The Birdsville Track is one of those Iconic Australia 4WD adventures, many people have heard about it, many have done it, more want to go do it. Just like the Oodnadatta and Strezlecki tracks, it is widely known within the 4WD touring community and also those who don't have a 4WD, but can still choose to do this trek, in the right conditions of course. Depending on which way you choose to do this trek, from the south at Maree in South Australia, or, in the north, from Birdsville in Queensland, we did the trek in 2017 and started from the south at Maree and did the trek over a 2 day period, you could do this in one VERY long day, but isn't the whole point to slow down and experience all the track has to offer?
The trek is approx 520kms in length and at most times, in pretty good condition for an outback track, especially after being graded, you can still expect rough dirt road, loose stones, sand, gibbers, corrugations, washouts and bulldust, but that just makes it more interesting! Depending on what time of the year you do it, you may see a lot of traffic, or next to none at all. We did the trek in mid May, so the days were nice and the nights cool, still plenty of flies, but not as many as you would experience in Spring or Summer.
To help with our planning, we used the awesome Wikicamps app, firstly on our PC and on the road on our tablet that also serves as our navigation / map display device. Actually, this jaunt up the track was a spur of the moment decision, we were sitting in the central Flinders Ranges and were due to head into the Gammon ranges for a few days, we changed our mind and did this instead. We are so glad we did.
As with all our 4WD adventures, we always take the attitude that if we see something that looks interesting, we stop and have a look. We are long-time Geocachers, and there are plenty of remote geocaches to do as you do this trek. There are a lot of free places to camp along the way, some better setup than others, some of the cattle stations also provide places to camp, sometimes for a donation, a fee or free, we only spent one night on the track and it was at a set of ruins about 30+kms out of Maree. At approx the halfway point of the track, is Mungerannie, which has accommodation, a pub, fuel, spares, hot springs, hot food and more. A lot of people choose to stay here as they do the track, we stopped in and had lunch here and tried to sort out a car issue without success.
Driving the Birdsville track is not recommended in summer, the heat can be quite harsh on yourself and on your vehicle, check the weather conditions before you intend to leave, the track becomes impassable after good rains particularly around Cooper Creek. Always drive to the prevailing road conditions, we are not just talking about road surface, this is cattle country, you may come across one or two or a whole herd walking along or across the track.
One of the most famous Birdsville Track identities was the mailman Tom Kruse, he did the Maree to Birdsville mail run for many years, no matter what the weather, conditions. Through heat and floods, Tom Kruse delivered the mail and well as passengers to or from Birdsville, there is a very good DVD docco about his life as well as a number of books that are worth a read, have a look for more info in the Birdsville information centre when you arrive.
Day 1
Day one was very short on the track, we left Maree very late at around 4:40pm, but by 6pm we were at the Lake Harry Ruins we had chosen to camp at, tent was up and we were enjoying the quiet serenity of the remote campsite and of course a hot meal and a cold beer. These ruins are set back off the track about 100mtrs or so, no issues with dust from any vehicles, there was even a hot "shower", well, if you have a spanner to open the valve on the bore shower, the water was pretty warm, but we refrained from having a shower. The ruins are all that is left of a once large Date Palm plantation, at one point there were over 2000 date palms growing here, but, with no bees to pollinate the palms, the whole enterprise failed and was eventually abandoned. If you stop or camp here, just go for a wander away from the ruins, you might be surprised at just what you find out on the plains to the east.
Our night here was very bright with a huge full moon all night, you literally did not need torches to walk around in the twilight it was that bright! We had settled in for the night and that was when the dingoes started their howling off in the distance, a bit unnerving til they stopped. Next morning, we got up extra early and we watched the sun come up on the Birdsville track, a magical experience, OK, technically the track was behind us, but still. We had breakfast, had an explore on foot around the area at all the relics scattered within 500mtrs of the ruins, packed up and were on our way again, ready for a fun day on the track.
Day 2
After leaving Lake Harry Ruins, we stopped to do a remote geocache that was on a large hill off to our east, a bumpy, rocky 4WD track got us on top of the hill for some pretty amazing views over the plains and dry Lake Harry to the east and another hill in the same direction, worth the bumpy track to the top. Another 20 minutes or so up the road was one of the best camps we came across on the Birdsville Track, on private property, the farmer has supplied toilets, water tank, washing up tubs and a hot artesian spa bath! We so wish now we had driven the extra km's to this camp, the hot bore bath would have been so good to wind down after a long day of driving. This campground is called the Clayton Wetlands Campground, look it up in Wikicamps.
We drove and drove and drove, the scenery does not change much out here, so if you see something of interest, stop, stretch your legs and go take a look, just to break the trip a bit.
Eventually you will come to a boat, well, a barge if you want to get technical, this was once used to ferry people and goods across the Cooper Creek when it was in flood, stop and have a read of the information, there is geocache hidden here as well. Not far past this point, the start of the dry crossing of Cooper Creek starts, it can be pretty sandy here, when in full flood, Cooper Creek can be up to 5km across, snorkel or not, you won't be crossing that in flood. There is a campground here as well, we had a quick look and it was pretty basic, but looked OK.
Not too much farther up the track on your left is a set of ruins referred to as Samanthas Ruins, not a lot left here but interesting stop just the same, no camping allowed here. Once again, not too much further up the track is another set of ruins called the Old Mulka Ruins, worthy of a stop and some photos, if you have Wikicamps on and running, you will see another POI to the west, this is the lonely single grave of a 14 year old girl called Edit Adeline Scobie who dies not long after Christmas in 1892, a stark reminder of just how harsh life was out here.
Easy to miss the next ruins, because they are basically flat, plenty of relics here, but we are talking about Ooroowillannie Ruins, worth a poke around and then back on the track once again.
It is now around 1:30pm and it was really time to grab some lunch, what could be better than a pub feed, in the middle of the Birdsville Track, we had arrived at Mungerannie Hotel and Campground. A veritable oasis on the track, hot food, cold beer, camping hot springs, wetlands (When wet) and a couple of geocaches as well. Like a lot of outback pubs, this one is full of character and a photo at the bar is a must!
Back on the road again, after a while, on your right you may notice a hot bore, this is called the Mirra Mitta Bore, do NOT enter the water, it is coming out of the ground at 90+ degrees, no camping here either, but worth the stop to have a look and take some pics.
After you cross Mt Gason creek further along, if you know where to look, there is a small monument to Charles Sturt who passed by this way before us, we missed him by that much.
Further along, you will come to an intersection, if you went left (west), with enough food and fuel, you could cross the Simpson and come out at Dalhousie Springs on the western side of the Simpson, home to a billion mossies and the amazing hot pools.
Better get ready, pretty soon you will be doing a couple of corners, real ones where you get to steer left and right as you weave through some big sandhills, after that, another intersection, this time on your right (east), you have arrived at the Walkers Crossing track, an alternate route to Innamincka, if you choose to go this way, be sure to have check the track conditions, this is a pretty remote track.
After quite a distance, you are going to arrive at the SA/QLD border crossing, from there you are almost at the end of your journey up the Birdsville Track, a drive that I think everyone needs to do at least once, then turn around and do it all in reverse, because it will all look totally different. We arrived in Birdsville right on dusk, a little before 6pm, so we went straight to the pub for dinner, then into the caravan park to setup for the night. We ended up staying in Birdsville for 6 nights, without a vehicle while we waited for car parts to be flown in.
Birdsville has some free camping on the outskirts of town before you cross the Diamantina River, and a BIG caravan park in town, Birdsville is well known for the iconic pub, has a great information centre, a couple of servos, mechanical repairs, airport, motel, school, groceries at the roadhouse, hospital museum, hardware & camping store (Not quite a Bunnings) and so much more, time to setup camp and relax for a few days while you discover all that Birdsville has to offer.
One of the must visit iconic Birdsville attractions is Big Red, the massive red sand dune approx 30+ k's to the west of town and the location that they hold the big red bash each year, you just cannot visit Birdsville without visiting Big Red!
Parting Thoughts
Just do it, plan your trip, it is not a hard drive, in the right weather and road conditions, plenty of people tow camper trailers and caravans and have no issues.
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