Birdsville Caravan Park

You're on thin ice Boyd......
Ruth is a great friend of this site and many of us who "live" here.
I'm not sure what you might have done to earn the wrath of Ruth and/or Ian; they are easily one of the easiest-going couples I have ever come across.
Roachie

Gidday Boyd
All I can say is that Ruth is a spunk and our time there was one of the best times we have had. I have never heard any bad stories before - something fishy is going on!!

Andrew

Now what is the story? I assume boyd you were there with the overlander forum trip gathering and did read that something occured but exactly what wasnt made clear besides quite a few had to set up camp out of town in wet conditions. Did it have something to do with driving on closed roads?

I too have heard one or two bad reports from the Overlander forum. I can only comment on my personal experience and that is that Ruth was a very hospitable host in the extreme. I for one can't wait to go back to the B/Ville CP.

I've got no knowledge of any of this, but here is a link to a trip report from the Overlander forum. A great report, well presented. Terrific photos. Sounds like a great trip, at least as described by the author; but I wasn't there...... bugger!

Sounds like they happily stayed with Ruth and met Willem while there.

http://members.westnet.com.au/ajwilson/

I'm sure Ruth being the lady that she is wont bother dignifying boyds remarks with an answer.

boyd, I reacon your some kind of low lizard to come on this open forum, and not even being a member but hiding behind total anonimity, to make broad statements without fact, in an endeavour to put the boot into some lady you know nothing about really.

I can picture your type now, pretty ugly in the bush.

Boyd,

You (and the others) must have really done something bad to p!ss Ruth & Ian off.
You wont get any sympathy from EO Forumites whom have met and know them.

Or are you just spreading malicious rumours???

I hate to get in the middle of this, but what else have I got to do while on night shift...

IF boyd & the other families involved did do something wrong, how are they meant to rectify it/appologise if they don't know what it was?

Sounds like they got on the wrong side of LOCAL rules/laws/customs, and the locals should easily have picked them as being un-knowing VISITORS.

It sounds a bit harsh to leave anyone out camping in the mud, if it was indeed a case of driving on wet roads...

So I repeat, I think its only fair to get the other side of the story - what did they do to offend?

boyd.

For waht its worth, we were there when people were being turned away due to most of the park being closed due to all the rain. Even the roads within the park were turning to mud due to the traffic within the park. The amenities block was full of mud from just normal use and those washing boots ect while showering.
The only dry areas in the park were full.
If you could have heard some of the language Ruth had to put up with when she tried to explain the situation you would maybe understand.
For Ruth this was a peak period but the park could only cope with a small number of those looking for a campsite.
People can only take the abuse she received for so long. It is a difficult period allround when it rains out there.

Regards

Wim

Ruth and Ian are just the best. I am not sure how you treated them or got treated, but we treat them as family and that is how we got treated too. You couldnt ask for better peoplein that location.
Its a big call you coming on here looking for sympathy.

Boyd, like Wim i was there too in fact i was with Wim and Willem for the gathering along with others and i saw what transpired on those days, and what happened was a build up of frustration on both sides, Ruth and Ian not wanting the park to become a mud hole and travellers just wanting a dry place to camp.

I am not condoning the behavour of the people involved, this is just my view of what transpired and feel both sides were wrong in there handling of the situation.

Tact and common sence go out the window when stress comes into the senerio.

Baz.

I had six years in the army with all types of guys..What the He** has this got to do with Ruth and Ian at Birdsville Caravan Park..Well,I got on well with most guys in the "closed circuit" of the army,where you live in close proximity to hundreds of others in good times and bad..I always found my system of judging others on what they do to me,not what they do to others was / is the only way to judge other people..Ruth and Ian run a great enterprise,often dealing with self centered yahoos,away from the home and the disiplines of a domesticated home life for the first time,but they have learned,over the years (and,I might add,all hours of the night) to to temper their own emotions (we all have them) to the betterment of the tourists who frequent their establishment..Some folk would do well to think about life,irrespective of their "back home" professions and status,as a bucket of water..You can only get out of the bucket,the quantity and quality,of what you put in it..I respect Ruth and Ian for their professional ability,together with the courage they have shown to establish this oasis in the desert,that we tourists can set as a goal in our annual "pilgramage" to the bush.!MPG:6!

As most have stated you want get any sympathy here
My time with Roachie & co up there was great
A greater couple to run a park like that you couldnt meet
Ruth & ian go out of thier way for everybody
Ruth is a true lady BUt i wouldnt want to cross her either lol
I cant wait to go back there again soon & like others have said Ruth & Ian are like family to this & other forums & are alway looking out for us so tell all the story or dont say anything
warren

As one of our ex politicians would have put it ......... Please explain!

Boyd
sometimes things get out of control. S--t happens so forgive and forget.
I have been to B/ville caravan park several times and have always found the hosts friendly. And yes one can get frustrated when the rain comes and the ground turns to muck. Perhaps Ruth and Ian were only trying to keep the park from being turned into a quagmire.
When I was there last April they were struggling to keep the grass alive.
A short reply from Ruth and Ian would not go astray.

Yep - must have been the rain - the outback can be hell as a tourist destination, when it rains - very little of the infrastructure can cope happily with tourists and rain and the mud ! Most tourists want a town when it rains and they battle to get there ..... better than being stuck in the bush for days ... some of the people turned away at ther BV CP may have been such battlers - if we put ourselves in the town locals' shoes, we could see it a lot clearer I think. The mud in the park showers etc would be a real pain, and there's not much sense in having the nice smooth grounds cut up badly, just because they get a bit of precious rain !When at Innamincka once, everyone had to take their boots off at the pub door - understandable - the pub would have been a hell-hole otherwise - one customer comes out and finds his Blundies gone, and the pair (left by mistake presumably) are one size too small .... the culprit was long gone - talk about drama ! Lesson ? Drink less, watch your boots and don't blame the locals for rain.

As I said earlier I found Ruth to be the perfect host. What I can't understand here is the criticism of Boyd for raising what he sees as legitimate complaints. This forum is to tell fellow travellers of the good and bad things they may experience whilst on the road. i don't believe Boyd id being deliberatley mischievious as I have read of a few complaints from others with the same problem. I'm sure Ruth had her reasons, no business willingly turns away paying customers without a good reason. If the rains were to blame we can all learn not to expect bush CPs to be open all of the time and try to make alternative plans ahead of such problems. If those same travellers had been stuck on the road or in the desert they would have had to make alternative plans so it shouldn't have been too hard for them.

We were there over the school holidays with 12 cars and I would have to say that we were made to feel most welcome, I wouldn't hesitate to go back or reccomend others to B CP.
I do feel that some of the comments about Boyd's experiance are a little harsh given you weren't there and we don't have the full story.
This is an open forum and everyone is entitled to an opinion and normally are encouraged to share our experiances good or bad. If you only come here for the nice feel good stuff then your probably wasting your time here.
In the case of B CP one bad experiance is not going to turn us away given the thousand of glowing reports this forum gets through the year.

Regards
Jason

Just to clarify something from an earlier post.

I have no idea who "Boyd" is.

AFAIK , he is not a regular member of the Overlander forum. Again , AFAIK , The actual "Overlander Group" was IN the Cvan Park and had no problems at all (same time as the ExplorOz guys were I believe (I seem to recall them complaining about Willem ;) ).

The post on OL WAS from a member , who seemed to have a legit complaint (seeing how I wasn't there , I can only speculate) , but was on his own trip , and his complaint was backed up by approx 20 other vehicles . . . (again no way I can confirm).

Given that this 20 vehicles WAS correct , and seeing how there was a HUGE number of trips at that time , by all sorts of clubs etc , who these vehicles were ??? no idea.

The purpose of THIS post is to try to make sure , folks dont get the idea its a Our Forum v Their Forum . . . thing.

Just a story I heard , first hand I may add.

Last year a certain EO member arrived at Birdsville Caravan Park and recieved a very curt/ short attidude from Ruth. Upon leaving she noticed the EO sticker on the vehicle and she was sooo friendly....

When we arrived at Birdsville our first stop was the Hotel (???) where we heard lots of negative comments. When we booked in she was very friendly and that didn't change even after we decided to stay another night.

she didn't know the eo member was with us