Birdsville

One of the things I had long wanted to do since moving to Mount Isa was go to the Birdsville Races.

It seemed to fall into place - I had a three day weekend and my friend Luke was going. But I would have had to drive down by myself, and it's almost 600 kilometres. There was also rain about and talk about getting flooded in. When I woke up on Friday I was tired and grumpy and decided to pike.

I felt like I had wasted an opportunity but it meant I would get to catch up with my friend Luke who would be in the Isa on Friday night. So over a few beers, he made me an offer I couldn't refuse. As you may remember, Luke is a pilot, and he was flying a charter plane down the next day. There was a spare seat.

Luke used to do the mail run from Port Augusta, which included Birdsville. Hence he knew the baker in Birdsville, and for the last couple of years has helped out at the bakery. Dusty the baker was going to let him sleep out the back of his bakery, and said he could bring someone too. And he could provide a swag.

Yes, it really was this convenient.

So at 8am on Saturday we flew out of Mount Isa in a Beechcraft Baron. It was cloudy for the first half, but suddenly we came out and saw the beautiful landscape.

The Baron is not pressurised, and at 9000 feet it was about two degrees the whole flight... for two hours.

There was a lot of water about and the land was very green. These three lakes were on the station that Luke used to work on - his first professional flying gig was mustering cattle.
This photo is us on final approach to Birdsville. I was quite surprised the runway is right in town. Apparently before September 11, Birdsville was famous for the fact that you could taxi your plane right up to the pub. Simpler days. I guess they don't have too many noise concerns - for most of the year the airport would be pretty quiet I would think.
From the airport we headed to the bakery, where Luke arranged some curried camel pies and coffee. Yes, that's right - curried camel. I was a bit hesitant at first, but they were really delicious. The camel was fibrous but not stringy, and had a gamey but not overwhelming flavour.

Luke got to work and I went to explore the town. He recommended visiting the museum, which is a collection of quirky items collected over decades. I took this photo for the Jamieson side of my family. This water cart was built in Shepparton, but it must be a typo because everyone I know just calls the town in Victoria 'Shep'. If you don't know where it is, it's just down the road from Toc.
This is a photo of the Traegar pedal wireless - the radio system that made the Royal Flying Doctor Service possible. You can see above it a morse code tapper-thingy, which is how the first radios worked.
I took this photo for Dad. He always pointed out Golden Fleece signs whenever we saw them as kids and made a big deal out of it.
Birdsville is almost right on the Diamantina River. There was a packed camp site on the river banks which was very muddy due to the rain.

I should point out at this point that the races were actually cancelled because the track was underwater. I'm not sure if the river is in flood in this shot, but I know the roads out of Birdsville were cut for three days - after everyone had driven in. Just another reason why I was very lucky to fly.
This is an old pub that was converted into the first hospital of the Australian Inland Mission - the precursor of the RFDS. Birdsville was never a bustling town, but at its height had three pubs. It now has one.

This pub was built out of local stone held together by dehydrated gypsum mixed with sand and water to create a bonding agent. Clever. This is where the first every pedal wireless transmission from Birdsville took place.

The second AIM hospital is basically a tin shed, and is now a museum. It's also where the Uniting Church holds services, in a tiny little room.

You can try to run from God, but you can't run from the Uniting Church. Even in this tiny little town in the middle of the Outback, I saw this classic scene - little communion shot glasses on a piano next to the Australian Hymn Book.
After my wander, I went back to the bakery and decided to help out. The races were off so I didn't have much to do, and it seemed fun. I cleared tables, emptied bins, and put beer in the fridge. All very important.

I don't know why, but it fascinated me to watch the baker Heiner making sausage rolls. Yes, that is a bit weird.
After consultation with Luke, I decided to take my guitar to Birdsville. I did try my hand at busking in the afternoon. I made the grand total of $7.25. But I would like to point out that it was definitely the quiet part of the day, and that's almost two beers!

After the bakery shut, it was time to have a few beers with Dusty and Luke and cook dinner. There were about six or so people working in the bakery, and we all helped out and had a few drinks while we cooked tea. It was a lot of fun.

After dinner Luke and I headed to the pub and to Fred Brophy's Boxing Tent. This harps back to a bygone era of sideshow alleys. The basic idea is you get people up to take on boxers in the ring, and then charge people $25 a pop to go in and watch.

It's incredibly popular. They start with a bit of a show out the front which actually includes drum beating. Brophy brings out his boxers one by one, and then gets members of the crowd up. He matches them up appropriately, with a lot of drum beating in between, and then everyone heads inside the tent.
It's pretty crazy to watch, but no one really gets hurt. They give them pretty big gloves and Brophy breaks it up if it's going too bad.

And I don't really remember too much about the rest of Saturday night...

On Sunday I can say I didn't get up as early as the baker. But I had breakfast and helped out a bit clearing tables.

Out the front of the bakery was this garden bed of Sturt's Deser Pea. Beautiful.
We had to fly out at 11.30, but it was a great trip, and I owe Luke many beers now for taking me.

It's a shame I didn't see the races, but it was such a great weekend. Working in the bakery was actually really fun and a great way to start conversations with people. Not a typical weekend, but a brilliant one.

Finally, this is the historic Birdsville Hotel. The runway is literally across the street on the left hand side.