This is Part V of Leigh’s trip across Australia in a 1944 Ford GPW. Read Part IV here.
The trip so far. They started near Melbourne, met their group in Adelaide, and then together caravanned northward. On this leg they drove from Cordillo to Tobermory Station.
Cadelga Ruins
Leaving Cordillo we headed for Cadelga Ruins reflecting on the hardships encountered by pastoralists from isolation and drought, from there it was on to Birdsville, one of the remotest towns in outback Queensland and gateway to the Simpson Desert, the worlds largest area of parallel sand dunes, home of “Big Red” a 40 metre high dune. Birdsville is best known for the annual Birdsville races where the population swells from a sleepy 115 to over 8000 for one week in September.
Parked in front of the Birdsville Hotel
From Birdsville we headed north to Bedourie which started life as a major watering and rest stop for drovers and cattle as well as Cobb & Co coaches. Here we were treated to free camping at the Simpson Desert Oasis and although it was a Saturday the local school children (all 12 of them) arrived in uniform to be taken for rides around the town. I guess we were a bit of a spectacle in our old military vehicles.
Cattle transport Oz style!
Next day, and on a sealed road, on to Boulia – population 230, administrative centre of the Boulia shire that covers 61,176 square kilometers (23.620 sq. mile) with a total population of approximately 600, no over crowding here. The bush telegraph had worked overtime and the school kids arrived by bus to recieve the same joy ride experience as in Bedourie. It was here that the clutch started giving more grief, noises, difficulty in selecting first gear, nothing to do but press on.
Sandhill country
That night we were treated to a great BBQ with entry by donation and the proceeds going to the Royal Flying Doctor Service, an organisation that does great work in these remote outback communities.
Leigh & Cheryl @ NT border
Next morning off to Tobermorey Station, 249 km (154 mile) along the Donohue Hwy. Although highway it was not, one participant described it as a “boulder strewn goat track”. Tobermorey covers 5994 sq. km. (3724 ml) and is 110 mile long and 24 mile wide with the Simpson Desert forming its southern boundary.
Tomorrow on to Jervois via the Plenty Hwy, unfortunately the Plenty Hwy made the Donohue Hwy feel like a concrete interstate!
Read about the final leg of the journey here