August 2006
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Trephina Sultan the Aboriginal lady on the left is a an Aboriginal artist from Alice Springs, who we have made friends with since arriving in Alice. Trephina has painted many paintings for us for family and friends. Trephina is not only a lovely lady but a very good Aboriginal Artist. We have been to Trephina's home on many occasions and have met her immediate family and Uncles, Auntie's and cousins. Our friend Colin Leel one of the Directors of the Ausemade Travel Site (ausemade.com.au) worth a visit, to his site you will find it very interesting, helped me make a brochure for Trephina showing her at her table painting one of her many designs. Friday 25 August we left Alice Springs at about 6.00am to start our journey to drive across the Simpson Desert to attend the Birdsville Races. Our first stop was at the Catholic Church at Santa Teresa to take some photo's of some magnificent paintings on the internal walls of the church We then went on our merry way down the 4WD track through Old Andando Station and then onto Andando and eventually arriving at Mount Dare Homestead to have a cool beer in their new Hotel, which wasn't opened when we were there in April. We filled with diesel at 1.91 cents per litre as this is the last place you can buy fuel and get something to eat before crossing the desert. The last 80 km's of the track was like competing in a sand rally with a narrow winding track through the tree's and very rough at times. Helen was able to get a photo of the spring at Dalhousie with the steam vapours coming from the water surface, early morning. Our trip was somewhat slowed by our friend Barry's mishaps with his vehicle. Our journey across the desert took us six days. After leaving Dalhousie Springs we arrived at Purnie Bore where we spoke to some people camped by the waters edge ( yes water in the Desert). Helen was able to help a motor bike rider with some water as he felt he never had enough. We then continued across the French Line before turning off to travel on the Rig Line where we came upon the lonely Gum Tree in the Simpson Desert. Some one before us had tied a Koala up in one of the trees upper branches. We also came across a lonely grave belonging to Jaroslav Edward (Mr Peck) he was awarded the British Empire Medal for services to the outback, died 15/7/1988 aged 66 years The trip across the Rig line was quite pleasant with easy sand dunes to navigate. On the Rig line we came across a herd of wild camels numbering about 25 to 30 camels one with a young one. We also came across a lot of wild flowers which brightened up the scenery. When we got back on the French Line the going got tougher and one day we only traveled 7 Kilometers, before we made a decision to phone for help on a passers by Satellite Phone. Help arrived at 11.30pm that night, as the rescuers got lost locating us. They took over the towing of Barry up the dunes and they arrived in Birdsville at about 6.00pm that night and they started towing at 7.00am that morning. When Helen and I arrived at Big Red we failed on our first attempt to cross the dune but after letting our tyres down a little more we were able to cross both ways many times with no trouble. We were asked to leave Big Red by some blokes as we were making them look silly with the ease in which we could cross the dune.. Altogether Helen and I towed Barry up and sometimes down the dunes for about 257 kilometers. with our Toyota Prado automatic. We were the talk of Birdsville and the rangers for our efforts in helping a stricken friend. This year the rangers were out in force checking that you had the correct Passes and water and fuel supplies on board. On our travels both ways across the desert we would have been checked five times. One English chap traveling by himself was fined $180.00 for not having a Desert Pass and for not carrying enough fuel and water. He also had to purchase the Desert Pass. This year the Birdsville Races features a twelve race program and is also celebrating their 125 th year since racing began in Birdsville. Birdsville is situated between the sands of the Simpson Desert and the gibbers of Sturt's Stoney Desert. Birdsville was once known as the most remote, roughest and most hazardous destination in Australia. The Birdsville Races are known as the greatest show in the outback and commonly referred to as the Melbourne Cup of the outback. The races attracts crowds of around 6000 visitors to the event each year including race enthusiasts, the party crowd, travelers, couples and those who are simply curious about what could draw so many people to a tiny, outback town on the edge of the Simpson Desert. This year the Variety Club Bash rolled into town on Wednesday 30 August, providing plenty of fun, excitement and many stories from their trip to Birdsville from Cairns. Also the Cystic Fibrosis bash came to Birdsville this year giving awareness of the disease to the many people at Birdsville. Another big draw card at Birdsville is the Fred Brophy's Boxing Troupe, the only boxing tent still operating in Australia and also the world today. This is the fourth generation of the Brophy's boxing tent. Fred draws on people from the crowd who think they can beat the boxing tents fighters, some times they do. Live music and entertainment continue through to the Saturday night at the local hotel. On Sunday morning you can watch the many planes taxing to the runway for take off, or drive out to Big Red the first and largest of the sand dunes when traveling from East to West across the Simpson Desert, watching the 4WD's trying to master Big Red is sometimes a great laugh. Helen and I did the return trip back across the Desert by ourselves, we traveled the French Line all the way, coming from East to West was much harder to get up the dunes than traveling West to East. Our trip over from Mount Dare Homestead including towing Barry, we used 126 litres of diesel and coming back without towing we used 88 litres to Mount Dare Homestead, I was very happy with the fuel consumption we achieved.
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