Kingfisher Travels

Day 12 Well we have settled on a new plan.  After the repairs on Paul’s car we will head to Bedourie, Urandangi, Mt Isa and back over the next few days and return to Birdsville Tuesday or Wednesday. So at lunchtime, Paul’s car is fixed and off up the road we headed.  Short drive to Bedourie, another pub in Kate’s book we can tick off. Settled at the camping area and went to the local Pool where they have a hot spa maintained by the Artesian Bores, about 40 degrees.  Great relaxing time, admittedly at 40 degrees we couldn’t stay in for long.    Then off to the pub for a couple of drinks and a meal. Met up with some locals, had a couple of drinks, played a few games of pool, a couple more drinks, played songs from the jukebox, again a few more drinks, Tracey taking some whip cracking lessons out on the street, with surprisingly a couple more drinks.  Certainly Paul and I had a jubilant time, with the girls apparently courageously (edited by Kate) taking full credit for our retur

Day 11 Up in the morning and away we head back to Birdsville, should get there in one day.  More dunes, definitely more rutted on the up path this way but not losing any time really compared to coming out.  We had to come down the rutted path slowly anyway.             Lunch at Big Red, aired up the tyres and headed the last 30 km’s (gravel road) back into Birdsville.  Tracey & I to the Police station to report a number of dead cattle and Kate & Paul to the local mechanic for an assessment on their car. Initial car assessment…        Paul: “I think there is something wrong with the Alternator”        Mechanic: With $5 voltmeter,  “Well it doesn’t look like its charging very well”        Paul: “I know, I couldn’t test the Alternator directly”        Mechanic: “Nor can I, but I can order a new alternator and fit it, of course you could not drive at night and it could be ok for a while” The upshot is that he actually had a compatible Alternator in his shop so will fit it

Day 10 A little slow in getting up this morning, temperature got down to 2.2 degrees early in the morning. But just before leaving, strange noises from over the dune.  Kate off to check it out, we suspect a camel.  We have never seen any wild camels in the Simpson before, although apparently there are many.  So a fantastic sight seeing not only one camel but a herd of camels at least 13.       Then on the road towards Poeppel’s Corner (QLD, SA & NT borders) and beyond.       An hour or two down the track Paul pulls his ‘Toyota’ over to check on a faint electrical burning smell.  Can’t find the source but not too far down the track he notices that his Battery is losing charge.  Looks like the Alternator has or is failing.  Turning off all non essential gear we continue to Poeppel's Corner to assess further.         A risk assessment was conducted, should we continue travelling further into the desert and further away from civilisation, also noting the $5000 recovery f

Day 9 From our campsite in Birdsville… Into the desert we go!       First stop Big Red, the famous first/last big sand dune at the edge of the desert.  Testing out the capabilities of the cars (and drivers) although we are a bit top heavy with 80kg’s of fuel on top.                   And the triumphant duo!       So we head past Big Red and into the desert proper.               So after 80 more kms over the next 4 hours we pick a spot off the track to set up camp… AND make repairs.  Paul’s ‘Toyota’ has a clanging noise from the front left.  Pulled off the shock to check it out… found the culprit – lower bush had failed.  In with a new shock (a spare front and rear is carried – handy that… again!!).       Then on to another job on top of the dunes with binoculars, fantastic views.   Then Chicken Boursin for dinner, cards under the stars.  

Day 8 What an interesting night!!!  We all woke to the sound of some quiet alarm, a semi constant beeping tone.  Was it a car battery warning, was it a fridge warning (Kate's thoughts), was it coming from Paul’s car or mine?  Tracey said it was an owl, I said it may be an alarm in the distance at one of the oil or gas plants littered all over. I did a quick reconnoitre confirming nothing to do with either car, somewhere in the distant (more than 10 ft) so back to bed to count the number of alarm tones between each activation to see if there was a pattern!!  Paul and Kate also got up to identify the tones, spent more time than I did and located it somewhere deep inside a large tree… hence likely Tracey was right and it was an animal – we dubbed it the “Repco Owl” – as it sounded like a car alarm. After some sleep we tried to get away early today before the flies wakeup too much, into Birdsville before lunch.  Being watched from a distance in a very baron “Sturt Stony Desert”.