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We were about to travel along this track of droving story and legend, something I’ve wanted to do for over thirty years. So, during July and August, Bob and I covered 13,000 km of NSW, Queensland and South Australia. We travelled as far north as the Gulf of Carpentaria and as far south as Port Augusta.
And we camped along the Birdsville Track, cooking on a campfire, listening to the mournful howl of the wild dingoes, finally spotting the black emu in the Milky Way, sleeping under canvas next to waterholes which had been filled by the February floods or were topped up by the artesian bores, watching the birds and ‘roos come in to drink, being woken at dawn by the swirl of corellas. Magic!
Most of these roads are through large privately-owned properties known as stations. One advised we were not to camp or shoot on their land, this meant for the next 78 km. On the road from Bedourie to Birdsville we passed through Cluny Station, the sign telling us it was 1.327 million acres. Next door, Glengyle Station was an imposing 5,500 square kms. It took us a few minutes of mental arithmetic to work out Glengyle was slightly larger.
Roads through the properties are unfenced so there can be cattle grazing close by… you are reminded to beware of colliding with them! We heard of a couple travelling with their shiny new caravan who slowed down to go through a mob of cattle, the bull spotted his reflection in the caravan side and charged … a 700kg Brahman bull is going to do just a bit of damage! Not surprisingly the caravan was a write-off.
Out here everyone carries a UHF two-way radio and each shire has a notice advising which Duplex Channel to use in an emergency. Remembering which one to use can save your life, so we jotted the number down as we changed shires. You’re also advised to warn other vehicles when you are approaching creek crossings. In Channel Country the rivers spread into many channels, not just one, when they are flowing. River crossings can be very long but only one vehicle wide. No one wants to have to reverse for a few hundred metres. And incidentally these large water courses only carry water for a short time after rain, they were dry when we passed through. We became used to being warned about “Wheel ruts, bull dust and corrugated sections, drive with extreme care”. Bull dust is basically large potholes which have filled up with dirt which has been pulverised into very fine dust. You can’t see the pothole, only feel it when you land at the bottom. I’ve been on one trip when our coach hit bulldust and we shuddered to a halt, broken down and stuck for many hours until help arrived. Road restrictions are well signed at the start of the official Tracks. These gravel roads can become impassable after rain or if they have not been graded for a while. When a road is closed there are severe penalties if you travel on them. One of the penalties can be your own demise if no one can get to help you. When you travel in sand dune country there are signs reminding you to keep left on crests, with a delightful picture of a tiny car heading up one side of the dune and an enormous road train coming up the other.
Caroline Gaden |
The
Birdsville Track - the name itself causes spine-tingling anticipation of
travelling on this legendary outback stock route across dry, dusty, harsh,
unforgiving land. Even today with all our HF radios and satellite phones, in air
conditioned comfort of vehicles carrying plenty of fuel and water, the
Birdsville Track is still considered an adventure. 
On
our travels we had called in at Clonagh Station where Bob spent a year as a
jackaroo in 1970. The property had recently changed hands and eighty thousand
head of cattle had been moved as the ‘old’ were replaced by the ‘new’ livestock.
We spent time watching them pregnancy testing some heifers. The yards were
eighty kilometres from the homestead and one young vet tested over twelve
hundred cattle in a single day.
