Hi all. Just got back from a whirlwind trip up to
Birdsville and back. Literally walked in the door back in good old
Adelaide less than 2 hours ago.
The crowds are starting to gather for the 2011
Birdsville Races, but here's some interesting information you may want or need to know.
The
Birdsville track is in excellent condition with road crews working at various spots along the way. There were only two
places the tyres got wet and it was not much more than a puddle. There's a few stones on the track, mostly through the creek crossings but nothing too bad if you keep the speed down. I wouldn't think twice about taking the family
sedan up the track in its current condition...just remember that speed can either be your friend or your foe.
Diesel prices at
Birdsville are $1.74 per litre at the roadhouse. Having spoken to a few fellow campers, the most expensive commodity is drinking water, so I'd strongly suggest taking as much as you can. I heard one unconfirmed report that water was $5 a litre!!!!!! I wonder what diesel tastes like?
Rats and mice...... I saw two mice about 100kms north of
Marree - that was it. A far cry from the plague I was expecting. Having said that, we made a point of not leaving a single crumb outside. A strong recommendation is to get to your spot early enough to let your engine cool down before night fall. The buggers are a sucker for a warm engine and they're not
toilet trained either.
The ferry ..... 20 minute wait heading north and about a 3 minute wait heading south. There are a couple of thunder boxes available for use (which weren't there last year). We went up in a Captiva that measures in at 4.5 metres and the ferry operators are currently trying to work out ways to get two mid sized "cars" across in a single trip. This will go a long way to cutting cues. If you have a towbar tongue and don't need it...take it off! This can make the difference between a single car trip or a double. Forget the caravans...it's just not gonna happen! There are some guide posts which will help you gauge the total length of your rig and if you can get it on, but do your homework before you leave. It may save disappointment. All the info is on the Transport SA website.
The
bakery is still pumping out it's usual top quality pies and pastries. Dusty is preparing for the onslaught and Theresa is being helped by the policeman's wife, Sandra to serve up the treats. Sandra is also conducting star gazing evenings...enquire at the
bakery.
Big Red...... I did it! This time last year we went up in the Captiva and after much chest beating and hoorays...upon arriving
home and checking our data log, I discovered we conquered
Little Red and missed the big one by a mere 1km....hence this weeks trip. I just had to do it. There is a 8 km flood detour that will take you over 8 dunes. If you can get over these, you'll breeze Big Red in. We dropped our pressures to 18 and crawled up the dunes with relative ease and about 50% throttle. There's no need for engine screaming, wheel spinning antics. Be mindful of the next person who wants to have a go and minimise the track damage. Clearance between wheel ruts was our biggest issue, but with a predominantly front wheel drive AWD, we were able to steer out of the ruts and travel along the tops of
the humps. There was one dune along the detour that took two attempts to crest. We went out and bagged Nemesis dune, then drove down, across the corridor and went straight for Big Red. We fell about 4 metres short of cresting Big Red on the difficult track on the western side. Approach speed was only about 40kmph mind you. The centre track was a breeze and we did that first shot with about a 40kmph approach speed. We then went down the Eastern side and along "Lakeview Drive" to the
Little Red track, went up and over that before heading back along the detour track to
Birdsville.
Suffer in your jocks to the guy and girl in the pimped out red Jeep that laughed at us when we crossed paths along the detour track saying we wouldn't clear the first dune in "that" car because it took them 3 shots at almost every dune along the way. Did I miss something? It seemed
too easy and we were heavily loaded.
Anyway... the town is gathering momentum and by Tuesday most of the pub will be guttered in preparation. The food vans are starting to roll up and the
free camping area by the Diamantina
bridge is filling fast.
If you are like me and hate crowds.... wait! Otherwise...it's a great time of year to go. The track is excellent, fuel is pretty cheap, the town looks superb and the weather is a treat....t-shirt weather until about 10pm. Any questions.....ask away!
Get out there and do it people. Life is for living, not merely existing.
Fab.