Birdsville races 2011 from SA trip report

[JC Hammer Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close JC Hammer]

one week to departure: Great weather forecasts after the cold chill, I decide not to upgrade the ageing grandtreks (47000klm.) all systems go.

day 1: good fast run to Broken Hill, last minute provisions are bought, quick drink at the cafe on the hill. plenty of road kill on the Silver city Highway to sandy river camp about 70klm. north.

day 2: break camp and find our first dead snake 100m. from camp on road, good run to Tibooburra for lunch at the pub, The family Hotel (great hamburger), meet a bunch of guys from Newcastle who we will meet up with many times along the trek.

we take the northern most track through the Sturt national park where we get our first and only blow out (100mm rip through the sidewall) of my best tyre !!! (my spare which had only seen about 2000klm.) . we continue on to Camerons corner as the designated camps do not allow wood fires and the sun is setting. great sunset and cold beer on the verandah, then camp out the back with a hot shower and more beers at the bar with the boys from newcastle.



Day 3: the bore track is officially closed due to a flooded bollards lagoon so we press on
around to Merty Merty and then on to the old Stezlecki both in good condition with the occassional sandy bog hole. The yellow double decker bus was apparently set up as accommodation and meals for the cattlemen at the nearby cattle yards, but has since been trashed by some thoughtless travellers.



easy run into Innaminka and a great meal at the Outaminka restaurant and another great sunset, the pictures around the pub of the floods of the last year are a real highlight. canoes in the front carpark ?? + more beers with the boys from newcastle

day 4: a quick run to the tyre guy around the corner to try and replace my 2nd spare, no luck he is not open, a dodgy lead on his opening times is to blame. I take the gamble and head off to the dig tree as Coongie Lakes are still closed. Burkes grave is on the way and the sign in the tree showing the flood level says it all (around 11mtr. above pool level)



the SA roads are a mixed bag at this point, with fast open smooth sections good for 100klm/hr and then narly rocky sections where I remember my tyre situation and slow down.
as soon as we cross the Qld. border we hit wide open blacktop, still can't do more than 100k/h though as I have my tyres down to 28psi in front and 30psi in back for the SA rocks. the Burke & Wills Bridge is next and is another reminder of the amount of water through here lately (the run ups were washed away as the water was above the top of the guard rails !!!!)



more notes and photos to come

[JC Hammer Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close JC Hammer]

more photos

Day 4 cont.: we pull into the dig tree reserve and check out the information shed at the entrance, we pay the $11 and find a great camp site in the shade by the cooper. a live snake welcomes us this time , the whole place is in an incredible condition with the area being flooded recently the place is green and lush with an amazing amount of birdlife. we go back up the road and get some fire wood past the airstrip.



day 5: after a night of a bit of rat action we hit the road again on the good QLD roads heading up to Arrabury. the rats aren't that bad, but i can see how they could keep people in swags awake all night, the roads are good but beware, we were confronted by a road train coming the other way at speed and I had to mount the sandy bank to get out of the way., back into SA and rocks, rocks, rocks. we meet up with the SA Landcruiser club at Cordillo downs historical shed who are doing the 40th. anniversary run of the birdsville races, we will catch up with them later also. we camp at the Cadelga ruins in the creek bed, another great camp. the photo shows an early british form of transport for the area,





Day 6: off to birdsville today, good roads again as soon as we cross the border into QLD
more traffic now as we have joined the main road from the QLD coast. some lads in their toyota trucks are cutting through the traffic at about 130k/h on dirt and spray us with rocks. we get our revenge though as they are booked for speeding going into birdsville. we catch the banter on the radio. a quick lap of the town and we camp in the
prickles between the town and the Dimentina. good meal and a few beers with the adjacent campers from the Gold coast hinterland who have been coming to the races for the last 20 years.

day 7: we drop off the ruined tyre to be replaced at the servo ( cooper 18 inch ATR for $410- not bad price, but no choice) and out to the working museum ( well worth a look, even had the navigator interested in all the old packaging and medical gear) and big red



more to come....

[JC Hammer Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close JC Hammer]

Day 7 cont. : Big Red is beckoning so we pick up the new spare and head out of town, the water in the area means a further 12klm detour down to the SA fence and back, first is little red and the amazing site of all this water on the Birdsville side.



then on to big red about 2 klm away and a gaggle of 4x4's lining up to tackle the middle track of the western side



I had the tyres @ 18psi for my first attempt but came short by about 3 mtr.(I forgot about using the centre diff lock ) so i dropped the fronts to 12psi and gave it more right foot to make it on the 2nd run. ( I might as well put the centre diff lock on ebay, as i don't need it !! ha ha)



back to birdsville for the festivities around the pub, meet up with the Newcastle boys again and watch collingwood get thumped on the pub screen, good live music, a great day all round.

day 8: we hear about the 24 hr delays at the ferry across the cooper on the way up so we decide to get down to Mungerranie for the night to beat the traffic. the windy day reassured us of making the right dicision as the camp area became a dust bowl. great feed and soak at the bar and hot spring. more beers and wines at the bar in the dark ( yes the electrics were dodgy and the lights went out every 10minutes) but agood night.

day 9: early run down to the ferry as we were aware of the traffic that may be coming down the Birdsville track on the sunday. we got to the ferry with only abnout 15 cars inline so it took about 90 minutes to get across (just enough time to catch up with the guys in line and have a cuppa) another flat but thankfully not mine



more photos .....

[JC Hammer Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close JC Hammer]

day 9 cont.: the ferry was well organised and they were getting the cars over @ 6minutes total turn around with no traffic coming the other way.



a good run down the remainder of the BV track with a check and miss of the unleaded price at Marree ($1.95) and so down to walk the Farrinna ruins and a better price at Lyndhurst of $1.69/ litre

a quick drink at the parachilna pub and then on to a great campsite in the Para... gorge





Day 10: the weather is getting cooler so we decide to head down to Clare for some wine tasting and a treat by staying at the country club to cap off a great holiday.

key learnings:

1) the country is in spectacular condition at the moment and well worth the rocks of the SA roads to see it.

2) save your good tyres and destroy the old ones first. (I will be putting on cooper AT3's before the next trip)

3) the prado 150 petrol VX is a magnificent touring vehicle in almost standard form.

[MDS69 Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close MDS69]

Thanks for the report, looks and sounds like you had a good time. We did a similar trip in July last year with standard tyres with similar km's to yours with no issues.

[kav Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close kav]

great stuff . good to see all these trip reports coming in . yeah i did big red last year , what hill ? the prado in standard form is formidable touring weapon and perfect for these type of trips ,even with grandtreks. nice one