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Published: September 1st 2009
Ruin
Ruins found just north of BirdsvilleIt was still cold this morning. I found the track a little better south of Bedourie. Must have negotiated at least a half a dozen wet spots and had to get out and walk each one. The process; taking off my boots and socks. If the ground was rough on my feet there was a good chance that it would be safe for the car. If it felt soft, I would keep a wide birth when traversing the area. Did a fair amount of filming and it took some time to do the 191 kilometres into Birdsville. Now, of all the pubs in Australia the Birdsville Pub is the most famous and I just had to make a visit. Oh yes, I needed a beer while I was there. My next decision is what direction do I head? Down the Birdsville Track south to Marree or east across Sturts Stony Desert to Windorah. The Birdsville policeman told me, both roads are closed so I will have to stay in town for a few days until the roads dry out.
June 26, Friday. Spent the day filming around Birdsville and trying to get information about roads out of
Birdsville Pub
Yes, it had been raining. town. The policeman was not much help. Especially when he saw the car I was driving. This is 4-wheel drive country and anybody driving a car like mine (Ford Cortina) is not looked on with very much respect. All he would say “Road Closed!” Met some blokes driving a Holden Torana who have the same clearance problems as me. Tomorrow we are going to head south or give it a go anyway. The road to the east is worse; we heard the last 40 kilometres are very bad. The Birdsville Track is bad for the first 100 kilometres but because we were going to drive in a group, south seemed to be a better option. A couple of 4-wheel drives came up the “track” this morning; deep wheel ruts are going to be the main problem. It’s too far out of my way going north to Boulia again. Spent the evening planning the trip. We would stick together but if somebody got ahead and went through a bad section they would wait for the others to catch up. We planned for an early start so we doused the campfire and retired.
June 27, Saturday. A small convoy (2 Fords
Royal Hotel
This pub has no beer! and 1 Holden) all 2-wheel drives left early for the Birdsville Track. The other two cars made better time then I did because I wanted to stop and film along the way. I did catch up with the others because the Torana got stuck in a wet spot. I managed to drag him out without much trouble. My usual habit of filming as I went through bad spots was still being done and this track gave me another opportunity. I had only done 70 kilometres of the 500-kilometre track when I arrived at a spot with bad wheel ruts. The plan was to keep one set of wheels on top of the ridge and the other set of wheels in the rut. I set the camera up to record me negotiating the spot, just like I had done so many times on the track north of Birdsville. Got half way and the car slipped off the top ridge and finished up with all four wheels in the ruts. Leaving the bottom of the car hard against the mud.
It was 11:00 in the morning and I was stuck fast. To lighten the car I unloaded everything from the back. I
Birdsville Track 1
The start of the Birdsville Track after rain. had no idea if I was going to free my car north or south of my predicament so I split the gear at both ends of where I was stuck. Then I got to work digging myself out. Couldn’t find my shovel, I must have left it on the Strezlecki Track at the beginning of my trip. Trying to lower the mound that had imprisoned the car took forever to dig out by hand. When I had some of it cleared I put the car in reverse and literally flattened the mud as I went. Problem was, I had to do this in sections because I couldn’t get enough momentum to plough all the way out.
After a couple of hours I took a rest and talked to the camera about what had been happening. I had enough food and water to last a week and if my fresh water ran out there was plenty of water on either side of the track. There was a gymkhana in Birdsville and I knew the people who had traversed the “track” this morning were going back to their station about 100 kilometres south of my position within the next few days. Slowly
Birdsville Track 2
View from one of the sand dunes. the car was cleared until only one large mound of dirt denied me freedom. Having been stuck for over 4 hours, I decided to get onto the CB and put out a call. A woman from Comboyne in Queensland replied and I asked her to let the policeman in Birdsville know what was happening to me. This morning I posted a “Birdsville to Marree Alert Card” at the police station. This had to be handed into the police at Marree when you arrived safely. It was obvious by my progress Marree would not be my next destination.
When I finally extracted myself from the wheel ruts it was 4:30 in the afternoon and now the sun was setting faster then I wanted. It took a long time to reload the gear back in the car and I headed back to Birdsville. The other cars never did come back; I guess they got through that spot without any problems and thought I would too.
It was dark by time I arrived at the Birdsville camping ground. Got talking with another group of travellers, this time they were driving 4-wheel drive vehicles and they offered to escort me to Windorah. I will
Royal Hotel Sunset
It was dark by time I arrived back in Birdsville. give anything a go; at least they will help me if I get into more trouble.
There were a lot of people in town enjoying the gymkhana and a BBQ was being held in a large tent opposite the Birdsville Pub. I met up with the policeman there and asked if he had heard about my CB call. It seems the lady got in touch with the Taree police station and they relayed the message to Birdsville. He was going to head down to me tomorrow and thanked me for letting him know I was back in town. Had some food then went across to the pub and got into a conversation with a few of the riders from the gymkhana. We drank until closing time and were the last to leave the pub. I was invited to drink with them some more but chose to head back to my tent.
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