Birdsville

SUNDAY, 5 JUNE 2016

Turn-off to Birdsville

Gravel roadway

Note the creek lines

Back end of snake

Front end of snake

Our lunch stop waterhole

Gibber plain sans grass

Birdsville Racetrack

We arrived!

Birdsville Hotel

Plane parking

Sturt desert pea

Waiting for coffee and a vanilla slice

Originally the Royal Hotel, then the Australian Inland Mission and the hospital

This morning, under crisp, clear skies, we left the caravan at Windorah and set out for Birdsville.  The road was sealed for just over 100 kms, passing through red sandhills and grazing country, with lots of happy cattle eating the plentiful grass.  It was when we stopped at the turn-off to Birdsville that the realisation really hit home that we didn’t have our private bathroom behind the Pajero today!

With Himself now in the driver’s seat, we headed south – on sealed road for about 10 kms and then very good gravel, which was so smooth at times that our times were actually humming.  The scenery to start with was large, open grass plains which changed to scrub, then gibber plains.  The salt lakes were full and the gibber plains were quite green.  At times, they even looked like cultivated farms with cultivated red soil and lush pasture; every time we passed over the crest of a sandhill, the scenery changed.  We stopped for a short time at a lookout on the top of a hill, then had a lunch stop beside a lovely waterhole.  There was very little traffic (five vehicles) and the road only deteriorated a bit for the final 110 kms, with a few corrugations and some rough gravel at times.

We are staying at the Birdsville Hotel, as met the receptionist, Gaylene, who used to work at Coroneagh Park, Penguin, serving meals and knew Edna.  Small world!  Our room is perfectly adequate and recently redecorated.  The airstrip is directly across the road, with planes parked across from the hotel.  We enjoyed a good walk around the town, visiting the information centre and bakery, before walking through the caravan park back to the hotel.