was great.We told jokes,tales,sang a few songs andhad the end of trip celebrations and after being driven home retired in a good mood….Tomorrow we head back home in Hervey Bay after a Month on the road utilizing the worst rocky roads I have ever seen BUT what a great trip and have now some great pals from this trip
Leaving the camp site was sad and we were confident our home trip would be good WRONG the repais we had done at the Charleville Garage was blown out and we are currently awaiting anew part that has to flown from Towoomba
For the SAFARI group I will add a page just for that event Feel free to copy and if you require me to add yours please send them on to me
Monkira and Windorah and the Penultimate Quilpie
Monkira proved to be one of the highlights (apart from losing a mud flap,slow speed and a broken elbow draining our water tank !) During the evening we had a couple of didgerdoo players a banjo man complimented by an electric organ The sing song went well as we all sat around a camp fire having a few drinks and we all went off to bed in a happy mood THEN around 4 am after a brief Lightening Storm and a good downpour we were instructed to leave the site and park alongside the road side (the camp site,when wet is subject to us sinking in the newly formed mud) I went back to bed whilst Ann read a book and because of our problem we left early with the Road Boss Ian.With all the stoppages we had to endure we made good time and upon arriving in Windorah had our tyres pumped back to Bitchumen road conditions by a lovely lady in the Garage.At our campsite we experienced the forming of a Willy Willy and the dust thrown up was tremendous The pub was very busy and again the meals were superb and we had an early night due to the stress of driving at very slow speeds !! Quilpie was good our Happy Hour was around the camp fire and then we walked over to the Bowls Club where they provided us with a great meal and some of the ladies on our trip helped serve the delicious food
Bedourie,Simpson Desert
Bedourie is our next stop and on the way the motor slowed to around 60 kms 3 times and came good for the next 60 km run,our travelling mechanics will inspect it today..Population is around 200.and we are here for 4 nights taking in a Rodeo and horse races..the town boasts 2 pubs one very old and the other an up to date pub..We are not impressed with the older pub and have already spent 2 good nights in the newer pub.Interestingly both pubs have employed backpackers (2 from the UK) these girls travel on their own seeking new adventures and I would imagine there is a vast difference between Leeds and Bedourie !!.The settlement boasts a free swimming pool with an Artesian (really hot) Sauna pool direct from the ground (entry to this place is free as is entrance fee to the rodeo) We met up with a local aborigine worker by the name of Syd and he is a very entertaining man.His lovely wife Madge is from New Zealand and a character of her own right (also the newer pub cook)It is a lazy,laid back settlement with a GOOD feel to it and once again NO computer signal (I am beginning to like that idea,what did we do before computers and mobile phones ?)Friday evening saw us at the Rodeo and what great fun it was (don’t think the cows and horses were too pleased tho,even tho animals were not harmed) We decided to give the pub a miss tonight as my previous nights consumption was rather heavy !!Saturday we rocked upto the racetrack and entered a Motorhome competition (we didn’t win !) and spent the day watching races and having a laugh with our team mates Betting was grimm and on our part money was lost ! After a great days racing we retreated to our campsite and joined a group and having witty conversation plus a few drinks !! Another great day as our Safari draws to last few days !! We left Bedourie Sunday am and experienced motor problems (slowed down to 60 kms and we had to restart the motor every time we got to this speed) After a discussion with our back boys we decided to push on arriving at Monkira (a park that was literally in the middle of nowhere and even drew complaints on the choosing of this particular site)
BIRDSVILLE !! & the Races !
Today we travel towards our main destination Birdsville and what a sight going into this town that usually has a pop of around 60,blowing out to 8000 for the races the road side was jammed packed with campers,fortunately for us we are pre booked.Going into town was an eye opener with all sorts of side shows and stalls ( not too badly priced either) To get into the race track tickets have to be pre bought Beer tickets are pre bought also BUT im not prepared to buy mid strength (all thats allowed) for $6.70 a can !! One particular booth caught me eye and that was the old fashioned BOXING BOOTH but Annie wouldn,t let me put her name down !!We have 5 days here and should be great fun..The normally quiet town centre was littered with booths selling all kinds of wares and we have bought a few !!All people drinking at the pub were allowed to throw their empties into the street !! and what a sight The races were very busy ,it was also very hot and fortunately we took our own seating NO winners tho ! Fashion and fancy dress parades were the order of the day and the dress ups were brilliant..Poor horses behind the leader were getting lots of dust thrown at them .Highlight of Birdsville was the flight (30 mins) around the town and the number of campers seen from abovewas tremendous !Lots of desert out there and upon landing spotted a plane that had crashed minutes earlier (No one hurt) and costly as we told around $100,000 damage !! Later on Sunday we took a bus trip out to a massive sand dune named Big Red
Big Red is the largest and most famous dune in the Simpson Desert. It stands approximately 90 metres above sea level and 35 metres above the plain, although height may vary due to winds and dunal movement. This sand dune, which sits 33kms west of Birdsville in Queensland, provides an extremely challenging feat for 4WD enthusiasts although it is not necessary to scale its height to traverse the Simpson Desert as there are alternative routes. When heading out into the Simpson Desert from Birdsville, Big Red is the first and highest of over 1,100 sand dunes that run north-south for hundreds of kilometres. This landscape is dominated by parallel, wind-blown sand dunes ranging from a few metres to 20 metres high. The striking colours and the huge expanse of arid landscapes are some of the reasons why many visitors are attracted to the area.Originally known as Nappanerica Dune, this huge sand dune in the Simpson Desert lies on the western edge of Lake Nappanerica. Nappanerica roughly translates to “water that takes a long time to dry up”. The dune was later named Big Red by Simpson Desert traveller Dennis Bartell.
The Dig Tree
In 1860–61, Robert O’Hara Burke and William John Wills led an expedition of 19 men with the intention of crossing Australia from Melbourne in the south to the Gulf of Carpentaria in the north, a distance of around 3,250 kms (approximately 2,000 miles).At that time most of the inland of Australia had not been explored by non-indigenous people and was completely unknown to the European settlers.The south-north leg was successfully completed (except that they were stopped by swampland 5 kms(3.1 mi) from the northern coastline), but owing to poor leadership and bad luck, both of the expedition’s leaders died on the return journey. Altogether, seven men lost their lives, and only one man, John King, crossed the continent with the expedition and returned alive to Melbourne.
Robert O’Hara Burke had asked Brahe and the depôt party to remain at the depôt camp on the Cooper for three months. The depôt party actually waited for over four months, but by then they were then running low on supplies and starting to feel the effects of scurvy and they believed Burke would not be returning from the Gulf. Brahe decided to leave Coopers Creek and return to Menindee, but before he left he buried some provisions in case Burke did return and he carved a message on a tree to mark the spot.
Betoota and beyond
Next day (Tuesday we set of for The DIG tree where Burke the explorer died attempting to cross from Melbourne to Darwin. We settled in on a very hot day travelling over some of the worst dirt road I have 3ver seen ! with the luxury of a 25 km stretch of bitchumen ! the last 16 kms to the ranch house was terrible BUT an experience we wont see again leading to the Famous DIG tree In the evening Jackaroo,s cooked a huge BBQ for us with proceeds going to the Royal Flying Doctor,once again we spent the evening in good company and lots to drink..Bedtime came around very quickly and people starting to feel the effects of dirt track driving Up early and ready for 300km dirt track drive and was very interesting,spotted a dead dingo some one had horribly hung over a fence!and Happy Hour can,t come quick enough !!On arrival we went into a deserted pub of 15 yrs,apparently the owner got too old and simply walked out and left it as was !! Amazingly no graffiti or vandalism..the pub is literally in the middle of nowhere !!(Betoota) Our stay is at yet another country race track and the usual group stayed and had a few drinks and as usual we were among the last to leave the session
The Betoota Races are held every year in the ghost town of Betoota that usually has a population of zero. This year, a record 700 people attended. It kicks off the Simpson Desert Race carnival and we will be at 2 of the 3 meetings one in Birdsville and the Bedurie
On Strzelecki track towards Birdsville
The next trip was great around 240 kms dirt track road on the Strzelecki Rd sighting lots of Emus,Lizards.Eagles and around a dozen wild horse and included in the pack was a Donkey and a small pony !! We arrived at what can only be described as an Oasis mid Simpson Desert. It was a large sized pond fed by an Artesian Well known as Montecolina Bore Water coming straight from the ground was very clear and also HOT..the pond itself was refreshingly cold !!We filled our new outdoor shower bag from the Bore and it it was great showering in the desert !Happy Hour (s) were interesting as usual and as night time approached a fire was lit and once again we stayed behind well after others had retired ! (The wine was good!) Up early next day and set of for Inamincka,260 kms away and we have currently travelled around 500 kms so far on a very rattling rocky, corrugated road (think we may have been in trouble IF we didn’t release air from our tyres. Recommended speed on these roads is around 80 kms IF travelling any slower a great chance of rattling inside the bus to pieces ~~ The next schedule stop is at Innamincka Roadhouse and a fuel stop is a must because the next petrol stop is in Birdsville approx 550 kms from here .After setting up camp and resting we did the obligatory Happy Hour * that went from 4pm to 9pm and a fire was lit in the early evening .The chat and friendliness was great and a very pleasant if not drunken evening was spent under the stars
The Strzelecki Desert is located in the Far North Region of South Australia, South West Queensland and western New South Wales. It is positioned in the northeast of the Lake Eyre Basin, and north of the Flinders Ranges. Two other deserts occupy the Lake Eyre Basin—the Tirari Desert and the Simpson Desert.The desert covers 80,250 km2 making it the seventh largest desert in Australia.The Dingo Fence, Birdsville Track, the Strzelecki Track, the Diamantina River, Cooper Creek and the Strzelecki Creek all pass through the Desert.The desert is characterized by extensive dune fields and is home to three wilderness areas. It was named after the Polish explorer Paweł Edmund Strzelecki by Charles Sturt. He was the first non-indigenous explorer in the area, followed closely by the ill-fated Burke and Wills expedition.Much of the desert is preserved within the Strzelecki Regional Reserve in South Australia.Parts of the eastern sections of the desert are protected by the Sturt National Park. A population of the endangered Dusky Hopping Mouse lives in the desert.
Towards the Ghost town Farina
We set off Early next day as this was going to be a 300km travel day thru some rough terrain We stopped at Hawker for fuel and drove on past Wilpena (we stayed there a couple of years ago and bought face fly nets there an absolute must in this part of Oz) We stopped at Blinman for lunch in the local pub and had my first taste of CHIPS for a long time! The young girl in the souvenir shop hails from Yorkshire and we had a yarn about this and that.After lunch we traveled 32 kms thru the Parachilna Gorges and what a magnificent awesome sight it was !The road was very rough (the reason we came with a group in case we had problems traveling on our own) The experience was terrific,the views out of this world and I felt very comfortable travelling in this friendly group.We arrived at Farina an old ghost town of yesteryear and will be here for 2 nights,the first was great and had some great yarn telling from others and we drank lots with FREE Jerky (Biltong) supplied by a lovely lady who actually makes them !! Annie got me up at 3 am because she considered it too windy and we put up the awning only to find the 8 metre long edging atop the bus had come out of its channel .Thankfully thr Road Boss Ian lent me ladders and the problem is now solved/
Watch me play Didgeridoo
Geoffs Life After Work ! 