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Destinations > Across OZ Overlander Readers' Trip, part 1
Across OZ Overlander Readers' Trip, part 1
The saga of Burke and Wills and their ill-fated exploration was relived at the Dig Tree and then the beautiful jump-up country with its harsh stony roads near the abandoned station of Arrabury provided some great driving. A quick visit to Haddon Corner saw the beginning of the great missing swag saga, which re-affirmed our faith in man's good will, but more on that later.
We hit Birdsville in a cloud of dust and found a near empty Birdsville Caravan Park. The owner Ruth was her usual helpful self and it was sad to hear that after all her time in Birdsville she would be moving on.
We had a fabulous meal at the Birdsville Hotel where we met up with the last of our troops but unfortunately Matt and his mate Hendo were missing. The replacement tyre meant a return trip to Broken Hill. That meant Matt was a few days behind us but vowed to catch up. Some unkind people in our group began taking bets on whether we would ever see Matt.
The next morning we spent an hour with John Menzies as he showed us around the Birdsville Working Museum. There seems to be some major changes occurring out Birdsville way with Ruth going, the pub up for sale and even John Menzies thinking of shifting his collection of Australiana to Tamworth. Let's hope this great Outback town can survive.
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For the many first-timers in our group the Simpson must have looked daunting as we dropped tyre pressures in its shadow. Our trip across the desert to Poeppel Corner was uneventful except for one flattie. The dunes came and went as they do when you are crossing from east to west. There were few other travellers except for a couple of hardy souls in old Blitz wagon fire engines from Victoria.
At the western edge of the salt lake just before the corner we made our own Dig Tree for Matt who was still a couple of days behind. But instead of blazing a tree (there were none) we used some brightly coloured tape to identify the note that said "Dig 30 centimes to the East". Here we left coordinates for Matt as the next section of the track would see us going into the little ventured Northern Simpson.
With our permits safely secured and our GPS full of waypoints supplied by the Central Land Council we set off north. Last year on my trip through here we had rain on and off, so this year it was great to see the blood red sand dunes under a perfectly clear cobalt blue sky. Our camp that night was in one of the most isolated locations in Australia and the setting was perfect.
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We hit Birdsville in a cloud of dust and found a near empty Birdsville Caravan Park. The owner Ruth was her usual helpful self and it was sad to hear that after all her time in Birdsville she would be moving on.
We had a fabulous meal at the Birdsville Hotel where we met up with the last of our troops but unfortunately Matt and his mate Hendo were missing. The replacement tyre meant a return trip to Broken Hill. That meant Matt was a few days behind us but vowed to catch up. Some unkind people in our group began taking bets on whether we would ever see Matt.
The next morning we spent an hour with John Menzies as he showed us around the Birdsville Working Museum. There seems to be some major changes occurring out Birdsville way with Ruth going, the pub up for sale and even John Menzies thinking of shifting his collection of Australiana to Tamworth. Let's hope this great Outback town can survive.
read on below advertisement
For the many first-timers in our group the Simpson must have looked daunting as we dropped tyre pressures in its shadow. Our trip across the desert to Poeppel Corner was uneventful except for one flattie. The dunes came and went as they do when you are crossing from east to west. There were few other travellers except for a couple of hardy souls in old Blitz wagon fire engines from Victoria.
At the western edge of the salt lake just before the corner we made our own Dig Tree for Matt who was still a couple of days behind. But instead of blazing a tree (there were none) we used some brightly coloured tape to identify the note that said "Dig 30 centimes to the East". Here we left coordinates for Matt as the next section of the track would see us going into the little ventured Northern Simpson.
With our permits safely secured and our GPS full of waypoints supplied by the Central Land Council we set off north. Last year on my trip through here we had rain on and off, so this year it was great to see the blood red sand dunes under a perfectly clear cobalt blue sky. Our camp that night was in one of the most isolated locations in Australia and the setting was perfect.
next page »
