We lost by a horse's head!!

Hello Everyone,

Sorry about the lack of Blog’s in the last few weeks. Our satellite internet modem died while we were in Mt Isa so our regular source for internet when were out of Telsta mobile coverage just wasn’t available anymore. Due to this, I have not sent any more Blog’s, but I have still taken photos!

After leaving Mt Isa, where we stayed for 5 nights, we headed to a free camp at Bengeacca Creek, which is just north of Boulia. Originally we thought we would stay at Dajarra, but as we arrived it did not appeal to us and it’s an Aboriginal town so we thought we would keep going and stop at the next roadside stop and that was Bengeacca Creek. Lovely spot and we sat outside under the awning after we were all set up.

The next night we stayed at another free camp at Bedourie King River. The roads by now are dirt and some are brilliant and some are just shocking. We sort of worked it out that it really does depend on which Council you’re in. The Diamantina Council, which is where Birdsville is, is definitely the best by far!

Birdsville loves it's races!

We arrived in Birdsville on Tuesday 1^st September. The normal population is about 115, but the average Birdsville Races crowd pushes the population up to around 7,000. We certainly found it busy from the day we arrived, but on the Thursday (the day before the Races started) it was bedlam!!

Yes, they even acknowledge it gets busy! 

The races were great fun though. Our friends Guy and Keith arrived on Wednesday afternoon and we met them at the Birdsville Pub. To drink here from this day (and at the Races) you need to purchase beer tickets. This meant there is no money at the bar and it made getting drinks very easy and fairly quick. The crowd slowed you down a little though.

Keith made us each a foam horses’ head hat at his Dad’s factory. We put names on each head to reflex previous Melbourne Cup winners. This is what we were called:

Anthony: Dust A ----- (Just a Dash)

Julie: M-Diva (Makybe Diva)

Guy: Think Big

Keith: Archer (The first horse to win the Melbourne Cup)

Fun at the Races

Guy bought up some sheets which I made into togas and this was our outfits for the 2 days at the races. On the first day of the races, Friday, I think we were stopped and photographed about 100 times!!

The entrance to the Races 

On the Saturday we entered the ‘Fashions on the Field’- Novelty section. We made it through the heats, but were beaten in the finals by ‘The Adams Family’. Again it was a great day, but the competition did take most of the day and we never even got to see a race or place a bet!

The winners of the novelty section  

Last night we were in Mungerannie and again it was fairly crowded. The drive on this day down the Birdsville track was also very, very busy but it was all fairly orderly. Most people called you on their CB to say them were going to overtake you and the really slow people usually didn’t have a CB so we just went passed them and waved.

Tonight we are in Marree and have just been down to the pub for a beer. We left Mungerannie today at 11.00am so a lot of people had already left and we had a very nice drive to Marree. The caravan park here is reasonably full but again we won’t leave really early so we should have another good drive south tomorrow. And it’s 82 km to the bitumen- yay!!

Tomorrow morning we will say good bye to Guy and Keith as they will head across and down to Roxby Downs and we will head directly south, probably stopping half way between here and Adelaide.

We should be home on Wednesday, 161 days after we left home. All of a sudden I have realized that I now can’t wait to get home!!!