Day 37: We make it to iconic Birdsville!!!

We are very excited to be off to Birdsville and even though it was only 8 degrees this morning and we are up and off early so that we can enjoy breakfast at Cuttaburra Crossing ( a short drive down the road - 68km south of Bedourie).

Before leaving town we had to check out the Racecourse where they hold the annual camel races - they will be in here next weekend.

We do not know what to expect in Birdsville when we get there. We have been told by people who have come from there in that last week that it is really full and very busy - but we are not sure if it might empty with the end of the school holidays - but it does appear that it is building up quite a lot for the Big Red Marathon Race and the John Williamson concert that we are hoping to go to tomorrow night. Looks like it could be quite an atmosphere.

The road from Bedourie to Birdsville is known as the Bilby Way. The distance to travel today is 187km

Firstly along this road we head off out from Bedourie between the sand dunes - then it just flattens off to forever flat view as far as the eye can see.
Very flat here along this road - very very flat and only about 60-70m above sea level.
A lot of work happening to this road and approximately half tarred - we have been told that it will eventually be completely tarred from Bedourie to Birdsville.

Still seeing emus today along the way and a few cattle - but no roos and no road kill at all. Except a dead Eagle.
We did also see a group of Eagles off to the side of the road - ripping into some carion.

We pass by quite a few waterholes and across the Toko Floodplain Channels - these channels cross the road in the wet and are a reknowned kangaroo feeding area. But we did not notice any roos here today at all.

We cross the Glengyle Station / Eyre Creek property of approx 10,000 sq km. this property. This property was purchase by Sidney Kidman in 1903 - just one of many properties purchased by him the same year. The property is still owned by S Kidman & Co.

We finally made our breakfast point at Cuttaburra Crossing (68km south) - this is a permanent waterhole and renowned wetland area on the Eyre Creek just west of Lake Machattie.

There were a couple of workmen who turned up here before we left and chatting with one of the guys we were amazed to find out how high the water had been across this area in the floods.
It had come up to the top of the picnic shelter (in the picture below) where we were having our brekkie!!!.

Unfortunately we did not have time on this trip to make the detour around Lake Machattie, an arid floodplain lake, which when full is the largest pelican breeding area in Australia.

At 106 km down the road we arrived at the Carcoory ruins:
They are all that is left of one of the first properties purchased by Sidney Kidman. He acquired this property in 1899 and the ruins are classified by the National Trust.

A main living area with fireplace and 3x other rooms in quite good state considering that it is not cordoned off in any way. This I found strange since it is classified by the National Trust - they don't seem to be doing much to preserve it and it is sad to note that there is graffiti all over the sandstone blocks of the walls where people have thought it nice to scratch their name.

Getting along closer into Birdsville we passed this eclectic assortment of furniture and appliances alongside the road - with even the lawn mower - a bit useless out here!!

--- And the "shoe tree"

Arriving in Birdsville about 11.00 am - we went straight to the Birdsville Bakery for early lunch. Kangaroo & Claret pie and Camel pie was on the order for us today and a couple of sausage rolls thrown in - plus coffee!!!!
We had not had a coffee for a week!!!!

See the "Fly Removal Zone" and the request on the door to
"Please have a good go at leaving the flys outside"
There were virtually no flies today - but obviously they can be an issue!!

And there are beautiful "Sturt Desert Pea"growing at the entrance to the Bakery

After the Bakery and the "coffee fix" we went directly to the information centre to purchase our tickets for the John Williamson show tomorrow night. Yeah!!!! We have our tickets!!!

We set up camp (a free camp again) just a couple of km outside of town on the Diamantina river - there is water in the river.

It was then Russell noticed that he had a flat tyre - so he whipped that off, plugged the puncture and the tyre went back on.

After lunch we headed back to town to explore a bit more.

Firstly we had a look at the local swimming hole at Pelican Point - and we were surprised how big this billabong is and yes there were Pelicans there.

The ruins of the old Royal Hotel are shown below - Birdsville used to have 2x hotels

Then we checked out the Birdsville Roadhouse which is also the general store for the town. We made a few purchases and found we can shower here tomorrow for $5.00 each.

We then made tracks to the iconic Birdsville Hotel for a few drinks before dinner.

This pub has an amazing amount of memorabilia and paraphernalia and a fantastic friendly atmosphere.
I paid a $2.00 donation to the RFDS to take photos inside the hotel bars

They had the fire ticking over in the main bar, there is also the Green Lizard Bar, a dining room and huge beer garden. A Sunday roast was the menu for tonight - $25.00 each for a huge roast dinner with great baked veges and more.

Back to camp we were in bed early looking to get up and be in town to see the start of the 42km 'dash' up 'Big Red' at 7.30am in the morning and then head out to set up at the free camp at the base of Big Red and watch the runners coming over the dunes to the finish line.