Birdsville

This day was a dramatic one. The Cordillo Road, which we had originally planned to take, has been closed for ages. We were told (by a fellow traveller at the Dig Tree) that an alternative route – the Arrabury road – was open.  However the sign at the Trading Post stated that was closed as well. The only other alternative was about a 1000km trek into outback Queensland and up to Birdsville. Once again the trip was under threat, as there were no guarantees the Birdsville Track would be open, even if we made it there! Going south from Innamincka was not an option, as most of the Strzelecki Track was also closed.

As fortunate as we had been to get to Innamincka, our accommodation booking at Coober Pedy and trip north of Alice on the Ghan were now under serious threat.

We decided to take our chances with the Arrabury Road, and then turn back if we had to. The succession of trucks and work vehicles coming in the opposite direction was an encouraging sign. During our stay in Innamincka there have been virtually no tourists – but plenty of four wheel drives carrying workers to and from the nearby gas fields, each equipped with a high red flag so the cars can be seen coming over the many crests formed by sand dunes.

The road ran for just over 200km and was, for the most part in excellent condition. As I type this, the road is still listed as closed, but I have no idea why. There were three spots we had to drive through water, but none of these were as challenging as some of the later muddy sections on the Birdsville Developmental Road. After about 2½ hours of driving through the endless plains of Outback Queensland, we finally reached the Developmental Road and pulled over to celebrate with a well-earned lunch. On jumping out of the car we quickly realised we had the first flat tyre of the journey. I must have pulled over onto a sharp stone! It destroyed the tyre completely. Buying a spare tyre on the roof turned out to be a worthy investment.

The country is spectacular in its vastness. The rains over recent years have meant that even the most remote desert areas are covered with greenery and wildflowers, and the gibber plains of the Sturt Stony Desert are covered in part with sheets of water. The drive to Birdsville was an exciting, adventurous one. Seeing the amount of water, and its impact on the road, was a reminder of our good fortune in having made it this far. Marilyn and I were cautious however, as we knew we were likely to find ourselves stuck in Birdsville. We even contemplated the possibility of having to cross the Simpson Desert!

Finally we passed the famous racetrack and drove into Birdsville, greeted also by a sign indicating that the Track was in fact open to four-wheel drive vehicles. There was even phone reception – our first since Tibooburra! As we had a celebratory dinner at the famous Birdsville Hotel there was a sense of disbelief in being there at all. We were finally able to do a wash and had our first showers in a week! More importantly we are on-time and are able to re-equip ourselves to start tomorrow’s journey down the Birdsville Track.