Boogying down to Birdsville.....

Tuesday 11th April 2017.


     After bidding a fond farewell to Mt. Isa, we steered south, towards Boulia.

     Once again Queensland provided big distances between stops, but they do provide an ever-changing vista.   It is remarkable that any-one ever decided to settle in the area, they must have been a tough breed in the early years.

It appears that it was extremely hard to make a living, on this farm they couldn't afford the tin to make blades for their windmill.....





    We arrived in Boulia, home of the mysterious Min Min lights.   A phenomenon reported in the area for many years....Strange balls of light appear, and it is reported, move across the landscape, sometimes following vehicles, other times hovering over stockyards.  The Min Min encounter Centre, carefully timed their annual maintenance so that it's closure exactly coincided with our visit. (Bugger)

     We did however visit the other town attractions, they have a small museum with a nicely preserved stone cottage, and a remarkable fossil display.   A local chap managed to locate and collect a number of Plesiosaur fossils, a creature which could grow up to nine metres in length and it had a set of teeth that would make the Osmond's proud!

   
    





    We originally planned to stay a night in Boulia, but as we saved so much time by not seeing the Min Min Light exhibition, we decided to keep going and free camp along the way.   The next town, Bedourie, is196 kilometres further on.






    We found a camp about half way between Boulia and Bedourie, and settled in for the evening.






Wednesday 12th April, 2017


     This morning we woke to a coolish morning...the outside temperature was 16 degrees...

     Our first port of call today was the marker for the Tropic of Capricorn, an obelisk in the middle of nowhere...


     Fortunately the single lane bitumen road dos not have a lot of traffic, however, when on of these comes thundering at you...it is best to pull off and let him have the road.
  
    We arrived in Bedourie, stopped at the roadhouse for a cuppa and a break, then continued on our way.  


     From Bedourie to Birdsville the road is a mix of sealed and unsealed roads.   We encountered more traffic on this part of the trip than we have seen for days.    Travellers heading north from Birdsville.   All the drivers we encountered have been obliging, leaving time and space for one-another to go past without a shower of stones of dust.

    The ruins of the 1877 Carcory homestead sit beside the road, 80 kilometres from Birdsville.   This homestead was once part of the Kidman empire, but abandoned in 1906 (after years of drought and the loss of 4,000 bullocks)




   
   By mid afternoon we arrived in the historic outback town......