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
Watch me play Didgeridoo
Geoffs Life After Work ! 