We spent a very comfortable night just off the road and didn’t hear any traffic passing. Dick climbed a nearby tree to get a better signal on his Telstra Next G mobile phone and had a chat to Macca on his radio program. It was 53° Fahrenheit (11° Celsius) when we got going at 8.50 am, with a thin layer of cloud above us.
We enjoyed travelling on the smooth bitumen for a while. We travelled over very flat country, with cattle and a couple of emus running beside us. They are so skittish and always run away quickly.
Waddi Tree – Acacia PueceBoulia Shire countryside
Before long we found ourselves back on the gravel, however we were able to travel at a good pace. We crossed a tributary of Eyre Creek with a small waterhole which was holding water from the recent rains, we then found ourselves on flat red stony country.
Back onto the gravel roadA tributary of Eyre CreekThe countryside became very flatStony flat countryOccasional trees
The road cut through red sand hills, we had to be careful on the crests in case a vehicle was coming the other way.
Warning signRoad cut through the sandhills
We crossed into the Diamantina Shire and were very impressed with the well maintained gravel road.
We crossed into the Diamantina ShireRocky ground and hills in the distanceCattle graze beside the roadA country ute with swags and a dog on board
We arrived in Bedourie at 11.00 am, refuelled the rear tank with 121 litres at $2.11 per litre, costing a total of $255.58. After a quick cup of coffee we were on our way again.
We refuelled at BedourieBedourie Pub
We passed the homestead of Glengyle and Eyre Creek floodplain.
Glengyle StationEyre Creek floodplain
We could travel at 100 kph on the good gravel roads. We stopped at the Cacory Ruins, an old homestead abandoned by Sir Sidney Kidman in 1906 after years of drought in this area.
The road rolled on in front of usCacory ruins
A few kilometres on we crossed onto Adria Downs, owned by our friends David and Nell Brook. We remember Nell telling Pip how they had received some good rains a month or so ago. We could see the results with green grass and flowers covering the ground. We stopped to take a few photos of the wildflowers and noticed pools of water beside the road.
Green on Adria DownsPools of water left from the rain
We noticed this fun ‘boot tree’ on the sign saying Private Road.
A fun boot tree
The sand hills were covered in masses of wildflowers as we drove into Birdsville.
Wildflowers growing on the sandhills coming into Birdsville
We arrived at 1.22 pm, in time to join David and Nell and a number of their staff for a barbecue lunch of OBE beef burgers. (OBE means organic beef as they do not use any chemicals out here). The Brook Properties staff were gathered in Birdsville for a refresher course of their St Johns’ First Aid certificates. Nell kindly invited us to stay the night, so we enjoyed the afternoon working on our website and Dick filled up our front tank with 188 litres of diesel at $2.07 a litre, a total cost of $390.80.
We drove the Earthroamer to the famous Birdsville Pub, where we stopped to take the mandatory photo standing in the cold wind.
We made it to the famous Birdsville Pub
We later walked down to the pub from David and Nell’s house and had a drink in the bar and a delicious OBE steak in the dining room.
Pip, Dick, David and Nell Brook having a drink inside the Birdsville Pub
Total today 382 kms 38,114 kms since Anchorage, Alaska.
