Thursday 17th August

Well, in the end I didn’t take any photos in Boulia which is a pity ‘cos it is a really quite well presented little township but we spent too long looking for a good place to have coffee and / or lunch.   Then we had to find water and fuel.    The lady at the servo said that there was a dust storm coming up from Birdsville and we had better find somewhere to ride it out.     We thought that the place we had considered for a night stop would be the place to be so we got out of town and headed south!

As it happened we could see the storm to the east of us and as we drove south it looked less and less like we would be in it’s path.   Ultimately we reached our camp site and the storm passed us by, fortunately because we really didn’t want to be caught in the open.

Having arrived Brad realised that he had lost keys, these included the caravan and several other important ones.    We all searched where we had walked around the site but to no avail.    I remembered seeing his key lanyard when he was going to the rubbish bin so Brad decided that he would have to drive the 65 ks back to Boulia in the morning!

We did get some pictures of the sun going down behind the dust storm.

  

This meant we could have a bit of a lie-in in this morning and have time to find where the screw went in the telly and take a few photos of the Georgina River.    You can see that when the river floods it comes up about 5 metres from it’s current level.

     

Brad and Denise returned with the good news that they had found the keys – in the rubbish skip  – which fortunately hadn’t been emptied or filled up!   They needed a cup of tea but then we got on the road again.

The road is quite good and we make good time including a break for morning tea where we have a long chat with some other travellers going in the opposite direction, they have just come from Birdsville and tell us that it is already beginning to fill up for the races, still a couple of weeks away.    Bedouri, elevation 91m, population 124  is the next point of call, we don’t need fuel but we do need lunch so we stop at the servo / motel / restaurant, gluten free is unheard of here so Pat has to have a salad, which, in fact, turns out to be very good, all fresh ingredients, which is remarkable considering the nearest town of any proportions is probably 600 ks away and then not in food growing territory!   There is also a Telstra tower in the vicinity and we have a strong internet connection, so emails are downloaded and phone calls made.

The inner persons having been satisfied we set off down the track towards Birdsville.   We’re obviously not going to get there tonight, which is no problem and we find a suitable resting spot for tonight by Eyre Creek, where some of the locals are    

Map update      https://1drv.ms/i/s!AksnrQT2cvoGxT3ykBW1s0yZRMdQ

 

To be continued…………………………….