That was the trip that we didn't plan!!!

You are spot on there Bob, we had a great time but very disappointed on missing the ferry and also the Lake. We didn't spend a lot of time going down the West Coast as we have done that trip a few times now, not much left to see.

Cheers

Deanna

Hi Stephen, missing the ferry was a big disappointment but as you say it just hasn't stopped raining and I'm still not sure if the Birdsville track is open yet.
The Simpson was fantastic, the flowers and greenery out there was unbelievable.
We did have a great time and saw a lot more of Queensland than we expected. I have never seen so many 4wd heading in the same direction as there was leaving Birdsville on that Tuesday morning, that in itself was an experience.
I don't take good pics, I see the ones posted on here and only wish I could take mine half as good so I don't tend to post any.

How did your trip go? We covered all those Ks and saw one EO sticker, they went past us on the Simpson while we were having a morning cuppa, they didn't stop or even blow the horn so not sure who they were. We had the pleasure of meeting Ozrover at Mt Dare station.

Cheers

Deanna

Hi Deanna
Like you we had to make a big detour to get home from Birdsville, but not as big as yours. We had the opportunity of meeting 2 great members during our travels. From Clare we headed over to Fowlers Bay, and the usual stops along the Nullarbor. From Cocklebiddy we headed north to Rawlinna, then west along the Trans Access Line to Kalgoorlie. For us this section of track would have to rate very highly and as Fiona described it as a campers paradise. From there up to Laverton and then out on the Anne Beadell.

Day 2 on the AB and when we were driving into the plane crash site, met 2 vehicles coming out, and the lead driver on seeing me said "You Must be Stephen" and it turned out to be EO Member Black Cobra. After the usual long chat we said our good bys and continued on with our trip, only to meet them again at Ilkurlka, where we spent the night with them. The next morning, we again said our good buys and Fiona and I pushed on solo. That night we found a perfect large spot in the Black Oaks and as we had a great camp fire going, we could hear some chatter on the UHF and it turned out that it was Stewart (Black Cobra). They to were looking for a good camp site amongst the spinifex, so I gave them a call up on the radio, telling them of our large flat and clear spot and they again joined us again that night. Seeing that we were all travelling the same way, we then spent the next 5 days with them until we left Coober Pedy.

From there up to Oodnadatta where we met EO Member Alan B. It was great to catch up with him and his wife who were on their way to Kulgera. We said our farewells and headed out to Dalhousie and then across the Simpson, having some fun on Lake Poeppel (If you call being bogged while travelling solo fun..LOL)

Arriving in Birdsville things were looking great until the next morning when the sky went jet back and those rain clouds...Having been caught out 3 times before on a wet Birdsville Track experience told me to head east to Windorah. I tried to talk a couple of groups from heading south, knowing what was going to happen, and yes it did and the whole track was shut down for 7 days from mega rain. Four days later after our long forced detour on the bitumen, we also arrived home without seeing the ferry again, as they say Such is Life.

I am now writing a Blog and will post it when complete.


Regards

Stephen

Looking forward to reading your blog. It is the first time that we have gone out and not spoken to EO members out on the track. We would be very hard to miss with our windscreen sticker and wheel cover LOL.

We met a lovely couple from Tasmania at Oodnadatta who were travelling the Simpson solo as well and kept running into them and they finally stayed with us at Birdsville, we will be keeping in touch. You do meet a lot of people out there and very interesting ones at that. I think we were a bit late for you guys.

Cheers

Deanna.

Hi Doug, howz it going??? I don't recall seeing the vehicle you mentioned and it certainly wasn't near where we were. There were quite a few campers and caravans in there, I was surprised at the number given the road conditions. In fact I was surprised there were so many people there. We know of one couple from here that didn't make it past Inammincka so I guess they weren't the only ones.

Cheers

Deanna