The Birdsville Track- Day 1

A bit of a hiccup to start the day. I noticed a water leak under the caravan while camping at Marree. Unfortunately one of the snap-fit joiners on the fresh water had blown and was leaking badly. So in a 2 degree morning I was under the van trying to fix it. A lot of grunting and cursing and I managed to sort it. I was really lucky to be able to do this as we need water for sure. A neighbour at the caravan park sympathised as he had lost one of his water tanks to a rock so at least I didn't feel too hard-done-by. We then went and bought some water from an automated desalination water dispenser and were on our way. Phone coverage lost about 3km out so here we are in complete isolation with hundreds of others!

The Birdsville track is 517km long and is all gravel. Well I say gravel but its a mix of dirt, mud, rock base, hard shingle, bull dust and even a water hazard. Our goal was to get to Mangeranie which is just over 200km. We had talked to a group of people in 3 caravans as we camped near them at Flinders a couple of nights back. They put us at ease as they were relaxed with no macho type attitude and were taking it all very quietly. We pretty much drove with them for a lot of the road and listened to their constant banter on the UHF radio. Was very reassuring.
We drove at between 60-75km/hr on the better parts of the road. Some long stretches of hard gravel with a rock base was really rough and we were down to 35km/hr as we need to protect the rig and especially the tyres. Our bodies were shaken about and various new rattles arrived in the car along the way. Unfortunately we copped a rock in the windscreen so the crack will require full replacement when we get to civilisation. Apparently this is common.

The hard clay surface was a dream to drive on. Smooth and only a little rutted. Last week it would have been impossible due to the rain. The grids (cattle stops) were dangerous and had to be negotiated slowly. We had some flooding with large holes so took that quietly. The interesting part was two very large areas of bulldust. This stuff is new to us kiwis and is basically a large sandpit across the road with steep sides that you drop into and climb out of. Bulldust is the texture of talcum powder and with the wind it's like driving blind. So soft and the 4WD was definitely engaged to drag our 5.5 tonne through this. We did the first hole alone but I saw one of the other guys right behind us so called him to lead the way which he did. We all got through safely of course.

The trick is to reduce speed on this road and enjoy the view. We drove between two deserts and the pics show how barren this place is. I can't imagine attempting this road in mid-summer. We had taped up most vents in the caravan but the dust just gets in all cracks. So a fine layer of dust is everywhere and the back of the ute has a larger layer. A night stopover at Mangeranie roadhouse for fuel, drink, meal and hot showers and a lot of chatting to other travellers before we do it all again tomorrow.Read more