We are on an expedition across Australia’s Great Victoria Desert and through Australia’s Red Centre, travelling some of the most spectacular country that our Sunburnt Country has to offer.
Communications is somewhat limited in these areas, which has its own unique appeal. But you can follow our progress thanks to the wonders of satellite technology combined with the resources of “ExplorOz”, an Australian Travel Website…
“Click” The Landy to see where we are andhere to read about the expedition.
ExplorOz is Australia’s favourite website for travellers with a sense of adventure. Whether you are a caravanner, camper, into four wheel driving, a motorbike tourer, or fisherman, it has everything you need with loads of trip planning information in articles, trek notes, places, camps and caravan park finder, and updated information on road conditions.
We are on an expedition across Australia’s Great Victoria Desert and through Australia’s Red Centre, travelling some of the most spectacular country that our Sunburnt Country has to offer.
Communications is somewhat limited in these areas, which has its own unique appeal. But you can follow our progress thanks to the wonders of satellite technology combined with the resources of “ExplorOz”, an Australian Travel Website…
“Click” The Landy to see where we are andhere to read about the expedition.
ExplorOz is Australia’s favourite website for travellers with a sense of adventure. Whether you are a caravanner, camper, into four wheel driving, a motorbike tourer, or fisherman, it has everything you need with loads of trip planning information in articles, trek notes, places, camps and caravan park finder, and updated information on road conditions.
We are on an expedition across Australia’s Great Victoria Desert and through Australia’s Red Centre, travelling some of the most spectacular country that our Sunburnt Country has to offer.
Communications is somewhat limited in these areas, which has its own unique appeal. But you can follow our progress thanks to the wonders of satellite technology combined with the resources of “ExplorOz”, an Australian Travel Website…
“Click” The Landy to see where we are andhere to read about the expedition.
ExplorOz is Australia’s favourite website for travellers with a sense of adventure. Whether you are a caravanner, camper, into four wheel driving, a motorbike tourer, or fisherman, it has everything you need with loads of trip planning information in articles, trek notes, places, camps and caravan park finder, and updated information on road conditions.
We are on an expedition across Australia’s Great Victoria Desert and through Australia’s Red Centre, travelling some of the most spectacular country that our Sunburnt Country has to offer.
Communications is somewhat limited in these areas, which has its own unique appeal. But you can follow our progress thanks to the wonders of satellite technology combined with the resources of “ExplorOz”, an Australian Travel Website…
“Click” The Landy to see where we are andhere to read about the expedition.
ExplorOz is Australia’s favourite website for travellers with a sense of adventure. Whether you are a caravanner, camper, into four wheel driving, a motorbike tourer, or fisherman, it has everything you need with loads of trip planning information in articles, trek notes, places, camps and caravan park finder, and updated information on road conditions.
We are on an expedition across Australia’s Great Victoria Desert and through Australia’s Red Centre, travelling some of the most spectacular country that our Sunburnt Country has to offer.
Communications is somewhat limited in these areas, which has its own unique appeal. But you can follow our progress thanks to the wonders of satellite technology combined with the resources of “ExplorOz”, an Australian Travel Website…
“Click” The Landy to see where we are andhere to read about the expedition.
ExplorOz is Australia’s favourite website for travellers with a sense of adventure. Whether you are a caravanner, camper, into four wheel driving, a motorbike tourer, or fisherman, it has everything you need with loads of trip planning information in articles, trek notes, places, camps and caravan park finder, and updated information on road conditions.
We are on an expedition across Australia’s Great Victoria Desert and through Australia’s Red Centre, travelling some of the most spectacular country that our Sunburnt Country has to offer.
Communications is somewhat limited in these areas, which has its own unique appeal. But you can follow our progress thanks to the wonders of satellite technology combined with the resources of “ExplorOz”, an Australian Travel Website…
“Click” The Landy to see where we are andhere to read about the expedition.
ExplorOz is Australia’s favourite website for travellers with a sense of adventure. Whether you are a caravanner, camper, into four wheel driving, a motorbike tourer, or fisherman, it has everything you need with loads of trip planning information in articles, trek notes, places, camps and caravan park finder, and updated information on road conditions.
We are on an expedition across Australia’s Great Victoria Desert and through Australia’s Red Centre, travelling some of the most spectacular country that our Sunburnt Country has to offer.
Communications is somewhat limited in these areas, which has its own unique appeal. But you can follow our progress thanks to the wonders of satellite technology combined with the resources of “ExplorOz”, an Australian Travel Website…
“Click” The Landy to see where we are andhere to read about the expedition.
ExplorOz is Australia’s favourite website for travellers with a sense of adventure. Whether you are a caravanner, camper, into four wheel driving, a motorbike tourer, or fisherman, it has everything you need with loads of trip planning information in articles, trek notes, places, camps and caravan park finder, and updated information on road conditions.
We are on an expedition across Australia’s Great Victoria Desert and through Australia’s Red Centre, travelling some of the most spectacular country that our Sunburnt Country has to offer.
Communications is somewhat limited in these areas, which has its own unique appeal. But you can follow our progress thanks to the wonders of satellite technology combined with the resources of “ExplorOz”, an Australian Travel Website…
“Click” The Landy to see where we are andhere to read about the expedition.
ExplorOz is Australia’s favourite website for travellers with a sense of adventure. Whether you are a caravanner, camper, into four wheel driving, a motorbike tourer, or fisherman, it has everything you need with loads of trip planning information in articles, trek notes, places, camps and caravan park finder, and updated information on road conditions.
We are on an expedition across Australia’s Great Victoria Desert and through Australia’s Red Centre, travelling some of the most spectacular country that our Sunburnt Country has to offer.
Communications is somewhat limited in these areas, which has its own unique appeal. But you can follow our progress thanks to the wonders of satellite technology combined with the resources of “ExplorOz”, an Australian Travel Website…
“Click” The Landy to see where we are andhere to read about the expedition.
ExplorOz is Australia’s favourite website for travellers with a sense of adventure. Whether you are a caravanner, camper, into four wheel driving, a motorbike tourer, or fisherman, it has everything you need with loads of trip planning information in articles, trek notes, places, camps and caravan park finder, and updated information on road conditions.
We are on an expedition across Australia’s Great Victoria Desert and through Australia’s Red Centre, travelling some of the most spectacular country that our Sunburnt Country has to offer.
Communications is somewhat limited in these areas, which has its own unique appeal. But you can follow our progress thanks to the wonders of satellite technology combined with the resources of “ExplorOz”, an Australian Travel Website…
“Click” The Landy to see where we are andhere to read about the expedition.
ExplorOz is Australia’s favourite website for travellers with a sense of adventure. Whether you are a caravanner, camper, into four wheel driving, a motorbike tourer, or fisherman, it has everything you need with loads of trip planning information in articles, trek notes, places, camps and caravan park finder, and updated information on road conditions.
We are on an expedition across Australia’s Great Victoria Desert and through Australia’s Red Centre, travelling some of the most spectacular country that our Sunburnt Country has to offer.
Communications is somewhat limited in these areas, which has its own unique appeal. But you can follow our progress thanks to the wonders of satellite technology combined with the resources of “ExplorOz”, an Australian Travel Website…
“Click” The Landy to see where we are andhere to read about the expedition.
ExplorOz is Australia’s favourite website for travellers with a sense of adventure. Whether you are a caravanner, camper, into four wheel driving, a motorbike tourer, or fisherman, it has everything you need with loads of trip planning information in articles, trek notes, places, camps and caravan park finder, and updated information on road conditions.
We are on an expedition across Australia’s Great Victoria Desert and through Australia’s Red Centre, travelling some of the most spectacular country that our Sunburnt Country has to offer.
Communications is somewhat limited in these areas, which has its own unique appeal. But you can follow our progress thanks to the wonders of satellite technology combined with the resources of “ExplorOz”, an Australian Travel Website…
“Click” The Landy to see where we are andhere to read about the expedition.
ExplorOz is Australia’s favourite website for travellers with a sense of adventure. Whether you are a caravanner, camper, into four wheel driving, a motorbike tourer, or fisherman, it has everything you need with loads of trip planning information in articles, trek notes, places, camps and caravan park finder, and updated information on road conditions.
We are on an expedition across Australia’s Great Victoria Desert and through Australia’s Red Centre, travelling some of the most spectacular country that our Sunburnt Country has to offer.
Communications is somewhat limited in these areas, which has its own unique appeal. But you can follow our progress thanks to the wonders of satellite technology combined with the resources of “ExplorOz”, an Australian Travel Website…
“Click” The Landy to see where we are andhere to read about the expedition.
ExplorOz is Australia’s favourite website for travellers with a sense of adventure. Whether you are a caravanner, camper, into four wheel driving, a motorbike tourer, or fisherman, it has everything you need with loads of trip planning information in articles, trek notes, places, camps and caravan park finder, and updated information on road conditions.
We are on an expedition across Australia’s Great Victoria Desert and through Australia’s Red Centre, travelling some of the most spectacular country that our Sunburnt Country has to offer.
Communications is somewhat limited in these areas, which has its own unique appeal. But you can follow our progress thanks to the wonders of satellite technology combined with the resources of “ExplorOz”, an Australian Travel Website…
“Click” The Landy to see where we are andhere to read about the expedition.
ExplorOz is Australia’s favourite website for travellers with a sense of adventure. Whether you are a caravanner, camper, into four wheel driving, a motorbike tourer, or fisherman, it has everything you need with loads of trip planning information in articles, trek notes, places, camps and caravan park finder, and updated information on road conditions.
We are on an expedition across Australia’s Great Victoria Desert and through Australia’s Red Centre, travelling some of the most spectacular country that our Sunburnt Country has to offer.
Communications is somewhat limited in these areas, which has its own unique appeal. But you can follow our progress thanks to the wonders of satellite technology combined with the resources of “ExplorOz”, an Australian Travel Website…
“Click” The Landy to see where we are andhere to read about the expedition.
ExplorOz is Australia’s favourite website for travellers with a sense of adventure. Whether you are a caravanner, camper, into four wheel driving, a motorbike tourer, or fisherman, it has everything you need with loads of trip planning information in articles, trek notes, places, camps and caravan park finder, and updated information on road conditions.
We are on an expedition across Australia’s Great Victoria Desert and through Australia’s Red Centre, travelling some of the most spectacular country that our Sunburnt Country has to offer.
Communications is somewhat limited in these areas, which has its own unique appeal. But you can follow our progress thanks to the wonders of satellite technology combined with the resources of “ExplorOz”, an Australian Travel Website…
“Click” The Landy to see where we are andhere to read about the expedition.
ExplorOz is Australia’s favourite website for travellers with a sense of adventure. Whether you are a caravanner, camper, into four wheel driving, a motorbike tourer, or fisherman, it has everything you need with loads of trip planning information in articles, trek notes, places, camps and caravan park finder, and updated information on road conditions.
We are on an expedition across Australia’s Great Victoria Desert and through Australia’s Red Centre, travelling some of the most spectacular country that our Sunburnt Country has to offer.
Communications is somewhat limited in these areas, which has its own unique appeal. But you can follow our progress thanks to the wonders of satellite technology combined with the resources of “ExplorOz”, an Australian Travel Website…
“Click” The Landy to see where we are andhere to read about the expedition.
ExplorOz is Australia’s favourite website for travellers with a sense of adventure. Whether you are a caravanner, camper, into four wheel driving, a motorbike tourer, or fisherman, it has everything you need with loads of trip planning information in articles, trek notes, places, camps and caravan park finder, and updated information on road conditions.
We are on an expedition across Australia’s Great Victoria Desert and through Australia’s Red Centre, travelling some of the most spectacular country that our Sunburnt Country has to offer.
Communications is somewhat limited in these areas, which has its own unique appeal. But you can follow our progress thanks to the wonders of satellite technology combined with the resources of “ExplorOz”, an Australian Travel Website…
“Click” The Landy to see where we are andhere to read about the expedition.
ExplorOz is Australia’s favourite website for travellers with a sense of adventure. Whether you are a caravanner, camper, into four wheel driving, a motorbike tourer, or fisherman, it has everything you need with loads of trip planning information in articles, trek notes, places, camps and caravan park finder, and updated information on road conditions.
We are on an expedition across Australia’s Great Victoria Desert and through Australia’s Red Centre, travelling some of the most spectacular country that our Sunburnt Country has to offer.
Communications is somewhat limited in these areas, which has its own unique appeal. But you can follow our progress thanks to the wonders of satellite technology combined with the resources of “ExplorOz”, an Australian Travel Website…
“Click” The Landy to see where we are andhere to read about the expedition.
ExplorOz is Australia’s favourite website for travellers with a sense of adventure. Whether you are a caravanner, camper, into four wheel driving, a motorbike tourer, or fisherman, it has everything you need with loads of trip planning information in articles, trek notes, places, camps and caravan park finder, and updated information on road conditions.
We are on an expedition across Australia’s Great Victoria Desert and through Australia’s Red Centre, travelling some of the most spectacular country that our Sunburnt Country has to offer.
Communications is somewhat limited in these areas, which has its own unique appeal. But you can follow our progress thanks to the wonders of satellite technology combined with the resources of “ExplorOz”, an Australian Travel Website…
“Click” The Landy to see where we are andhere to read about the expedition.
ExplorOz is Australia’s favourite website for travellers with a sense of adventure. Whether you are a caravanner, camper, into four wheel driving, a motorbike tourer, or fisherman, it has everything you need with loads of trip planning information in articles, trek notes, places, camps and caravan park finder, and updated information on road conditions.
We are on an expedition across Australia’s Great Victoria Desert and through Australia’s Red Centre, travelling some of the most spectacular country that our Sunburnt Country has to offer.
Communications is somewhat limited in these areas, which has its own unique appeal. But you can follow our progress thanks to the wonders of satellite technology combined with the resources of “ExplorOz”, an Australian Travel Website…
“Click” The Landy to see where we are andhere to read about the expedition.
ExplorOz is Australia’s favourite website for travellers with a sense of adventure. Whether you are a caravanner, camper, into four wheel driving, a motorbike tourer, or fisherman, it has everything you need with loads of trip planning information in articles, trek notes, places, camps and caravan park finder, and updated information on road conditions.
We are on an expedition across Australia’s Great Victoria Desert and through Australia’s Red Centre, travelling some of the most spectacular country that our Sunburnt Country has to offer.
Communications is somewhat limited in these areas, which has its own unique appeal. But you can follow our progress thanks to the wonders of satellite technology combined with the resources of “ExplorOz”, an Australian Travel Website…
“Click” The Landy to see where we are andhere to read about the expedition.
ExplorOz is Australia’s favourite website for travellers with a sense of adventure. Whether you are a caravanner, camper, into four wheel driving, a motorbike tourer, or fisherman, it has everything you need with loads of trip planning information in articles, trek notes, places, camps and caravan park finder, and updated information on road conditions.
Australian Dingo in the desert (photo: Baz – The Landy)
We are off into the Australian Outback tomorrow, in fact it will be a journey of epic proportions through some of Australia’s most remote desert country.
You can read some more about our trip by clickinghere.
But hey, no need to fret if you don’t spot me around your blog for a couple of weeks or so I haven’t given you the flick or anything like that, after all what else would I do during the daily commute at 6:30am in the morning if it wasn’t for your blog?
Crikey, where else could you read abouta woman in a bikini or get a fill ofskinny piratesor hear some bent womanusing a very naughty word hell I love it when she talks like that as she was sweating it out.
Okay, and don’t go thinking you’re not a favourite either just ‘cause you didn’t get a mention, strewth you’re a fickle lot today, aren’t you!
I just won’t be in range for the normal communication devices to work! You know, those techo gadgets, iPhones and WiFi thingy’s…
Although, you will be able to keep tabs on me.
Yeah, that perked you back up a bit didn’t it, I can see you’re excited about that prospect… 😉
If you get a chance make sure you take a bloody look at the blog posts I have scheduled each day and by clicking “The Landy“ link in it you’ll see a map that shows just where we are “lost” in this Sunburnt Country of ours…
How cool is that!
Every so often I’m hoping to be able to share some of the magnificent landscapes I capture on my trusty Nikon 600 Camera, so keep an eye out for that!
I will actually be doing some running while I’m crossing the desert to prepare for the 100-kilometre running race I am lining up for this September. Yeah I’m hearing you– talk about dumb ideas spawned out the bottom of an empty beer bottle, but if you’re in need of a bit of a giggle just clickhere.
Rest assured the desert country will be as “dry as a dead-dingo’s donga” so you know what that means – a couple of beers a day to quench that thirst. Strewth, you wouldn’t be dead for quids!
Hey, take care, and I can see it is no use telling you to be good, and remember the motto I live by… if all else fails, just remain out of control and see what develops!
There are many inland waterholes and billabongs that abound with them in the Australian Outback. I photographed this pelican on the Cooper Creek at Innamincka…
“But there are men for whom the unattainable has a special attraction. Usually they are not experts: their ambitions and fantasies are strong enough to brush aside the doubts which more cautious men might have.” Walt Unsworth.
Walt must have had me in mind when he penned that!
I’m gearing back up, slowly but surely and aiming for a Himalayan trip to climb three 6,000 metre peaks in the not too distant future
And of course, Cho Oyu, the world’s sixth highest and one of fourteen 8,000 metre peaks, still beckons…
This has been my goal for sometime and you might be left wondering when is Baz going to get around to doing it…and I must say I’m a bit behind schedule after the injuries and personal setbacks of the past twelve months – but I’m getting it back on track, slowly, but surely!
In the meantime I’ll be travelling in Australia’s wonderful outback in June and July, including a crossing of Australia’s Great Victoria Desert and a visit to the site of the Atomic Bomb testing from the 1950s– so be sure to stay in touch!
And crikey, just remember, if all else fails, remain out of control and see what develops…
Planning has been finalised for our next trip into Australia’s Outback which will commence in about seven weeks.
And if we are glowing after this trip it may not be just from all that sunshine we have in Australia, but may be from visiting “ground zero” at Maralinga.
Maralinga is famous, or perhaps it should be said infamous, for the British Atomic Bomb test program of the 1950s and 1960s. Between 1952 and 1963 the British Government, with the agreement of the Australian Government, carried out nuclear tests at three sites in Australia, including the Emu Field and Maralinga.
Maralinga was developed as the permanent proving ground site and was the location of all trials conducted in Australia and yes, we will stand on the actual site where the Atom Bombs were detonated!
The area also holds significance for Janet as her aunt worked for the Australian Weapons Research Establishment and spent time at Woomera in her role as a scientist.
The expedition will take us across some of Australia’s remotest country, covering arid desert lands to gorges flowing with life giving water.
The primary aim of our expedition is to visit the “bomb tracks” that were made by the legendary Australian Surveyor, Len Beadell and his team during the 1950s and 1960s in preparation for the nuclear testing program.
The Anne Beadell Highway, the first of Len’s tracks that we will travel covers a distance of 1,350 kilometres and traverses the Great Victoria Desert, from Coober Pedy in South Australia to Laverton in Western Australia.
And it is anything but a highway.
At best, it is little more than two-wheel tracks passing through arid desert and scrub country and punctuated by many sand dunes.
Australian Desert Travel, Outback Australia
On reaching Laverton we will travel along the Great Central Road to the aboriginal community of Warakurna before heading along the Sandy Blight Junction Track. This will be a highlight of our western deserts trip and is another track built by Len. Completed in 1960 the track takes its name from the eye disease that affects many of Australia’s indigenous population and now referred to as Trachoma.
Len contracted the ailment and is most likely the reason the track took this name.
After a brief stop in the West MacDonnell Ranges, we will travel to Alice Springs and bid farewell to Janet and TomO before heading eastwards across the Plenty Highway and eventually down through the channel country to the well-known outback town of Birdsville.
The Birdsville Pub, Outback Australia
Our departure from Birdsville will mark our arrival into the Corner Country which is situated in the north-east corner of South Australia and extending to the north-west of New South Wales.
And after four weeks of travel on corrugated roads perhaps the bitumen will be a welcome relief as we pass through the central west of New South Wales making our way home to Sydney!
So who said it is all work and no play?
And don’t worry, I’ll let you know before we go, and you’ll be able to track our progress across this remote and arid wilderness…
Strewth, Australia, you just got to love the place, hey?
Today we are making our way home and will pass through the major townships of Dubbo, Orange, and Bathurst.
Travelling along the Great Western Highway to the town of Lithgow were we will head down the Bells Line of Road and through the tiny apple growing hamlet of Bilpin.
We’ve spent a couple of great weeks Out and About in this great country of ours, drank a toast to Brian, my father who passed away last year, and who always longed to drive along the Birdsville Track.
But he was with us in spirit.
And as the years pass by we will recall this trip like it was only yesterday that we packed ourselves in “The Landy” and made the journey west…into the Outback!
Click here to see where Baz, “The Landy” is today…
Yesterday we bid Liz and Gary farewell and headed to Narromine, passing through the townships of Cobar and Nyngan along the way.
Located in the Macquarie Valley, Narromine is often referred to as the town of Champions being the birthplace of Olympian Melinda Gainsford-Smith and cricketer Glenn McGrath.
Our camp was on the airfield at the Narromine Holiday Park.
The airfield was established after World War 1 and is home to the oldest rural aero club in Australia and was used as a training ground for RAAF pilots in World War 2. Over the years it has counted Charles Kingsford-Smith, Charles Ulm, Chuck Yeager, Nancy Bird Walton, and Baz, The Landy as visiting aviators.
Click here to see where Baz, “The Landy” is today…
A remarkable structure that stretches across Australia’s Southern Region is the Dingo Fence.
Built in the 1880s, the fence is designed to keep the dingo, Australia’s native dog, out of the south-eastern part of Australia, and protect sheep in Queensland.
Today you won’t find too many pure bred dingoes in Australia, but there are still plenty of wild dogs.
The fence is the longest in the world stretching a whopping 5,600 kilometres from the Darling Downs in Queensland to the Great Australian Bight in South Australia.
On our journey into the outback we have passed through the fence on a couple of occasions, and we have gate boy, TomO, to open and close the gate…
Click here to see where Baz, “The Landy” is today…
Once a part of the million acre Dunlop property, the first in the world to undertake sheep shearing by mechanical means in 1888, Trilby Station today comprises 320,000 acres and runs up to 24,000 merino sheep and has an extensive goat enterprise.
The Station is situated on the Darling River near the small locality of Louth and approximately 125 kilometres south-west of Bourke.
The area is rich in aboriginal history and more contemporary Australian history. They say that time spent atop Mt Oxley nearby to Bourke, looking across the great expanse to the west rekindles the experience of explorers’ Stuart and Hume in 1829 where they felt that “this would never be the haunt of civilised man”.
Our hosts are Liz and Gary and the Murray family can trace their settlement on the Darling River near Louth back six generations to 1860.
We have a camp looking down onto the mighty Darling River, which is still flowing strongly despite being much lower than in September last year.
And being ANZAC Day we are heading off to a memorial service to honour our fallen at the small township of Louth, and of course, a few beers in the pub afterwards.
Lest We Forget…
Click here to see where Baz, “The Landy” is today…
Our drive to Tibooburra was through some spectacular countryside, remote and vast, and we crossed through the “dog-proof” fence at Warri Gate, just to the north of the Sturt National Park.
Before arriving at the dog-fence we passed Epsilon Station a working organic cattle property set amongst the sand dunes of the Simpson Strzelecki Sand Dunes and not far from the country first explored by Captain Charles Sturt.
Numerous explorers’ have visited the Tibooburra region over the years, most notably Charles Sturt as he went in search of an inland sea.
And it has had its fair share of modern day visitors, including Clifton Pugh, a famous Australian artist, who actually painted a mural on the walls of he Family Hotel; in fact he even owned it at one time.
We are staying nearby to the hotel and will spend some time visiting the museum in town that has a wealth of information on Australia’s original inhabitants.
This is one of my favourite outback drives, a road that weaves its way down past Cordillo Downs and the Cordillo Downs Woolshed.
A pastoral lease was taken up for Cordillo Downs in 1878 and not too long after this the property was running up to 10,000 sheep. By the early 1900s it had amalgamated with Cadelga and Haddon Downs and was running 85,000 sheep on about 8,000 square kilometres of land.
Today, Cordillo Downs still runs around 7,000 head of cattle in a good season, although when you view the landscape it is hard to imagine.
We’ve set up camp by the Cooper Creek!
Click here to see where Baz, “The Landy” is today…
Birdsville is a town that needs little introduction and its appearance on the horizon signified that our journey along the Birdsville Track was coming to an end.
There is much to see and experience in this small outback town, and of course we gravitated to its epicentre, the pub after setting up camp.
The Birdsville Pub
After bidding farewell to Mungerannie we continued along the dusty road towards Clifton Hills Station, and Pandie Pandie. Not too far south of Birsdville we crossed the border into Queensland and made our way to the caravan park on the banks of the Diamantina River.
Until 1882, Birdsville was known as Diamantina Crossing and was set up to collect tariffs on goods passing between South Australia and Queensland. A man by the name of Burt opened a store and it was given the name Burtsville, which was subsequently changed to Birdsville.
Of course the town is most famous for its annual race day and the running of the Birdsville Cup in the first week of September, a race that was first run in 1882!
Click here to see where Baz, “The Landy” is today…
At the turn of the twentieth century this site was part of a vastly different scene; an oasis of date palms, abundant bore water, camels and Afghan Cameleers.
The ruins are a reminder of that era and highlight a recurring theme in Outback Australia – the optimism and enterprise of the early colonists’.
Remote communities in Outback Australia often rely on the goodwill of others to deliver mail and much needed goods and equipment.
Marree is the town at the start of the Birdsville Track from which the famous Outback Postman, Tom Kruse, headed off on his trip along the Track to deliver mail to the many Stations that dot the area.
And at the post office and refueling stop, we were asked to deliver some items along the Track.
So we had our own Tom, the Outback Mailman delivering mail to the Mungerannie Hotel.
Brachina Gorge has an amazing array of flora and fauna and today we took a scenic drive through this stunningly beautiful and ancient landscape..
We travelled along what is often referred to as “Corridor Through Time” on a self-guided tour of the gorges.
Hans Heysen, later Sir Hans, the German-born Australian artist spent a great deal of his life in the Flinders Ranges, capturing the beauty of the area in water-colours. He summed up the Flinders Ranges landscape when he said it is “the bones of the earth laid bare”.
It was great to see first-hand the landscape that inspired so many of his paintings prior to his passing in 1968.
This evening we are going to take time to watch the lunar eclipse as the full moon rises over the rugged Flinders Ranges landscape.
Click here to see where Baz, “The Landy” is today…
Wilpena Pound, set in the Flinders Ranges is approximately 430-kilometres to the north of Adelaide.
The landscape is breathtaking and dated to be over 800 million years old. The Flinders Ranges National Park offers a wide range of activities that you can undertake, including bush-walking and four-wheel drive touring.
Shaped like an amphitheatre, Wilpena Pound has an abundant range of wildlife, including emus, kangaroos, plenty of birds, and the endangered yellow footed rock wallaby.
There are a number of aboriginal art sites within the region, and the country is home to the Adnyamathanha people of the Northern Flinders Ranges. Adnyamathanha meaning “hills” or “rock people” is a term now used to describe the Kuyani, Wailpi, Yadliaura, Pilatapa and Pangkala, the traditional groups in the Flinders Ranges.
Today many Adnyamathanha people live and work in the area. Nepabunna in the Vulkathunha-Gammon Ranges, Leigh Creek and Port Augusta are central settlements for the Adnyamathanha people. Rock art, stone arrangements, occupation sites, graves and ochre quarries are reminders of the area’s cultural heritage and are of significance to the Adnyamathanha peoples’ connection to country.
Our camp for the next three nights will be at the Wilpena Pound Campground.
For certain, we will find a vantage point that will afford us a view of the sun setting on Wilpena Pound, the colours should be spectacular!
Speaking of spectacular, the drive from Broken Hill was just that, and we passed many ruins of an era long gone gone, along the way.
Click here to see where Baz, “The Landy” is today…
Broken Hill is one Australian town that needs very little introduction. Growing from a small mining township in the 1880s it has developed into a large mining and tourism centre.
The town has been described as a living, breathing time-capsule – “an artifact that survives in the desert and waits to be rediscovered with its Art-deco shop fronts from a bygone age and many monuments throughout the town paying homage to the men and women who suffered and died so the town could survive.”
Our overnight stay has not provided us with much of an opportunity to truly explore the town or the nearby town of Silverton on this visit, but there are a couple of things worth knowing that puts some further perspective on the town.
The Great War visited Broken Hill on New Year’s Day, 1915, when two camel drivers loyal to the Ottoman Empire opened fire on a picnic train, killing five men, women, and children in what remains the only act of war to be committed on Australian soil. You can view where this occurred on a small lane not too far from the Broken Hill caravan park.
During the second-world war a large part of Australia’s gold reserves were transferred to the town and away from the coastal capital cities to protect it from the possibility of a Japanese invasion.
And surprisingly, in Sturt Park there stands a monument to the musicians of the ill-fated Titanic that was erected in 1913. It would seem extraordinary that an inland community in Australia has a monument to the tragedy that occurred in the icy-waters of the Atlantic Ocean on the other side of the world…
Standing on the urban boundary we looked westward as the sun drifted low onto the horizon, the town at our back and nothing but the red desert ahead of us, as far as the eye can see.
Click here to see where Baz, “The Landy” is today…
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