Mt Isa to Birdsville

Like many of us will this weekend (with any luck), Graeme woke up to rain. Not so exciting for him when you’re camped in the dirt in a swag but exciting for the big yabbie he’d caught overnight. It lives to fight another day as Graeme let it go rather than try and cook it in the rain.  Lucky yabbie.

Other than the drive being ‘fine’, apparently it’s rained all day and he’s just seen water and birds and water and birds all day.  Safely into Birdsville early afternoon and will now wait for parents, Bren and Matt.  Pub for dinner – same meal as the other week – Nathan told him he should be eating the steak instead.

Hope you enjoy these piccies……

Strange co-incidences

I knew I’d forgotten something off the previous blog and it was a story Drew told me from Poeppel’s Corner. Drew – I hope I have this right….

The boys were at Poeppel’s Corner having a look around and got chatting to a few other travellers who were heading across the desert.

These sorts of conversations contain the usual, weather, where’re you going, where’ve you been, what you HAVE to stop and see/do, what you shouldn’t stop/see, chat about cars/kids depending on whether you’re a bloke or gal, some chat about what you’re towing or carrying etc etc and of course, where’re you from.

‘Sydney’ is first pin point offered, then ‘northern Sydney’ and if they still seem to know where you are talking about then you say something like ‘Berowra, just before you head down the hill to cross the Hawkesbury River’. The old saying of ‘seven degrees of separation’ is so, so true. By the time you get that defined, you aren’t far off finding they know someone in common.   

I’m sure Drew describes the location of Mt Colah slightly differently but the point of this long ramble is that he’s at Poeppel’s Corner (Qld/NT/SA), talking to a random stranger about his trip/past adventures and they very, very quickly realise this is the son of Betty who is the lady who looks after Drew’s dog Dash whenever they go away. Wow, you might say, but I’m impressed! Think Drew was too.

The other co-incidence I’d forgotten to add happened to Graeme’s parents. They are on their way to join Graeme in Birdsville and while cooking the BBQ tea in the campground at St George Qld (?), David was chatting to a fellow chef about where they’re both headed, where’re they’re from (etc etc) and it turns out that these people had already met Graeme.  We aren’t too clear on when exactly as they gave David the impression it was only a few days prior in the desert and while the timing matches, neither Graeme, Drew nor Bestie remember talking to them.  This makes us think perhaps it was someone who’d stopped to talk to Graeme when he did his other crossing. That, or there’s another ‘mad’ walker out there crossing the desert as well!  Again, I’m impressed….

Mt Isa

A night near Boulia on the river bank......

and then into Urandangi, west of Mt Isa. This was where they were told to watch the State of Origin but for a few reasons one of which was pending rain and not wanting to risk being caught there, they continued on into Mt Isa itself.

Some of the photos are Drew's from the town and trip there - thank you! 

The boys stayed the last few nights in Mt Isa, eating, walking, washing the mud underneath off the car (which needed doing again despite being done before they left Birdsville), stocking up on groceries for the next stretch for Graeme and perhaps a few beers or so.   

Their ‘big’ State of Origin night itself didn’t get out of hand either as the construction/mine workers all get alcohol and drug tested before work. Here’s some photos of the pub and nightlife.

 Once the game ended the night was over. Probably not a bad thing really given what’s ahead.

An early morning walk this morning, refuel, food shop and then Graeme dropped Bestie and Drew at the airport to fly back to Sydney. 

He was a bit down when he rang after after leaving the boys this morning which isn't too much of a surprise really.  They’ve had such a good time, every phone call has been full of laughter and ribbing and he has really and truly appreciated the company and good times. Thank you very much Bestie and Drew for going with him and thank you to Kel and Mel and the kids for being without your men for the last 10 days or so. We really appreciate the support.

Graeme has headed south towards Birdsville, stopping at Dajarra Hotel for lunch and gone as far as Boulia to camp the night near the river. Looks like the same spot they stayed at on the way up to Mt Isa a few days ago??  

Some fresh yabbies out of the creek for dinner and Graeme was yawning his head off when he rang at 8pm. I guess that’s the effect of a late night, emotion, some driving, big feed and hot weather. 

 Back to Birdsville tomorrow for a few more solitary days before his parents arrive around/soon after the weekend followed by Brendon and Matt early/mid week. Brendon and Matt are the ones who will have the cart and proceed to take Graeme across the other side to start the walk.  

Food and Water Cache

Thursday to Sunday, Graeme, Bestie and Drew have been out loving their time in the Simpson Desert.  Purpose was to drive to around the ‘halfway’ mark for Graeme’s walk and bury an emergency cache of food and water.  He hasn’t shared the coordinates of where it is with us so I hope he tells someone else in case he forgets!

Before they got there, they had to pass through Poeppels Corner which is where Queensland meets Northern Territory meets South Australia. This is what you go to see…..

Graeme, Bestie (Andrew Best), Drew (Andrew Turnell)

He rang briefly yesterday and said the parts of the Madigan Line they drove on were in good condition and that desert was super, super green. There’s water/mud out there but he said they had to find it rather than battle through it which is a good thing for the walk itself. It’s still fairly quiet in town and in the desert with only 6 parties crossing via the Madigan Line in the last few weeks. I assume parties means vehicles not groups.

He was also very excited to have called ‘camel day’ successfully. Every time we’ve been out in the desert areas, one of us will make the claim today is the day to see camels. To call it successfully in the morning makes you the winner.  You have to make the fun anyway you can! If you look at the sand dune peak you can see a couple there. Also a great shot of how green it is out there.

Camels on ridgeline

  

Next step in the plan is to watch the State of Origin from a pub west of Mt Isa. According to some local workers they chatted to in Birdsville, this is the place to be. They are leaving Birdsville today to head up that way just touring, wandering around really.  I think they’ll stop near Boulia tonight. 

Here’s some other more general type scenery shots that he’s sent through.

looks like a wedge tail eagle nest to me

Think they must have been proud of this damper

            

Sydney to Birdsville

From here on the blogs will mostly be written by me, Katrina, so I’ll do my best to expand out on the snippets of information we get via phone or SMS. I guess I can always make things up too – Graeme won’t know for a while yet! A word of warning – I can chat & ramble a bit so you might want to get a cuppa tea…..

Graeme and two close mates (Bestie and Drew) left 5am Tuesday morning. They hadn’t even made it to collect Drew before they were flagged down by a passing car. “You’ve left your back wheel carrier undone, mate”. I don’t have a photo of the car but as with many big 4WD’s there are 2 spare tires on the back which need to be opened before you can even get to the back door. One of the habits you need to get into when travelling is checking these are done up BEFORE you start driving off. We’ve been caught with this more than once…..

Next stop was on the freeway before Newcastle with a fuel filter light warning. False alarm – something else not done up properly. I am only laughing about all this because I wasn’t in the car with them.

Coffee break at Merriwa which is a lovely country town which has the Festival of the Fleeces every year – where else can you see sheep walk down the main street wearing red woollen socks. Also a great place to break down if you ever feel so inclined…..that’s a long story from a previous dramatic holiday. The other good thing about this town is that it’s about the time where you first get the ‘wave’ from passing drivers. That’s the sure sign you’ve left the country and are on holidays.

Who knows what happened between here and Bourke where they stopped for the night but I believe the muesli worked a treat for sensory entertainment. Luckily for them it’s warm out there so the windows are down….

Decided on Wednesday that Birdsville was going to be too far in 2 days after all. Instead they stopped after Windorah at a lookout called Deon’s Lookout. An amazing view from the top of a jump up way out across the plains, it really is big sky country.  Also the home of the most mozzies all of them have ever seen. Graeme counted 32 waiting for him on the swag flyscreen when he woke this morning. My job this evening was to source a mozzie net for him. One more thing for Brendon to take up with the cart at the start of June.

In Birdsville by 11am Thursday and apparently they had the best $5 shower ever. It’s only been 2 days without a shower and he’s already saying things like this. How will he be after 3-4 weeks? I hope they still have lots of water in Birdsville at that time….he’ll be needing it.

Speaking of water, a lot of the roads into Birdsville have been closed these last few weeks because of the rain they’ve had. Graeme said that there are massive stretches of water on the sides of the road and everything is very, very green. After lunch at the pub, and I’m sure a beer or two, they’ve headed out into the desert. I heard that he rang from the top of Big Red and all he could see on the other side was water. Perhaps the inland sea is real after all. 

Big Red is the ‘first’ of the Simpson Desert sand dunes. 30 metres high and it’s the dune that everyone wants to conquer. There’s Little Red on the main desert road itself and then you travel up the pan to reach Big Red. It’s not for the faint hearted. I’ve been a passenger once and that’s enough. Every time since I’ve got out and walked to the top. Someone needs to take the photos after all, hey.

For the next 3-4 nights they’ll be out in the desert - Poeppels Corner (SA/NT/Qld border) and burying an emergency supply of water and food at around the ‘halfway’ mark for later. 

I imagine there’ll be many fires like this and a few more stories that can get shared with the wife……

Spot Messenger update

As you may know I'm planning on using a Spot messenger as a tracking device for the walk.
If you would like to check on my progress during the walk please visit the below link
Graeme's spot messenger
A word of warning the spot messenger needs to be turned on each morning and relies on batteries , this is not my only link with the world so if I don't move for a few days , please do not be too concerned.

Handing over the Reins

From here on in Katrina will be writing the blog, (you can tell its her as there will be no spelling mistakes) I plan to ring home every day , whether she has time to blog each day or there is really any thing to say , (its going to get a bit boring yep he went up 55 sand dunes and down 55 sand dunes and he is now sleeping again). Im sure Katrina will do a great job and chuck in a story here or there. Im sorry but there will be no photos until I return. (might be a couple before I actually start walking).
Thankyou again to everybody who has helped me along the way.
BTW dont believe any thing she writes about the day I could not find my shoes!
Cheers
Graeme