Big Red Bash
Submitted: Saturday, Jun 29, 2019 at 08:58
ThreadID:
138620
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6193
Replies:
5
FollowUps:
21
This Thread has been Archived
Kanga1
Hi all, we've been looking all over the web for the last couple of weeks now for info on the state of the
Birdsville track, trying to decide whether to turn left or go straight ahead when we roll off the ferry in
Melbourne on Wednesday morning. If the
Birdsville track is badly corrugated, we'll head up through
Quilpie. Does anyone have any first hand Intel on the
Birdsville track?
Cheers, Kanga.
Reply By: Peter_n_Margaret - Saturday, Jun 29, 2019 at 10:00
Saturday, Jun 29, 2019 at 10:00
From Peter & Sandra yesterday. They are currently in
Birdsville.
"The
Birdsville Track was in general in poor condition, certainly nowhere
near as good as I remember from the past, the clay cap has been worn
away and the goolies are sticking out of the deck now so very rough
pretty much all the way to Mungeranie except for one 5k section which
has just been redone.
From Mungeranie to
Birdsville was generally in better shape but still
lots of worn away clay cap with the goolies sticking up.
We had a look at the site for the Big Red Bash and it will be a massive
dust bowl for those attending, the whole swale has been graded flat and
the wind was just blowing the powder around, wonderful place to be for
the 9000+ attending!"
Cheers,
Peter
OKA196 motorhome
AnswerID:
626436
Follow Up By: rumpig - Saturday, Jun 29, 2019 at 11:09
Saturday, Jun 29, 2019 at 11:09
With 9000 people camped there, it won’t have a lot of bare ground for the dust to be whipped up you’d have to think....lol
FollowupID:
900212
Follow Up By: Peter_n_Margaret - Saturday, Jun 29, 2019 at 20:01
Saturday, Jun 29, 2019 at 20:01
Another report this evening from Peter & Sandra (who are in an OKA).
"A bloke came and talked to us late this afternoon, he had come up from Maree too and reckoned like me that the track was in worse condition that in the past, he was driving a lifted Hiace with a rear locker and AT tyres, said at times he was trundling along at 40kph. We sat on 60-75 and slowed down to much less for the dips that were chopped out with lots of rocks sticking up."
Cheers,
Peter
OKA196 motorhome
FollowupID:
900240
Follow Up By: Candace S. - Sunday, Jun 30, 2019 at 11:31
Sunday, Jun 30, 2019 at 11:31
I've heard of Goonies, but what are goolies? :)
FollowupID:
900248
Follow Up By: Allan B (Sunshine Coast) - Sunday, Jun 30, 2019 at 12:40
Sunday, Jun 30, 2019 at 12:40
.
Candace, goolies are a type of cricket bowl that Shane Warne was especially good at. No wait.... that was googlies.
Ahh, how can I put this delicately? ..... Um, "goolies" are small rounded stones about the size of an egg and likened to errr, so-called part of a male anatomy.
FollowupID:
900252
Follow Up By: Member - ACD 1 - Sunday, Jun 30, 2019 at 20:10
Sunday, Jun 30, 2019 at 20:10
Geez Allan
You either eat small eggs or ... You've got big Ummm "goolies"
Cheers
Anthony
FollowupID:
900263
Follow Up By: Allan B (Sunshine Coast) - Sunday, Jun 30, 2019 at 21:06
Sunday, Jun 30, 2019 at 21:06
.
Ahrr Anthony, I reckoned the parity was close enough for Candace.
Besides, there are eggs and eggs.
FollowupID:
900264
Follow Up By: Candace S. - Monday, Jul 01, 2019 at 00:04
Monday, Jul 01, 2019 at 00:04
LOL! :) Okay, thanks.
FollowupID:
900267
Follow Up By: Jarse - Monday, Jul 01, 2019 at 05:44
Monday, Jul 01, 2019 at 05:44
Trust me, there’s plenty of dust in the
campground to make it uncomfortable. I initially thought the people wearing dust masks around looked silly. They were obviously BRB veterans and were
well prepared.
There’s a constant fine fog of dust being kicked around during the day, that gets into everything.
FollowupID:
900270
Follow Up By: Ron N - Tuesday, Jul 02, 2019 at 00:14
Tuesday, Jul 02, 2019 at 00:14
Candace, "Goolies" is a word "borrowed" from the Hindi language, which is used by the people of Northern India.
As the English were the rulers of India for nearly a century, starting from 1858, numerous Hindi words (or corruptions of the Hindi word) made it into the English language - as used by the peoples of the U.K., and the peoples of the colonies of the U.K, from the 1850's onwards.
American English has apparently never "picked up" these "borrowed words" from Hindi, I guess because of the lack of contact between the Northern Indian people, and Americans in general.
Hindi words that have become part of British English slang
Cheers, Ron.
FollowupID:
900307
Follow Up By: Allan B (Sunshine Coast) - Tuesday, Jul 02, 2019 at 07:01
Tuesday, Jul 02, 2019 at 07:01
.
Well, there you go..... Ya learn something new each day. Thanks Ron.
And I thought it was all down to Warnie! lol
FollowupID:
900308
Reply By: Member - Stephen L (Clare SA) - Saturday, Jun 29, 2019 at 11:29
Saturday, Jun 29, 2019 at 11:29
Hi Kanga
Friends of ours drove it last week on their way to
Lawn Hill and had no issues what so ever.
They were in stock standard Hilux.
Cheers
Stephen
AnswerID:
626440
Reply By: Michael H9 - Saturday, Jun 29, 2019 at 11:29
Saturday, Jun 29, 2019 at 11:29
Can you still go up Big Red if you are crossing the desert while the Bash is on?
AnswerID:
626441
Follow Up By: Member - Jim - Saturday, Jun 29, 2019 at 17:23
Saturday, Jun 29, 2019 at 17:23
No, all traffic to and from the Simpson is directed to
Little Red for the duration of the bash.
Jim
FollowupID:
900233
Reply By: Member - DW Lennox Head(NSW) - Saturday, Jun 29, 2019 at 11:59
Saturday, Jun 29, 2019 at 11:59
No it is closed for the week
AnswerID:
626443
Follow Up By: Michael H9 - Saturday, Jun 29, 2019 at 15:30
Saturday, Jun 29, 2019 at 15:30
Little Red has to be open, surely?
FollowupID:
900229
Follow Up By: Member - DW Lennox Head(NSW) - Saturday, Jun 29, 2019 at 16:04
Saturday, Jun 29, 2019 at 16:04
I am not sure but I think all traffic was diverted to the Far East of Big Red.
FollowupID:
900232
Follow Up By: Member - Boobook - Tuesday, Jul 02, 2019 at 07:23
Tuesday, Jul 02, 2019 at 07:23
Little Red is open, but nothing to write
home about.
Mind you if you are not going to the bash, you should avoid the whole area for around 2 weeks. The bash makes an area of about 300 km around
Birdsville totally overcrowded and very unpleasant. It will ruin your trip if you aren't going to the bash. Especially if you happen to be driving against the main traffic.
FollowupID:
900310
Follow Up By: Michaeljp - Thursday, Jul 04, 2019 at 12:23
Thursday, Jul 04, 2019 at 12:23
from all reports, the flies will make it even more unpleasant. I was going to do the crossing in August but won't be because of the flies.
FollowupID:
900353
Follow Up By: Allan B (Sunshine Coast) - Thursday, Jul 04, 2019 at 14:20
Thursday, Jul 04, 2019 at 14:20
.
Flies in the Simpson are not new.
A hat net does the job and is not too inconvenient.
Except when you are eating and forget you have the net in place!!!!!
But then you can just rotate the net 90 degrees and try again.
If you do 360 degrees in one meal.... you need to do something about your short-term memory.
FollowupID:
900356
Follow Up By: Michael H9 - Thursday, Jul 04, 2019 at 14:21
Thursday, Jul 04, 2019 at 14:21
The flies were horrible in April this year.
FollowupID:
900357
Follow Up By: rumpig - Thursday, Jul 04, 2019 at 18:02
Thursday, Jul 04, 2019 at 18:02
We had no flies to worry about at all when we crossed The Simpson (2010 I think it was), even with the flooding then that had Eyre Creek bypass opening not long before we got there, flies were no issue at all....bought fly nets especially in preparation, but they never needed to come out of the vehicles glove box.
Birdsville Hotel Facebook posts a short while back had video a top Big Red, you could see the flies were pretty thick in the footage.
FollowupID:
900359
Reply By: IvanTheTerrible - Saturday, Jun 29, 2019 at 18:01
Saturday, Jun 29, 2019 at 18:01
Birdsville Track is currently 4 wheel drive only under 3 tonne. No towing. Now to put that in perspective a fully loaded
Ranger is over 3 tonne
AnswerID:
626449
Follow Up By: Kanga1 - Saturday, Jun 29, 2019 at 18:17
Saturday, Jun 29, 2019 at 18:17
DPTI. SA website shows it open to vehicles towing up to the weight of a single semi for the section north of Mungerannie, and no restrictions from Mungerannie south. Cheers.
FollowupID:
900234
Follow Up By: Peter_n_Margaret - Saturday, Jun 29, 2019 at 18:33
Saturday, Jun 29, 2019 at 18:33
Yes, you need to click on the track on the map to see the notes that apply.
Effectively it is open to everything except cars (and bicycles :)).
Cheers,
Peter
OKA196 motorhome
FollowupID:
900235
Follow Up By: Member - Boobook - Tuesday, Jul 02, 2019 at 07:04
Tuesday, Jul 02, 2019 at 07:04
Ivan, the legend on the yellow tab in the map appears to be wrong. If you click on the track or look at the notes it is as described above The page contradicts its self.
FollowupID:
900309