2nd September 2009

We left Blackall about mid morning with Dad in the lead and headed west towards Birdsville.Our first stop was at Emmet which is a former railway siding and then it was on to Yaraka for a pie, a few cold beers at the pub and a chat to Les the publican.This was also the first place where dads Ute started playing up - yes it was a bit early in the trip to be having mechanical problems.It seems his alternator was playing up so his battery kept going flat and also the electronics where playing up a bit - this led to some low level flying as dad's speedo wasn't working and he had no idea how fast he was going.Matt gave up trying to keep up with him when our speedo hit 140km/hr!And it was no surprise when dad ran out fuel about 5kms out of Windorah.Lucky we had a small jerry can of fuel for the generator so he was able to top up his Ute and make it in to town. Windorah was our stop for the night and the town was buzzing when we arrived.Windorah's regular population is about 80 people but today it was probably close to 1000 due to the people passing through on their way to Birdsville and the annual yabby races that were being held that night.Our first job was to queue for fuel - thankfully it didn't take long we got there at a good time and Matt found an extra diesel pump out the back that a lot of people didn't know about.Our next task was to find a campsite - the caravan park and showgrounds were overflowing so we found a bit of shade and grass beside the road on the edge of town and it didn't take long before we had lots of neighbours!After a few beers at our camp we strolled in to town for the yabby races - it was amazing to see how many people were there.After a few beers and watching a few of the races, Matt and Andy decided that we needed to purchase ourselves a yabby in the next race - $350 later The Barcoo Hotel Syndicate -made up of Matt, Mel, Andy, Mel's Dad Jeff, Annie & Hazel - were the proud owners of our very own racing yabby - Dill Doe.The air was full of anticipation at the start of the next race but all the yelling was in vain - Dill Doe did not perform, in fact I think he may have been dead!Oh well it was good fun and all the money went to a good cause - The Royal Flying Doctor Service and the local Kindergarten.A few more drinks and a bit of dancing later we all headed off to bed as it would be an early start in the morning.We needed to get out of town before everyone else so the road wouldn't be too busy.