6500 km journey to longreach, the gulf & birdsville races

[RB]

Photos from the actual races, I ended up giving up on the fly veil

 

[RB]

Last of the Birdsville races
1/ no fancy jockeys room here 2/ gives you an idea of track conditions 3/ plenty of racegoers got dressed up 4/ part of the big crowd 5/ jockeys presented to the crowd prior to the Cup

 

[RB]

Day 15 Birdsville to Dig Tree
Despite being up at 6am to leave at 8am we certainly were not an early group to leave. As had been promised all drivers were being breath tested as they left town (free tests were available for those who walked to the service station before setting out). We crossed into Sth Aust, visited the Cadelga Ruins and the Cordilo Downs shearing shed then back into Qld before setting up camp on the Cooper Creek at the Dig Tree (Bourke lost his life here).
The Dig Tree camp was bare dirt, 2 long drop toilets about 250 metres walk away and 1 small basin with a trickle of water-you need to be prepared BUT the camp had a good feel with a nice water hole and great sunset with only a hand full of other visitors. There is a good series of information boards explaining the significance of the camp.

Photos below
1/ & 2/ Looking back into Qld-day after Cup is probably peak traffic time for this road 3/ Cadelga Ruins 4/ Creek at the ruins 5/ hard times out here

 

[RB]

More Day 15

1/ & 2/ Cordilo Downs shearing shed 3/,4/ & 5/ Dig Tree Camp

 

[RB]

Last of Dig Tree photos including sunset

 

[RB]

Day 16 The Dig Tree to Hungerford
We headed east & crossed the Cooper Creek. We had about 300km of tar on the way to Thargomindah. There were natural gas plants and we started to see termite mounds again. At Thargomindah we visited the ex-hydro-electric scheme that relied on the Great Artesian Basin. Nearby was another landing strip that seemed rarely used.
After lunch it was on to Hungerford (population 9) and our last night in tents. The dirt road in was very corrugated in patches and we saw massive numbers of kangaroos and emus and a few goats.
Hungerford is on the Qld/NSW border. The caretaker of the caravan park seemed pleased for the company! He organised a great campfire & sat around talking for quite a while. The tent sites were reasonably comfortable and it was good to enjoy a hot shower. I am not sure some of our fellow travellers enjoyed/understood the dry humour of the local publican

Photos below 1/ & 2/ Early morning at Dig Point 3/ an early part of the 300km of tar 4/ there was an occasional change to the flat terrain 5/ one of the gas fields-coach windows were getting pretty dusty by now

 

[RB]

Some more shots from Day 16
1/ morning tea stop-bad for flys 2/, 3/, 4/ & 5/ all around Thargomindah

 

[RB]

Day 17 Hungerford to Nyngan
The caretaker was there to open and close the state border gates as we moved through! More dirt road and early in the day there were again masses of roos, emus, goats and a few wild pigs. We had morning tea at Fords Bridge- another publican with a dry wit. On to Bourke & we visited the Back O' Bourke Exhibition centre- a great relatively new set up- a 7 minute movie sets the scene then you set your own pace getting through all the info-inland sea, river boats, wool, local characters etc.
Before we left Bourke we visited the cemetery to see the grave of Fred Hollows-certainly an imposing grave stone.
From Bourke to Nyngan-much greener and long road straights with the rail line running parallel to the highway. We started to see some high cloud-the 1[SUP]st[/SUP] clouds we had seen since Mitchell on Day 3
Nyngan Riverside Park-on the Bogan River & back to cabins but again a big variety in the standard of cabins. The park has several areas to cater to groups and there old machinery displays and camels/goats/miniature ponies and a playground for children.
The last night was fancy dress but it seemed quite a few people were running out of steam and few people participated.

Photos below
1/ Outside Hungerford Pub 2/ Qld/NSW border gate 3/ details of the "dingo" fence 4/ One of the info boards at Back O' Bourke 5/ Huge stone for Fred Holows-not good light for the photo

 

[RB]

Day 18 Nyngan-Wyong
More of the vastly improved rainfall experience with green countryside all day. Tar all the way, Dubbo for morning tea and a late lunch at Denman. After a couple of drop-off spots we were back at the bus depot about 5.40pm and around 600km/9.5hrs from our take-off spot of the morning.
I was still feeling OK after just sitting in the bus all day so it was back in the car for for a quick 3hr drive home.
Back soon for a bit of a summary and a few other photos

Photos for this post-unfortunately out of order for some reason
1/ Nearing the Hunter area & canola on display again 2/ old machinery on display at Nyngan park 3/ One of the camps great facilities for big groups 4/ & 5/ a couple of early morning shots of the Bogan River as it slides past the caravan park

 

[RB]

A Bit Of A Summary



Just a bit of a summary from our point of view

Bus/Coach Trip- still not our preferred style of travel. We enjoyed the company of the other people but at this stage we are still looking to travel independently where possible. There was a wide range of ages, fitness levels and interests so this brings its own challenges. The ability to cope with camping varied and some people were less inclined to do their share of the every day tasks.
The itinerary-This was a very full on trip and we covered around 6,500 km in the bus. We certainly saw a huge variety of landscape. As explained by the organisers, things could be done more slowly but extra days mean extra costs & people are very price sensitive. There was a lot of gravel road-a major factor in us deciding to visit on a bus trip
Accommodation-we opted for a mix of cabins/tents. The cabins were all well presented. There was usually a variety of standards-dongas, no air conditioning, no ensuite, up to new cabins with all the comforts. This variety was the base for discontent as some people enjoyed much better facilities despite paying the same as their fellow travellers-not sure of the solution for this. As can be seen from photos in the report, the supplied tents were easy to erect/take down with just 4 corner pegs and a centre pole. We supplied our own sleeping bags that were used above the supplied blow-up beds. I found the blow-ups pretty ordinary. On our Adelaide/Darwin trip we had camp stretchers that were much more comfortable-also better for space as there was somewhere underneath to store bags & gear.
Wildlife- compared to our 2012 trip where we travelled from Adelaide to Darwin, on this trip we certainly saw much more. There was a much bigger variety of birds and there were a lot more roos around. Also in spots we saw emus, pigs and goats. I thought we may see some crocs around Karumba but it was not to be.
Drought-it was pretty devastating to see the impact of the drought. Stock numbers were way down (still more than we saw Adelaide/Darwin) and the farming families are obviously enduring great hardship
Country Towns- although our stops were brief we saw great spirit in all the towns. It seemed there was a lot of pride in presenting their yards and houses in a neat and tidy manner. Despite the drought many places have bores so there were plenty of green backyards
Tourism- we were very impressed how visitors/tourists are being embraced. We are both from a country background & the race to capture the “grey nomad” dollars has certainly stepped up a notch. Most places have put a lot of effort into billboards/displays to sell what they have to offer.
Pubs- we got to call at quite a few establishments. We had found on our Adelaide/Darwin trip that most of the iconic Aussie pubs had the bar manned by European backpackers who had very little knowledge of the area or the history of the pub. This time we encountered Aussies and their associated sense of humour-just something we enjoyed more.
History-this was a great itinerary to revisit plenty of school history and geography. We really enjoyed the Dig Camp and the whole trip reinforced the history of our nation and the major role of Burke & Wills.
Communication-people that had Telstra were certainly the best served. With short stays we just relied upon our own Telstra dongle for internet access & that suited the purpose where there was signal. There were plenty of “dead” spots and despite Birdsville apparently having several temporary boosters in place, things struggled to cope with the influx of visitors

I hope people have enjoyed reading the report-domestic trips are in the minority in the Trip Reports forum. Below are some random photos. I hope no one is offended by the photos taken at some of the pubs

 

[RB]

Summary Photos

 

[RB]

Some more random photos
Photo1/ I don't recall seeing the word "victualler" on these signs before

 

[RB]

Some more random shots

2/ I liked the designated area for dogs 5/ Not sure this is a good business name

 

[RB]

Last of the photos. Again I hope no one is offended by the pub signs