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Day 9 – Sunday 6 July 2025 – Mount Dare to Dalhousie Springs

Weather: Fine, 1.5ºC minimum

A cold night. I wake at 5:00 am for a while and then at 6:35 am. I read the SMH and listen to the ABC news via the app and Starlink. I get up at 7:45 am and it has warmed to 3.8°C. There are lots of galahs and corellas around the camping area and they make a bit of a racket. I have breakfast and then pack up. After this we drop our tyre pressure some more, I go to 26 psi. I also check the wheel nuts, something I do quite often after loosing a wheel back in 2005.

Me in my new fleece in front of the Mount Dare Hotel	Ian and Ron in their new fleeces outside the Mount Dare Hotel

We go to the area in front of the pub and line up our vehicles. We all put on our new fleeces and take a few photographs. We leave at 9:15 am (9°C). Again, we travel via the upper track for the first section to stay out of the corrugations. Once more it is a slow trip. We arrive at Dalhousie Springs at 11:00 am, 105 minutes to travel 70.9 kilometres. Fuel economy is 13.1 l/100 km. We take a while to find a good spot.

I set up and then head to the springs for a look. When I get back, I have morning tea and then go for a swim. It is 36°C in the water and there are hundreds of little fish (Dalhousie gobbies) which nibble at your hairs and pick dead skin off your feet. People have left pool noodles here, so you grab one and sit on it and float around. Nice!

The flies are really bad so when I get back to the campsite I set up my fly tent and then make lunch. I also have my fly hood over my Akubra. I have lunch in the tent and read a but. I later have another swim and read some more. In the afternoon, the 12 caravans were saw at Farina, Marree and William Creek come in and set up. I later watch the NRL on Ian’s tablet. Souths play Manly in the later game but get beaten. Not a good year for the Rabbits!

I also fly my drone and then cook a chicken Kyiv for dinner with a rice dish. After dinner a few of us go for another swim. There are no fish now, but there are lots of mozzies. At 8:05 pm, two cars come in. What the hell are people doing driving out here well after dark. I go to bed at 9:00 pm.

Weather: Fine, max 17°C Arrived: Dalhousie Springs Time: 11:00 am Distance: 70.9 kilometres

Day 10 – Monday 7 July 2025 – Dalhousie Springs to Purnie Bore

Weather: Overcast, 1.2ºC minimum

I sleep very well and wake at 6:015 am and read the paper. I get up at 7:50 am and make a bacon sandwich as we are not leaving early as we only have a bit over 70 kilometres to travel today. At 9:30 am we go to the springs again for another swim. Very few fish are around. The flies return at 10:15 am!

I have a cup of tea and then pack up. We leave at 11:00 am and travel via the rubbish dump to get rid of stuff. At 11:59 am we stop (22.2 km) as I can hear some rattling. I finally figure out that my bash plate is a bit loose, one screw has come out. I try to cable tie it but it only lasts 500 metres! I then remove one bolt from the side and put it in the spot which is causing the noise. This works. I also have to tighten most of the others as they are all a bit loose.

While I am doing this, Ron’s notices that he also has a noise. The bracket for one of his driving lights has totally broken. It is about 3-4 mm thick, I am amazed that it has broken. It looks like one side might have been broken for quite a while as the metal is dull. He removes the wiring which is all that is holding it in place. We leave at 12:17 am, it is a nice 21°C.

We stop at 1:00 pm for lunch (41.0 km). It has been a slow trip, very rocky or corrugations. We only see one vehicle heading west but two very fast ones overtake us. A good way to wreck your car the speed they are travelling at. While we are at lunch, a Prado passes us heading east. We leave at 1:27 pm and at 2:30 pm we arrive at Purnie Bore. We have crossed 34 dunes, well at least that is what I count. It is hard to actually decide if a dune is one or two or three as there are sometimes multiple peaks.

Two more vehicles have passed us heading west. We have a look for a spot and move in a bit behind some vegetation and find a nice sandy spot. We set up camp. I have a cuppa and then put my sand flag on (you have to have flag flying very high above your car so that you can be seen near the top of dunes). I also fly my drone and later walk to the bore and the resulting small shallow lake. It is much smaller than 2003, they have throttled it down even more it seems. There are lots of corellas around.

I decide to have a shower but no matter how long I run the “hot� water, it does not get warm. Back in 2003 it was water from the bore at a nice temperature. I have a very quick shower. We have a fire and drinks. Two vehicles pull up at 5:30 pm and camp the other side of the road. About 8:30 pm another one pulls up and camps on our side.

For dinner I cook a Scotch fillet and potato on my Biji BBQ. It is quite cold but we have a nice fire. We can also hear dingoes howling. During the after we find out that Erin Patterson has been found guilty of murdering her husband’s mother and her sister and her husband and attempting to murder her husband’s father. She used deadly death cap mushrooms to kill them. I really thought that the jury would not be able to reach a verdict but after a week’s deliberation they have.

Weather: Fine, max 23°C Arrived: Purnie Bore Time: 2:30 pm Distance: 72.2 kilometres

Day 11 – Tuesday 8 July 2025 – Purnie Bore to French Line

Weather: Fine, 4.8ºC minimum

After I went to bed, the lights in the rooftop went off and the fridge stopped. I get up and fix it (there is a loose wire that is hard to get to) but it happens again. I think I fix it the second go. It is a lot warmer this morning compared to the last couple. I wake early but fall back asleep and wake again at 6:40 am. I get up at 7:35 am and it has warmed to 7.5°C. I have breakfast and then pack up. The good thing about this campsite is that there is a toilet here, the last we will see for almost five days.

The flies are back at 9:15 am, how do they find you out in the middle of the desert! We leave at 9:25 am and at 10:44 am we arrive at the Rig Road intersection (29.5 km). There are some motorbikes here and a RAM towing a bike trailer. We have morning tea and speak to some of the riders. We leave at 11:19 am and head down the Rig Road. However, we only get 1.8 kilometres down when we decide to abandon our decision to go that way. The road is one big corrugation!

We return back to the French Line and continue east. I drop my pressures down to 20-22 psi before this. The first two dunes are quite high and very steep but after that they are not as bad. Mostly I am driving in second or third gear, manually changing down and up. At 12:38 pm we stop for lunch (46.5 km), fuel economy a very high 26.0 l/100 km. Plenty of flies again.

We leave at 1:05 pm and the dunes are mostly smaller now, although there are a couple of bigger ones. There is also more flat area between the dunes (called swales). We see no more vehicles but we hear some on the radio very faintly. Out here you have to call on UHF10 every now and then with details of which direction you are heading and roughly where you are. This is to avoid any crashes at the top of sand dunes.

We reach the Colson Track where we had planned to come back after going on the Rig Road. It is 2:41 pm (73.1 km). While we are stopped, two vehicles overtake us. We leave at 2:52 pm and at 3:31 pm we stop for the night. We have found a nice swale area where we are a bit protected from the strong W wind. The flies are really bad!

I set up camp and then when the wind drops a little I fly my drone. I have a cuppa in the fly tent. The flies are so bad Ian and Sharon and I have drinks in the tent at first and then when the flies abate a little at 6:00 pm, we move out around a fire. I cook chicken masala and rice, very good meal. When I go to bed at 9:00 pm it is 9.0°C.

Weather: Fine, max 28°C Arrived: French Line Camp 1 Time: 3:31 pm Distance: 85.1 kilometres

Day 12 – Wednesday 9 July 2025 – French Line to French Line

Weather: Fine, 2.9ºC minimum

It was quite warm during most of the night, 5 to 6°C, but dropped around dawn. I slept till 6:15 am and after reading SMH etc, I remove the sheets from the bed and put new ones up here (but not on the bed). I get up at 8:00 am, it is now 8.0°C. The flies are bad again by 8:30 am. Three and then one vehicles pass heading east. I am packed up by 9:10 am and we leave at 9:22 am.

It is sunny again and a nice 14°C as there is no wind. As we go over one sand dune we see about 10 camels about 100 metres south of the track. These are the only ones we will see the whole trip. In the desert we see no kangaroos and only a half dozen emus. At 9:40 am we see three west bound vehicles and at 10:23 am we stop for morning tea. There are no flies at first but eventually they arrive.

While here, three vehicles pass heading east. Soon after leaving here at 10:53 am, three vehicles pass us heading west. There are a lot more vehicles around today. At 12:12 pm I have to stop as my sand flag has broken. What has happened is the metal piece that joins the bottom and middle sections together has come loose from the bottom fibreglass bit and has moved up and come off, dropping the top two sections onto the ground. At least it has lasted longer than my last one in 2021.

We are back underway after only a few minutes stopped. At 12:21 pm we arrive at the intersection with Erabena Track (41.6 km). It is sunny, 23°C and windy from the south-west. We have lunch. There is a slip-on camper apparently camped just down the track for some reason.

While here hammer the metal bit back on the sand flag and then put the top two sections back on. I then using some gaffer tape and wrap it around the whole joint. We leave at 12:54 pm and five kilometres on we are passed by a Prado heading west. We stop at 2:04 pm for a short break (63.1 km). We are back underway 12 minutes later. At 3:10 pm we come to Lake Tamblyn (75.2 km) which is dry where the French Line crosses. We stop for a few minutes to take photographs.

While we are here, the car with a bloke who is walking across the desert for charity heads back west to get his car. Not sure why they do not have a third person, it means they are driving one car twice as far as they need to for the crossing. We stop at 4:00 pm for Donna to photograph some flowers.

The dunes here are lower and also further apart. I have been averaging between 20.0 and 22.0 l/100 km today. We have only seen one decent campsite since Knolls so it is a bit later than planned when we stop at 4:12 pm. We are on the western side of another large salt lake. We set up camp and then Ian and I fix (well, we think we do) my sand flag by drilling through the metal and fibreglass and putting a bolt in. I then also tape it all up.

This is a nice campsite, flat with lots of space and protection from westerly winds. There is a plaque here to a bloke who in 1985 walked from the Gulf of Carpentaria to Spencer Gulf unassisted. He was raising money for the Royal Flying Doctor Service. I go to set up my shower but discover the switch for the pump appears to have broken and will not click into the on position. We end up using Ron’s shower.

I then put the new sheets on my bed and make it up with the blanket and doona. Finally, we sit at the fire and have drinks. We collect some more firewood too, plenty around. I also fly my drone and then using the coals from the fire, I cook some Buffalo chicken winglets in my small camp oven. When cooked, I put them in a container to cool and cook the rest of them. I end up eating five and eight go into the fridge for lunches for the next few days.

After dinner we watch the third and final State of Origin rugby league match. As usual, New South Wales gets killed by Queensland who win the series two to one. It is a cool 7°C when I go to bed at 11:30 pm, probably the latest night of the trip.

Weather: Fine, max 24°C Arrived: French Line Camp 2 Time: 4:12 pm Distance: 88.4 kilometres

Day 13 – Thursday 10 July 2025 – French Line to QAA Line

Weather: Fine, 2.8ºC minimum

A cold night but I sleep well till 6:15 am. I get up at 7:30 am and it is a bit warmer at 4.5°C. While I am having breakfast, we hear a large truck approaching. The Birdsville Hotel recovery vehicle comes up from the salt lake and heads west out into the desert. More about this tomorrow. The flies appear at 8:45 am when it hits 10°C.

We leave at 9:20 am and the sand dunes from now on are much softer sand. We have quite a few groups of vehicles pass us heading west, at least three. Later on we see three vehicles towing camper trailers (Dominators like mine). Crazy! There is a Unimog now in front of us. We stop for morning tea at 10:35 am (21.0 km, only 16.8 km/h and fuel use much higher at 25.8 l/100).

We are back underway at 11:02 am and bit further on we see a dingo at a campsite. An Izuzu truck camper passes us heading west. A lot more vehicles today as some of the people who attended the John Williamson concerts on Big Red the past two days are heading west.

We arrive at Lake Poeppel at 11:29 am (28.7 km, 22.8 l/100). There is a very cool southerly wind blowing and it feels a lot colder than the indicated 17°C. There is a heap of water in the lake, going to be months before you can drive across it. We can see Poeppels Corner where South Australia, Queensland and Northern Territory meet, it is only a kilometre or so away. However, there is a detour of just under 20 kilometres to get there.

After taking some photographs, we head off north on the bypass track. This skirts the western edge of the lake. After 10 kilometres we are around the top of the lake and heading back down the eastern side. At 11:50 am (SA time as all the rest of today), we arrive in Queensland at Poeppels Corner (47.8 km). This is where South Australia, Queensland and Northern Territory meet.

We have lunch here and walk to the corner post. We also see a cross which is for a person who died in recent years. It was not there in 2021. We also ring our friend John in Melbourne for a chat. We leave at 12:27 pm and head east to the next lake. This is also full. We head up the K1 Line which is on the western side of this lake. There are some crazies heading south on this track, driving way too fast on the very soft edge of the lake.

We arrive at the intersection of the K1 Line, QAA Line and the Hay River Track at 2:03 pm (68.1 km, average 13.6 l/100). There are new signs here which are a great improvement on four years ago when there were some very poor homemade ones. There is a detour here around the top of the lake but a car that has just come across says it is okay. We leave after a five minute stop and sure enough, it has dried out enough to be no problem.

Now we are on the QAA Line we are back into the sand dunes. On this section 15 vehicles pass us in four groups. We come to a smaller salt lake and this has water in it and there is a detour around the southern side (3:09 pm 87.2 km 18.9 l/100). There are no birds on this lake and there have been surprisingly few on any of the them so far. We are back underway after five minutes.

We see another Unimog and three more vehicles in two groups. At 3:43 pm we arrive at a campsite shown on my Hema maps. We setup camp and then have a shower using my shower. I have bypassed the switch and the pump is working okay. Before the shower, I add the 28 litres of diesel from my two containers. While at the campsite, we have three more vehicles head west and then six and three vehicles head east.

Sharon soon has a fire going and I cook some pork spare ribs with Alabama rub on them in my large camp oven. Ian is having half of the ribs. I also put in can of small potatoes. This meal is excellent. I have had a bottle of Grant Burge sparkling in my fridge for a few days and we all share this. Tonight, like a few recent nights, we see lots of satellites to the north-west but very low. We assume that they are Starlink ones that have been recent launched.

I head to bed at 9:45 pm, it is a cold 6°C.

Weather: Fine, max 19°C Arrived: QAA Camp Time: 3:43 pm Distance: 94.4 kilometres

Day 14 – Friday 11 July 2025 – QAA Line to Eyre Creek

Weather: Fine/high overcast, -1.3ºC minimum

All times are now Eastern Standard Time. A very cold night, back to the negatives. I wake at 6:15 am and read a bit but my hands end up too cold. I get up at 7:55 am and it is still only 0.2°C. I have breakfast and then repair the sand flag again. This time the thread has been stripped. I put a hose clamp on the join and tape it up again. It will last the rest of the way. Funny thing is I find a perfectly good one opposite the Birdsville Hotel in a few days time, so I pick that one up and toss mine out.

We leave at 9:45 am (10°C) and soon two vehicles come up behind us so we let them overtake. The distances between the dunes are much longer now. At 11:00 am we stop for morning tea (27.1 km, 21.1 l/100). It is still a cool 16°C as there is a strong southerly wind and high overcast. We leave at 11:29 am and soon after we see two T-vans and a small caravan stopped on the side of the road just after marker 10 (there are markers in Queensland where you are supposed to call your location and direction over UHF10). They are heading west. Once again, we think why! They will have a hard and slow trip as the dunes are much steeper heading west.

Just after this we encounter three vehicles as we cross a dune. They do not appear to have called as we have heard no-one for at least 20 minutes and they did not respond to our calls at marker 10. They have to back down so we can pass. A bit further on we see a lot of timber on the edge of the track so we collect some for tonight. At 12:45 we have a short stop for some flower photos.

We arrive at Eyre Creek at 1:10 pm (63.9 km, 18.9 l/100, 18°C). We go as close as we can to the water and have lunch. It is still cool. There is heaps of water in the creek (really a river) and it is flowing fast. This is where you normally cross it but it is way too deep and fast. We speak to some people who have arrived from Birdsville and they tell us the by-pass crossing is quite easy, looks like it has gone down a fair bit since we last heard information about it.

We leave at 1:43 pm and four vehicles come in from behind us. We take the by-pass and at 2:37 pm we arrive at the crossing (92.1 km, so 28.2 km from the QAA Line). We pull up and have a look at the water. The four vehicles from the last stop arrive and they cross first. It is quite easy, you keep to the left of some posts that national parks have inserted into the creek bed.

After they cross, Ron goes over and then Donna sets up her drone to video Ian and me crossing. Ian goes and then I follow. I try to use my dashcam to record the crossing but for some reason it will not work. I try rebooting it but no good (it later starts working again). It is a bit deep at the start but then relatively shallow. The water came to the top of the radiator but I was possibly going a little fast.

On the other side we look for a camping spot to the south but there is nothing suitable near the water. On the way back to the crossing we see the Birdsville Hotel recovery vehicle come across the creek. It has a Land Rover Defender Ute on the back. It has a totally broken chassis as you can see from the photograph. Later we see it at the pub and the chassis material is perhaps only 2 mm thick. Way too thin I would have thought.

We head north and see a couple nice camping spots but they have no protection at all from the wind, so we continue till we meet the track to the east. After a few kilometres this turns south and we continue back towards the QAA Line. At 4:12 pm we arrive at Eyre Creek crossing on the eastern side. Here we find a nice camping spot. We are not on the main part of the creek but on a parallel branch. I look a bit south but the four vehicles we saw at the bypass crossing are there.

We set up camp. The bypass has been about 60 kilometres, a bit more than the 55 it is stated to be. We collect some more firewood and soon a fire is going. Luckily the wind has dropped now so I fly my drone as I have a cuppa. We have drinks and I later cook rissoles and the rest of the canned potatoes on the fire. We later watch Ian’s team, Cronulla beat the Dolphins. A French couple earlier pull up and we give them some advice about the crossing.

I go to bed at 10:30 pm, it is a cold 5°C.

Weather: High overcast, max 18°C Arrived: Eyre Creek Time: 4:12 pm Distance: 125.3 kilometres

Day 15 – Saturday 12 July 2025 – Eyre Creek to Birdsville

Weather: Fine, 0.4ºC minimum

A very cold night but I sleep very well, not waking till 7:20 am. I get up at 7:55 am and it has warmed to a huge 2.0°C. We have breakfast and later leisurely pack up. We leave at 9:37 am, it is now 10°C.

We arrive at the sand dune to the west of Big Red at 10:33 am (17.8 km) to find two vehicles bogged on the eastern side of the apex. This dune has a sort of double apex so we end up on the top in between before we see them. We get out and have a look. I see some more vehicles coming from the west so I call them on my portable UHF to stop at the bottom as there is no more room up here.

There is a LandCruiser 300 series bogged right at the top of the slope and behind it is a Mazda BT50. What has happened is the BT50 got bogged and the 300 series has tried to pull him out. However, the 300 series should have put another snatch strap on and been on the top of the dune before attempting to snatch the BT50. In the end, a 200 series connects to the 300 series and pulls both of them free (gotta live a V8 Toyota!).

I also have to tell some west bound vehicles soto stop at the bottom while all this is going on. As it turns out, the reason the BT50 got bogged is because it was not in 4WD! First real dune of the trip and he has forgotten to engage 4WD, although I will admit I have not had my centre diff locked for most of the crossing.

Once they are out of the way we descend and then take the detour around the small lake that has formed between this dune and Big Red. We then cross Little Red (the normal crossing) and head back up the eastern side of Big Red to the famous Big Red track. We easily get up this side, as I did back in 2021. It is 11:07 am and we have travelled 24.6 km.

We take some photos from the top. The site of the Big Red Bash on the eastern side is so green, with grass everywhere. A total contrast to the two times I have been here for the concert when it is totally dust. Ian decides to have a go climbing the dune from the west, this is much harder. He tries the northern most track but fails, getting within five metres of making it.

He then tries another track to the south and makes it. He drops his tyre pressure and has another go at the northern one, misses again, but then makes it. Ron has a go and makes the southern one. I have a go and miss the northern one, then the southern one I almost make. The next go I get up.

We head back to the QAA Line and pump up our tyres as it is now tar all the way to Birdsville. We leave at 12:19 pm and after a detour to the town rubbish dump, we arrive at the Birdsville Bakery at 12:49 pm (64.1 km). It is now 20°C and still sunny. I had been hoping to have one of the famous curry camel pies, but they are out of them. I have a pepper pie and we eat it inside the bakery. I also buy a caramel slice.

After this I go and get fuel at the main roadhouse (the other fuel station did not look open). I take 76.78 litres at $2.52 a litre for $193.49. Together with the 28 litres I put in from containers, this means I have used 104.78 litres for the 601.6 kilometres since we left Mount Dare last Sunday. This works out at 17.4 litres per 100 kilometres, well under the 20 I had been working on for the trip.

I then go and book into the caravan park. It is $72 for two nights. I go straight to one of the laundries and put on a load of things to wash. This costs $5. Note, as usual with this caravan park at least 50% of the machines are out of order. The others arrive and book in so we go down to the lower grassed area and set up. I then go and put my washing on the clothes line. It is still windy so it should dry quick.

The flies are bad again so I go into my fly tent and have a cuppa a read. I also listen to the NRL on the ABC via my radio. I send them an SMS about where I am listening and get a mention on air. I go and check the washing a few times and finally it is all dry. At 4:30 pm I go for a shower, so good to have a proper one after only short 3 litre showers.

We have a beer and then at 5:40 pm we walk to the famous Birdsville Hotel. A Carlton Draught is an astonishing $13.50 a schooner (it was $9 for a bottle of a better beer back in 2019, 50% increase in six years). We go out to the beer garden, looks like you can have dogs in here now. Back in 2019 they would not let me bring Veto in there.

We order dinner, I have 12 hour braised beef cheek and potatoes ($30 I think). It was good. We have another beer and then head back to the caravan park. We have a couple more drinks as we sit around Ron’s firepit. I go to bed at 10:00 pm, it is 6.5°C.

Weather: Sunny, max 120°C Arrived: Birdsville Time: 12:49 pm Distance: 65.4 kilometres

Day 16 – Sunday 13 July 2025 – Birdsville

Weather: Fine, 1.7ºC minimum

Another very cold night. I sleep till 6:00 am and lay in bed doing nothing as too cold to read the paper or my book. Later I listen to ABC radio news. A plane starts up at 6:05 am runs its engines for ages. After 7:00 am a few take off for flights over Lake Eyre to William Creek and back. We later learn from some neighbours that it cost something like $1300! I get up at 7:55 am.

I cook some choritzos for breakfast, well part of one I eat and the other is kept for a later dinner dish. I then take my sheets and towel and some other things and put in the washing machine. Again, I put them on the line once finished. The others have also done some washing yesterday and today. I read the paper while the others go to the bakery for coffee. However, it is closed today and tomorrow for unknown reasons, so much for having a curry camel pie.

I have a cuppa and by 11:15 am my washing is dry. I also listen to the Third Creicket Test from the West Indies, Australia is all out by 11:15 am (it is a day/night match). At 11:40 am I go for a walk around town, to the visitor centre and then to the geothermal power station, the bore and back to the caravan park. As I mentioned, I find the same sand flag as mine so I bring it back.

I add about 15 litres of water to my main water tank and top up the other two containers. I have lunch and read some more in the fly tent. Later I walk to the lagoon and when back, listen to the NRL on the radio. I have a shower again and at 5:00 pm we sit around the firepit having drinks. I later cook a chicken Kyiv and rice for dinner. I go to bed at 10:15 am. It is nice to have a day off driving.

Weather: Fine, max 20°C Arrived: Still at Birdsville Time: N/ADistance: N/A

Day 17 – Monday 14 July 2025 – Birdsville to Windorah Weather: Fine, 1.5ºC minimum

Last night was again very cold, the fourth night in a row it has been under 2°C. I wake at 6:50 am and listen to the news and read the paper. I get up at 7:50 am and it has warmed to 5.0°C. I have breakfast and pack up. I get rid of my drink containers, I had been saving them to give to a school or similar, but have not seen one all trip.

I move over to the roadhouse and buy a loaf of frozen bread ($9) and also buy a fly swat ($20). The others decide they want a real coffee so we go to another coffee shop in the street behind the hotel. I also look at the Defender and its broken chassis. The coffee shop is doing a roaring trade as it is the only one open. We leave at 10:12 am and go via the Old Diamentina Crossing and the Burke and Wills Tree They stayed here on their ill-fated 1861 trip and the tree still bears the scar from where they marked it. We leave at 10:33 am.

At 11:41 am we stop at a rest area for a break, 88.6 km and 12.1 l/100. It’s a nice 21°C and sunny and not so much wind. The road is very dusty and you need to be a long way behind other vehicles. There are lots of them heading east, the same way we are going. At 12:58 pm (155.7 km, 12.4 l/100.2°C) we stop off the road for lunch.

We are back underway at 1:20 pm and seven minutes later we stop at the Betoota Serpent. This is a huge mural that is on a small hill off to the south of the road. There are toilets here too. WE leave after 12 minutes. We arrive at the Betoota Hotel at 1:43 pm (171.2 km). Our original plan was to camp here overnight (at the waterhole) and have dinner at the pub for my birthday. However, when we check about dinner, we find they only have rissoles for dinner. Sharon and Donna are not keen on this, so we decide to head onto Windorah.

We leave at 2:00 pm and get to the Diamantina Developmental Road intersection at 3:19 pm (281.8 km). There is a rest area here too. We leave four minutes later and at 4:30 pm we arrive in Windorah. This is 221 kilometres from Betoota, an average of 80 km/h.

We check out the three places to camp, one a free camp, one private one and one council one. The council one looks the best so we go in there. Later the caretaker comes around and collects the $12 per person. It is a very good one, with great showers and toilets and even washing machines. However, the ground is so hard I cannot get my pegs in (they bend) and my screw ones cannot be used as the battery has died in the drill. I end up tying off to a small bush.

I have a shower and then we have a drink. At 5:45 pm we walk the short distance to the Western Star Hotel. What a great little pub, although the manager/owner seems a little shitty this evening. We get our drinks and sit outside at a table. I have chicken pesto pasta for dinner, very good. I forgot to record the price, but it was about $30. I have four XXXX Bitters, the most drinks we have had for any night of the trip.

We have the last few drinks sitting around the large open firepit. We notice that the Federal Leader of the National Party, Davidi Littleproud is here too. He came in as we did and when we leave he is still there. He is the local member, the largest electorate in Queensland and perhaps Australia. We head back early and I go to bed at 8:50 pm!

Weather: Fine, max 24°C Arrived: Windorah Time: 4:30 pm Distance: 391.1 kilometres

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