Big Red and a Big Dinosaur

The outback colours have become more intense with the sparsity of the vegetation, although with the rains and floods a few months ago, there is a lot of greenery and wildflowers, and the creeks and waterholes are fuller than normal. The landscape has a beauty that can only be experienced in person, as photos do not do it justice.

The only downside here are the insects, which are relentless day and night. At least during the day, you can escape the flies getting in your face with a net, but the mozzies and midgies at night love my skin and can bite through layers of clothing. The $35 bottle of organic insect repellent I bought before we left for this trip will be going in the bin!

We stopped at a campsite near Eyre Creek even though there was roadwork nearby creating noise and dust, but they disappeared after 3pm and we had the place to ourselves. The pelicans, cormorants and other water birds were very well fed.

Even though we had missed this year’s scaled down version of the Big Red Bash, where John Williamson had played for a couple of nights, we decided we had to see Big Red anyway and headed to Birdsville. The Birdsville Hotel is possibly the most classic pub in Australia, and we stopped for a drink and later for a meal. Besides the pub, there’s a bakery and not much else to do unless you want to go for an aerial joyride or other paid tours.

When we got to Big Red at pre-sunset it was a bit daunting, and we initially chickened out of driving up the 60m steep soft sand dune and walked up it instead to watch the sunset with about a dozen other vehicles including 2 tour minibuses.

Having seen those buses, we thought we had to give the dune a try ourselves but as it was getting dark, we came back the next morning and after letting a bit of air out of the tyres, I walked up halfway and filmed Mark driving up. With a small section where he slowed down on the steepest part, he managed to get Lorikeet up to the top reasonably easily. That’s one to tick off!

The Betoota Hotel has been restored and, although the town no longer exists, the pub attracts lots of travellers to stay for the night. The night we were there, there were about 8 other caravans, motorhomes and even an elderly couple with a tent.

We ended up just stopping long enough at Windorah for a fuel top up at $2.52/L and camped at Cooper Creek instead not far away. There are lots of campsites on both sides of the creek, most very private and quiet. A few people were fishing and one guy told us he had caught a 40cm yellow belly, which he had to fight a pelican for.

We are seeing lots of wildlife, including a dingo, emus, wedge-tailed eagles and budgies which have flocks in the 100s. Unfortunately I’m never quick enough to photograph them!

Last stop of this leg of the trip is Eromanga and the Natural History Museum. This is home to the biggest dinosaur fossil found in Australia, Australotitan Cooperensis, or “Cooper”. Eromanga is also known for being the town furthest away from any ocean or sea in Australia.

It’s pizza night at the pub, so that’s where we’re heading now.