Driving time for the Birdsville Track & Bore Track

The track is not too bad apart from one section 23kms from Mungerannie which is the reason for the road being closed. There is one boghole that as you drive through the car dips down to the left and the water is about top of the headlights on my GU Patrol (2in, 33s). The transport guy came up the day we left for Birdsville and checked the hole for himself, got straight on his sat phone and had the track closed immediately due to safety concerns. It was beyond track preservation in this section. The rest is reasonable with most water crossings having a stony bottom.

One thing I could not believe was a bloke in his Subaru Forrester had got up to Mungerannie and was adamant he was going to Birdsville, luckily the bloke in the Prado that had water up to his windscreen talked him out of it.

Leon...might sound like stupid questions, but could the bog hole be navigated around? And if the water level dropped, would it be easily negotiated by an AWD Holden Captiva type vehicle?

Meant to be leaving to head up that way on Monday and I've been watching the SA Roads website like a hawk.

This by far is THE BEST info I've had re the closure thus far. Only wish SA Roads had this sort of detail on their website.

Cheers....Fab.

There's been more rain but we have had some good drying days but you will find that the water isn't going away as it usually does. If it is the school holidays when you come up expect a delay at the ferry. The track is trashed in most places but I am sure they are working on it.

Fab there were some quite deep ruts as well, if the graders have been through you'll be fine if not there is no way a Captiva will go through. The sides of the road are alot softer than the middle of the track so there is no way around. The grader won't go through till it drys though.

The website says that the track is closed till at least this Friday and the highways camp is set up at Tippipilla campsite with all the machinery set to go. Might pay to check back again on Friday/Saturday. Clayton and Frome creeks at the bottom of the track were both running at 400mm.

Teraa has Paul got out of there yet he was hoping to leave on Tuesday sounded like he was running out of supplies.

I agree, staying with Phil and Pam were definately one of the highlights of our trip. Pam cooks a top notch meal and Phil's a top bloke to have a beer or 10 with. Plus there is the hot springs to have a swim in and a walk around the wetlands is a must.

Hi Leon A, your profile pic, is that Bloodscreek Windmill??

Cheers

D

Sure is taken last year before a Simpson crossing. Bloody huge windmill it's my patrol down the bottom to compare it to.

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This photo was taken on the 28/8

Hi Deanna
I hope you enjoyed those lovely corrugation coming in on the Bloods Creek Road through to Dalhousie, they were far worst than the Anne Beadell.

Cheers

Stephen

Hi Leon,
I agree with you 100%. Take the time to enjoy a coldie and a great meal with Phill and Pam at the Mungerannie Pub. BTW, Aminah & I decided to backtrack from Mungerannie and travelled up the Strez back to the Gold Coast. Great trip but good to be home.

Cheers.... Ken & Aminah

I agree with staying at Mungerannie,Phil and Pat are among the best outback pub people you will ever come across although he told me not to come back because I wouldn,t pull the starter motor out of his Range Rover. There are excellent camp spots a close walk to the pub and showers/toilets.

Have a good time Wally

Hi Ken good to hear you guys got back alright, there was a fair few cars go up the track the day we left thought you might have got through with them. Maybe we might catch up out on the tracks again sometime.

Stephen L, yes there were patches but nothing we hadn't been on before, I expected the roads and tracks a lot worse than they were. Nothing could possibly be worse than the CSR. Corragations, I grew up on them, they don't bother me too much however, hubby doesn't like them at all, the boggy roads we were on he was OK with but not corragations. LOL We llove it out there though.
What dates were you on the Simpson? we could see where people (obviously you) were having fun on some of the lakes going across, by the time we got there a track had formed between the bog holes. I was so amazed at the water around Big Red, we have seen it dry and when we got on top and saw all that water, what an awesome sight.
Cheers
Deanna

Hi Deanna
The point that I was making about the corrugations is that everyone makes comments on how bad they are out on the Anne Beadell, which we had just completed and when you travel in to Dalhousie from Bloods Creek, they were worse in my opinion. We were out in the Simpson for 4 days, from the 16th up to and including the 19th August.

When we went across, it was the easiest ever crossing that we have ever made over the Simpson and the dunes were very compact from the constant rain. All of the Lake crossing were firm but we came to grief on Lake Poeppel, after following the advise from 4 vehicles that we met 2 dunes before crossing it.

Yes that water around Big Red was unreal, but for us the highlight was the bird life. I have seen as good, if not better displays of wild flowers out there before but not the varied bird life.

Cheers

Stephen

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Hi again Stephen L, lovely photo's of the birds, there was a lot of bird life out there and yes the budgies around Eyre Creek were fantastic, we were only a few days behind you then, Poepel Lake was OK of you stayed on the tracks but deadly if you slipped off of them I believe.
We felt that the Simpson crossing was relatively easy, would be good to do it when it is dry in it's normal state but I am glad we were able to get out there and see the flowers and birds, scenery that I probably won't get to see again in my lifetime.

We haven't done the Anne Beadell but I know the CSR was bad in patches for corrugations.

Thanks again for the pics.

Cheers

Deanna

I had 5 days max away from my business including the weekend. I can sit on my butt at home and dream about it (I probably would have worked anyway) or I can get off my butt and drive 2 days to Maree, 1 day on the track, and 2 days home from Birdsville. It would be great to have the luxury of holidays or better still retirement. I could sniff every flower along the way. Almost everyone doing a quickie is not doing it by choice. Having said that I had a fantastic time, and will take another 5 days at the first opportunity. Mike

Hi Mike,
Good response... What is it that you do? I ask only because I'm self employed as well. My business is commercial refrigeration & air conditioning, and I have an established clientèle, which makes it difficult to escape from. However, I work in with another fellow, another sole trader, who is in the same situation and we cover each others work whilst one is on holidays. So on my recent 7 week extravaganza, he had my phone and conducted my business as though he owned it. He has just yesterday returned from an overseas trip, and I have covered his work while he was away. It can be a problem finding someone who you can trust with this, and also someone who can do the work at a standard you have set. I realize I am very lucky in this regard. Is this something that you can look into at all? The stresses of self employment can be debilitating, and let's face it, your health is the ticket to staying self employed. I have found the hard way that a good holiday is a necessity!

Just a thought.....

Cheers

Brian

G'day Brian,
I have a computer business that deals with quite large commercial networks on 24 hr call. My 2 sons have joined me in the last year but they are taking a while to get up to speed, it's quite complex and things are growing as well. Trust me, I'm out of here as soon as it's possible. I have.done several quickies this year to test the situation but it's not quite right yet. My plan is to be able to sit on top of Big Red and check the bank balance using my laptop to make sure they transferred my money, then go and see what's behind the next dune. We all have a dream but sometimes it doesn't work out when you breed your own replacement. My fingers are crossed.
Cheers,
Mike

Hi Mike,
I see your dilemma, so I'll retract my initial comment about being in a hurry.... at least for those in your situation.
Sounds like you have a plan, I particularly like the bit about checking your bank balance from Big red etc... LOL... that's gold!

Keep nutting away at it, and it will happen, that's been my philosophy! It won't be too long and it will come to fruition.

Cheers

Brian