22/7 From Cunnamulla to Narrabri

It was nice to wake up in the warm Motel Room for a change!  At least it didn't take long to pack and leave.  We left it open as to how far we would get today, but in the end got all the way to Narrabri via Bourke and Brewarrina.  We still saw a lot of Emu's along the road, sometimes large flocks.

About 134km out from Bourke we left Queensland and entered NSW.  The border crossing was very low profile in comparison with some of the outback ones.  We stopped in Bourke to take fuel and also have some lunch at a cafe.  After that we headed to Brewarrina aiming to get to Narrabri.

As we approached Brewarrina the alternator began making squeeling noises again.  Thus it was clear the belt tension had dropped again.  In Brewarrina I saw a sign for a mechanic and we drove there but it was closed, obviously a long time ago!  I thought we could make it to Walgett, but as we came out of Brewarrina it was clear the alternator was having problems charging.  I had a quick look and saw it had to be fixed.  We turned around and we went into a public park on the banks of the Darling River.  There I opened up the hood again and inspected the problem in more detail.  The rear of the alternator bracket was broken so it had moved away from the engine and thus the belt tension was next to nothing.  I had a spare alternator in my toolkit, but new it would take some time to get it out and replace.  So I found a strong tie down strap with a ratchet, which I attached to the engine block, both above and below the alternator at the rear.  I then simply ratcheted it back in place.  Thus the problem was fixed.  A typical bush mechanics!!  It hasn't failed yet, although I need to take the alternator out and have the bracket welded back.

After the repair we left Brewarrina and drove to Walgett.   We didn't stop in Walgett but decided to get to Narrabri.  When we finally got to Narrabri it was already dark.  The sun had set between Wee Waa and Narrabri, which is around 40km.  We didn't feel like camping, so we found a motel for the night!

The nice Motel in Cunnamulla

Endless truck traffic

Lonely Emu

Leaving Queensland and entering NSW

Checking the Alternator just outside Brewarrina

Bushmechanics, using tie down strap with a ratchet!

21/7 From Windorah to Cunnamulla on the way home

We left Windorah early morning and decided to try to get to Cunnamulla by the end of the day.  Just on the outskirts of Windorah is a solar farm operated bye Ergon Energy.  I haven't seen one before so we stopped to have a quick look.  It was set up in 2009 and supposedly generates around 360,000KW Hours per annum saving the town 100,000 liters of diesel fuel.  Not all of them were in operation, but each dish focuses the solar light onto a cell in the centre that generates up to 26kW.  Not bad at all!

Just further out of town we cross the Cooper creek.  It's a famous river which only runs every few years.  In this area is a huge waterhole which supplies Windorah with all it's water.  It has never run dry according to the locals.

We had a brief stop in Quilpie, whereby we had to change the tyre on the Camper Trailer.  It had almost leaked all the air out!  As I had two spares it was only a matter of using one of the spares.

As we left Quilpie we drove down the Thargomindah road.  Just after the turn off there is a short road to what is called the Baldy Head.  It's a rock outcrop that is easy to get on top of via a short walk.  From there it's a great view across the flat plains and across to Quilpie.

Along the way we saw lots of cattle and Emu's but not a lot of sheep.  The Cattle and Emus tried to hog the road on occasions, which required us to slow down and give way!  We could also see lots of road kills.  They were mostly dead Kangaroos.  We only saw couple of dead Emu's and at least one dead feral pig.  I guess the Kangaroos know far less about the road rules than the Emu's and the feral pigs!

We got to Cunnamulla late in the afternoon.  Thus we decided to go to a Motel rather than camping.  We found a nice one called the Oxford Hotel.  After settling in we walked to the local pub and had a typical Ozzie pub meal and chatted to the the locals.  Then it was off to bed for an early start again.

The solar dishes outside Windorah

Mirror mirror on the wall, who is the .....

The Cooper Creek

Baldy Head, just outside Quilpie

The view from Baldy Head in an Easterly direction

The view to the West, Quilpie can be barely seen among the trees

Kylie also climbed Baldy Head

Cattle hogging the road

Even the Emu's hogged the road!

20/7 Birdsville to Windorah on the way home

We said our goodbyes to Annika and Tim as they were heading into Innamincka via the Cordillo Downs Road.  As we had our camper trailer, we didn't trust it on more corrugated roads than absolutely necessary.

We started by topping up our fuel and through that we worked that we had used 118 liters of Diesel between Mount Dare and Birdsville for the Simpson Crossing.  We drove 634km so this equates to about 18.6l/100km which is pretty good for the Landcruiser.  It normally does around 16l/100km during long distance driving so it's only adding 2.6l/100km while driving in 4 wheel drive through sand.  I didn't use the low range all the time, mostly on the sand dunes.  This is pretty good!

I also increased the tyre pressure in all the tyres, plus checked one of the tyres on the camper trailer that had complained before we left Birdsville.  The tyre seemed fine so I didn't change it.

We then left Birdsville along the Birdsville Developmental road heading for Windorah.  Along the way we stopped to see the Dreamtime Serpent near Betoota.  It's been formed by gravel into a hill and looks pretty impressive.

The Birdsville Developmental road joins up with the Diamantina Developmental road that then took us to Windorah.  We had just made the turn at the intersection and another left turn into a rest stop when the tyre pressure monitor alarm went off, telling us the front right tyre on the Landcruiser was rapidly loosing air.  We went out to check and it was quite obvious that the air was leaking out of the tyre fast!  Further inspection revealed a screw lodged into the tyre.  I grabbed the tyre repair kit and proceeded to take the screw out and put in a patch in accordance with the instructions (Never done this before!).  After finishing the patching the tyre pressure had dropped down to about 9 psi, so I can say it never went flat!   The I took out the air compressor and pumped up to 40 psi to align with the other front tyre.  This repair is still in place and hasn't given us any issues to date.  After this short stop we moved on!

Along the way to Windorah we stopped in two places, one at the Mt. Henderson lookout and the other at the Native Wells, just past Mt. Henderson.  The Mt. Henderson has a hole through it at the top and at the lookout is an arrow pointing at the hole!  You have to look along the arrow to notice it.  However due to the distance you can barely see it.  I took a photo with the zoom lens, so you can see it close up!

The Native Wells is a natural phenomena where Aborigines could get water.  These are natural and/or man made water wells that fill up with water during rains and then store it.

We got into Windorah mid afternoon and found the caravan park quickly.  It's operated by the Barccoo shire council and it only cost $10 for a powered site!   After setting up the camper trailer I had a look at my alternator.   The alternator belts were making squeeling noises on occasions, which doesn't bode well.  It turned out that the belts were very loose due to the fact that the rear of the alternator bracket which fixes it to the engine was broken and it was therefore tilting slightly.  I decided to leave for the time being hoping it would get worse.
We had a nice evening with a pleasant sunset.

At the Birdsville Caravan Park

The dreamtime serpent near Betoota

The rest stop on the Diamanta Developmental Hwy where we had almost a flat

The culprit nail which was lodged in the tyre

The fix from the tyre repair kit

After adding air, all looked good!

At the Mt Henderson lookout

The sign with the arrow pointing to the hole!

The hole in Mt Henderson via zoom lens!

At the Native Wells

The wells are on flat ground

This one was empty!

At the Windorah caravan park

19/7 Last leg to Birdsville via Big Red

Sibba and I woke up early to the most glorious sunrise!  The sky was blood red and then changed to pink, just like the pink tutu fairy we saw the day before!

We just had to drive around 7 km to get to Big Red.  As we rolled towards it, there was a sign indicating we have to turn right to go to Birdsville.  This means that you can get to Birdsville without climbing Big Red.
We had no intentions of doing that!

As we got closer there were couple of 4WD getting ready to go up.  One left just before we got there the other was letting his tyre pressure down.  Apparently both had tried a couple of times without success.  Sibba and I forged ahead and got up in one go and Tim and Annika followed.  Of course we had to go back down and do another run!

The view in both directions from Big Red is pretty spectacular, so we spent some time taking photos and letting Kylie have a bit of a hop around.

Then we proceeded down on the east side and drove all the way to Birdsville.  There we got our camper trailer from storage at the Caravan Park and set it up for an overnight stay.  Tim and Annika went and had a walk around Birdsville to see the sights.  Late afternoon we all went to the Birdsville hotel and had a drink at the bar.  After that we went back to the Caravan Park and had ourselves a great BBQ and celebrated the end of a fantastic journey with some Moet Champagne!

The last day in the desert offered a fantastic sunrise

The red and pink hues in full swing

The colours blend well into the desert sand

More yellow comes along as the sun pushes further up

The pink clouds hang over us

The next to last Sand dune and only Big Red ahead

Approaching Big Red

Driving up Big Red, Sibba, Tim and Annika watching on the Horizon

Getting to the top wasn't too bad!

On top of Big Red, the view to the other side is pretty good

Tim, Annika and Sibba enjoying the view

Kylie felt she needed to jump up Big Red as well

Kylie also liked the view

The Birdsville Hotel marketing machine for the 110 people town!

At the Birdsville Hotel

At the bar having a drink

Sunset in Birdsville, over the airport

18/7 Second campsite on the QAA line, the last night in the desert!

We were in no hurry so we decided to spend another night in the desert close to Big Red.  This would give us time to reach Birdsville midday.  So we left camp and headed East along the QAA Line and drove until we found a nice camping site about 7 km west of Big Red.

Along the way we had a fair few oncoming traffic.  A convoy of 14 cars from one club and another 9.  Pretty busy day on the sand dunes!

Along the way we encountered the pink tree fairy!  Someone with a sense of humor had put some pink tutu and pieces around a bush standing next to the track.  See the photos below as whoever it was did a pretty good job!

After stopping for lunch we didn't drive for long as we found this nice flat spot under a small sand dune, well of the main track.  We had some interesting cloud formations and then a decent sunset.  We had our usual campfire and toasted for the Simpson desert!

Waiting on passers by!

The tree in the pink tutu!

I've made a new friend!!

Lunch break

Campsite under a sand dune

Great spot with lots of sand!

Nice cloud formations

Slightly pink sunset

Toast for the last night in the Simpson!

Watching the campfire embers is always facinating!