Big Red Bash Departure

This morning was the pack-up for thousands of people at the BRB. We had expected everyone to be up super early to get in the queue early so was surprised to see most people still around our area when we got up at 8. I did a leisurely climb up Big Red to view the site that had a haze of campfire smoke and dust from moving vehicles.

We packed up and said our goodbyes to our adopted Aussie friends. Trev and Kylie, Ian and Sally, Grant and Mel, Kayla, Sadie, Cooper, Josie and Rex, plus friends and family from NT as well. It was so lovely being with you guys, learning some camping tricks, laughing at our travelling misfortunes and sharing a few drinks and good cheer. You made the Bash extra special for us.

After a 20 minute queue to leave the Bash site we travelled back into Birdsville to fill up, empty out and send some blogs. The village was busy but nothing like it was a few days back. Then we headed north stopping for lunch at Carcoory ruins, which was an abandoned homestead built using local limestone.

The road was very busy as a lot of the Bash crowd were heading to Bedourie for the camel and pig races tomorrow. We decided to forgo these events and have a night at King Creek which was about a 150km trip with about 50km of dirt road. The trip started very dry and barren but as we drove there were hints of green and even the odd river with puddles. Julie remarked at lack of wildlife so Mother Nature assisted soon after with two emus sprinting along the wasteland not far from the road.

Our stop tonight is a freedom camp on the banks of a river. We sat outside this afternoon enjoying the view in our bug free gazebo. I think it might be the best thing as the flies are certainly introducing themselves. We are now approximately 2500km north of Melbourne and really enjoying the better weather. Tomorrow we are aiming to drive through to Mount Isa and should have some better coverage for the blog publishing. We are a day behind due to the isolation in mobile reception. Oh well.....Read more