Day 481 | Blue Ute Bore: out on the Birdsville Track
101 km | zzOz total: 15,347 km
So my last big remote track begins.
There’s been a few to date but this one, the Birdsville, is shorter than many, my guidebook says 523 km, much less than the Plenty and only half that of the Great Central Road.
Today conditions are magnificent, massive tailwind that’s probably not going to last long, the surface surprisingly terrific, smooth compact clay, some of the time I was whizzing along at 20 km/hour, not a common experience for this bloated caravan, aided by said wind.
It’s sand dune country, travelling between them then having to climb the 10 m or so, albeit unlike previous travellers in decades past, on the solid road to get over to the next valley.
Looking at the dunes away from the road you get the full appreciation about the Simpson Desert experience, driving a 4WD up the face of the dune doesn’t look so easy on the steep side, maybe that’s why they advise the west to east route, and as for the Canning Stock Route, well, I’m past the age where that has much appeal. Add another 900 dunes over 2000 km and you can only have admiration for the four who have finished the Canning in recent years, but I’ve never found the bike-in-the-beach-dunes-with-a-load scenario much fun.
They say the road improves again after the Mungeranie Pub, the only dot of civilisation on the Track, about 330 km from Birdsville which means one thing: it ain’t gunna stay so good all the way.