TUESDAY 1st September

We left Mt Isa at 8am heading for Birdsville. Joe and I were a bit excited as Melissa and Shayne along with Daryl and Rilla were meeting us there tomorrow.

We heard from them quite early on that they were in Coober Pedy and that it had rained all night and the road they were intending to travel on was closed. They had to make a huge detour and would be out of service until they arrived, sometime tomorrow........

We wanted to keep the fuel tanks as full as possible so we stopped at Boulia and Bedourie along the way. We had a beer at the wrong pub in Bedourie. We had meant to stop at the old historical pub but the first one had fuel so we had it there. Oh well, a beer is a beer no matter what pub you are at.

We had a few messages from Melissa and Shayne as we were coming in to Birdsville and they were travelling along fine.

Just as we pulled into the Birdsville Roadhouse, we heard Good Afternoon Campers on our cb's. Joe and I looked at each other and Col and Wen did the same. Col came back with What the?? It was Jen Dyke’s voice on our radio’s. How could this be happening?? Joe said it was on my phone. No way, it was on our radio. I started looking around and we couldn’t believe it when we saw Mart & Jen’s vehicle coming in behind Col’s. Wendy and I couldn’t get out of the cars quick enough. We ran through the servo, dodging cars in our way. There were hugs, laughter and even a few tears. What an incredible surprise!!!
Jen and Mart had planned this about 3 weeks ago and were in cahoots with Melissa and Shayne as to our travel plans.

Mart and Jen had been in town since about 11am and we didn’t get there until 4ish. They had driven around and found a spot for us to camp on the outskirts of town about 1.5km out. We made our way there and set up camp. The whole of Birdsville is so very dry and dusty which we had expected. What we hadn’t planned upon was the bindi’s. They were everywhere. They stuck to absolutely everything.

Paul, Belinda and Liam Ellis were also in Birdsville to catch up with Melissa and Shayne so they came and camped with us too. The more, the merrier.

WEDNESDAY 2nd September

We woke today to a beautiful sunny Queensland day the only thing wrong was that it had gale force winds. We quickly took our awnings down before any damage was done. We spent a fair part of the morning watching other campers trying (some unsuccessfully) to secure their campsites also.

We had planned to catch up with Tracey, Lawrence and Roddie somewhere over the weekend. We found them almost directly across the road from our camp. There are over 8,000 people here this weekend and we ended up being that close. We had a quick catch up with them and promised to have a beer together later.

We all went for a walk to the centre of town. We wandered around for a while checking out the variety of stalls and merchandise that was on offer. We all went to the bakery and Mart was the only one hungry so he got himself a sausage roll.
Our next stop, surprise, surprise was the pub! We had to have a cold one sitting under the veranda. We found ourselves a bench seat out the front and enjoyed a couple of cold ones before the wind drove us out to the beer garden in the sun which was sheltered from the wind and much more pleasant.

Back to camp for a quiet arvo while waiting for Melissa, Shayne, Rilla and Daryl to arrive. We were beginning to get a bit anxious by 4. They finally arrived about 6 much to their delight as well as ours. There were hugs all round and of course Jen shed a few tears ha ha. So happy that everyone arrived safely.

Melissa and Shayne had shredded a tyre and broken a couple of other things along the Birdsville Track. It’s in terrible condition. Daryl and Rilla came through fairly unscathed. One of their rock tamers had come a bit loose.

THURSDAY 3rd September

Most of our fellow campers had decided not to set up their showers and instead they went into town and had a $5 shower. These were run by the Aussie Helpers and the money was to go towards them. Aussie Helpers is an Australian Charity for Farmers in Hardship with more than 40 volunteers working around Australia.

There was a fun day being held out the front of the pub today so we went for a look. They had a few different fun/silly games which was hosted by the Crackup Sisters. You could back toy miniature horses, become a jockey and take part in the egg throwing. We were all content just to enjoy a beer and watch the goings on. There was lots of laughs and lots of sun.

FRIDAY 4th September

It is great to have our tour director Jenny Dyke back with us. It was fantastic as when we all left camp, Jen came over the cb’s with Good Morning Campers and gave us a speal on what was happening today. We had missed this so much!!

We were all going out to Big Red today which is at the start of the Simpson Desert. Big Red is supposedly the ****************est dune out of the 1200 dunes that cross the desert. Most people that visit Birdsville make their way out for a look. It’s great to sit at the top and cheer on the drivers as they attempt to get up and over one or more of the 5 sand tracks.

The guys all let their tyres down to make driving the sand tracks easier and we made our way to the top. We watched and cheered a few other cars before Mart and Jen went to have a crack. Mart made a couple of attempts, checking out the best lines, soft spots, holes etc before making his way up and over the top at break neck speed with ease. The Nissanator was back!!!

It was a good spectator sport watching all the vehicle having a crack at the infamous Big Red. Lawrence wanted to have another go and he invited Joe and Melissa to be passengers in the 80 series. After a couple of shots at the dune he made it over the top.
Paul and Shayne snuck off in Pauls 100 series and after a few attempts they also made it up and over.
Just prior to leaving Mart took Jenny DeP for a spin. In true Nissonator spirit, Mart had the pedal to the metal and flew up the dune with ease. Practice makes perfect. Mart enjoyed it so much he raced across the top and headed down for another go. This time attempting the hardest of the five dunes tracks, he planted the foot and flew to the top.

We all headed back to Birdsville about lunch time. Daryl and Marilla drove to the race course for a gander. Melissa, Shayne, Belinda and Liam were also off to the race course for a look. Joe and Jenny decided to tag along to keep them company. We all jumped on the gold coin donation bus for a ride to the track. On arrival we noticed a mass exodus from the track. It was $20 entry fee to the race track for Friday so we ummed and ahhed and eventually bartered with the gate staff and we were in for $10 each.

There was still a fair crowd at the races for the last two races. There were people dressed for the occasion and there were those that were not. It was great to just people watch while downing a coldie.

Back to camp and had an early night.

SATURDAY 5th

This was Race Day at Birdsville. Daryl and Marilla left this morning and they were headed for Marree to pick up their caravan they left there a few days earlier.

No one was really enthusiastic this morning so we sat around most of the morning enjoying everyones’ company.
At around 2.30 we all caught the bus again and headed for the race track. Today the place was packed. We managed to make our way into the pavilion to escape the sun. Enjoying the amber fluid the Birdsville Cup race was upon us. Shayne wanted to have a flutter so he was the chief bet putter-oner-a. Shayne kept on saying he was going to put a bet on horse 8 (Meteorite), but every time he went to bet he didn’t. Joe mentioned to Shayne about the shooting star he saw the previous night and said it must be a sign. The race over and money done, would have, should have, Meteorite the victor.

A few more beverages as we had to finish the drinks tickets and we head for the bus line up. Due to the length of the lines we decided to walk back to our camp. It was about 2.5kms and we did it easy. Mart kept us entertained on the journey home as he had had more beers than the rest of us. He pretended to be an old yobbo and with that he hoiked his strides up and nearly choked himself. He had us in stitches of laughter. When he got back to camp he decided to have some fun with the toilet tent. He stumbled around walking blind trying to catch us walking into camp. We all played Marco Polo with him. Joe was reminded of the Dr Who series and told Marty he looked like a Darlect.

Frivolity over, we downed a few beers and started packing up, as we off in the morning. Colin (Colly) had a great time playing with Liam and it was so cute to watch.