South to Birdsville!

Hi everyone,

We spent two nights in Mount Isa at the Sunset Caravan Park. stayed at this park two years ago but this time it was very windy & dusty. Whilst at the “Isa” we had a wheel alignment, balance & rotation. We have now done 20,00 kilometres in less than 5 months. Cheryl also had a cut & trim & hair colour. We also met up with Bob & Vicki Middleton from Hillwood in Northern Tasmania. We are going to be travelling with Bob & Vicki for the next 10 days.We did a major grocery shop before heading south for 300 kilometres to a small town called Boulia. We are now in what is known as channel country. Boulia is a remote western Queensland town situated 240 kilometres from the Northern Territory border. The famous & ill-fated explorers Burke & Wills passed through Boulia on their way to the gulf. Boulia is known as the Land of the Min Min lights. They are strange, mesmerising, mysterious, eerie hovering lights that cannot be explained & have enthralled people for centuries. We attended a 45-minute presentation at the local visitor centre.We drove further south the next day to the town of Bedourie. We camped in the local caravan park & enjoyed a great meal at the town roadhouse where Cheryl & the girls were photographed with a celebrity.

 The next day we travelled further south to the iconic Australian town of Birdsville. Birdsville is located deep in the heart of wild & isolated country. Birdsville is located between the eastern edge of the Simpson Desert, the RICH Channel country to the north & the gibber plains of Sturt Stony Desert. The population of Birdsville is 110 & the town has a hardware store, roadhouse, hotel, bakery & school. It has two major industries which are cattle & tourism. We have come for the Birdsville Races which occurs the first weekend in September & sees the population grow to 8,000 people!!!!  

Today we travelled out of Birdsville to the edge of the Simpson Desert where we  drove up Big Red which is the tallest sand dune in the desert.

 We are free camped out on the Birdsville common which is a large claypan & there are a lot of people camped out here. We are camped with 3 other Tasmanian couples.