Birdsville

The owners of the hotel also own the iconic Birdsville hotel in Birdsville, Queensland. Its about 500km north of Innamincka. Birdsville is more well-known than Innamincka due to the infamous Birdsville races, held annually on the first weekend of September. The town with the usual population of 115 swells to over 7000 during the carnival weekend. Being the only pub in town, the Birdsville hotel has to keep thirsty racegoers happy.

We were fortunate to get rostered to do a 'beer run' i.e transport leftover alcohol/beer from Birdsville to Innamincka. With B, our supervisor at helm, we took off. The journey took over 6 hours, mainly on dirt tracks. In the evening, we went out to the Big Red, the biggest sand dune in the Simpson Desert, which spans across over 100km. The edge of the desert starts about 40km from Birdsville. It was a fun evening out with drinks and nibbles, watching the sunset.

Aerial View

Innamincka township and the Cooper Creek

Got chatting to a chopper pilot who stopped by the pub. He landed across the place to pick up some mates who were checking out the road conditions around the area. He was kind enough to give us a quick ride around. Although it was short, we managed to get a great aerial view of our home for the last few months and its vast nothing.

Taking off

Desert Oasis

Diverting the flow to save the pub

The last time the town had decent rain was Christmas eve 2013. Over the past week, weather forecasters have been warning of rain in all parts of the country including the Outback. For SA, the possibility of one in 30 years rainfall.

The first storm hit on Saturday. From then on, we had on and off storm cells for the next 4 days, resulting in approximately total rain of 120mm. This closed most roads across the Outback and had dry rivers and creeks flowing. The Strzelecki Creek, which was boned dry was flowing swiftly. This was where we launched our kayaks and paddled out to the Cooper Creek, then upstream to the causeway. The overflowing causeway was where I caught my first Yellowbelly.

Hard at work

Dinner!

The sunny and hot weather returned eventually and its back to desert condition, including the creek which we kayak just a couple of days ago. The rain did do some damage to tracks and roads around the area. On the flip side, we get to see green grass starting to pop up.

Paddling down Strzelecki creek

Table Mountain

How many cars can you spot?

We have seen a series of hills when out driving a couple of times. Found out that they were part of the Merninie Range. We decided to try walking up one of the hills. With another workmate, CB, we drove to the area called Table Mtn. Having a 4wd is useful since the hill is off the beaten track. It did not take us long to get to the top at just over 700m. Got a bird-eye view of the area.

On the way back, we saw our first lizard, which unfortunately we ran over. We doubled back and saw that it was still alive. Hope its not injured.

Christmas in the Desert

Things couldn't be more different.... Our last Christmas was in a city of just under 20 million and in almost freezing condition. Today, we are in an Australian outback town with under 20 people and 40 degrees heat.

With the day off, we decided to visit the Cullyamurra Waterhole where one could find ancient aboriginal rock carvings. Having made friends with the local rangers and getting their consent and directions, we started early on Christmas morning, 5am! With CB rally driving skill, the drive out to the waterhole was short and speedy. It was then on foot along the creek to get to The Choke, the narrow part of the river. This is where our search began. 5 pairs of eyes started looking around for the carvings. After several minutes, our driver found the area. We saw rocks with engravings, which wasn't obvious at first but realised that they were all over the rocks around.

After our morning adventure, it was pancakes for breakfast, thanks to EG, our resident chef. An hour nap later, it was Christmas lunch, followed by mini putt-putt and finally karaoke. With an open bar, it was a wonder everyone lasted till 7pm.

 Although we were not with our families on this day, we still had a good Christmas, especially with the opportunity to see the ancient rock carvings up close.

Oversize

After a couple of weeks of not having the same day off, we were finally rostered together for the day. We went for a drive looking for M, who we met at the pub and had agreed to let me have a go at driving the grader.

The grader is a big machine, relative to my size. It is used to smoothen the corrugated dirt roads. After a 5 second briefing on how to operate the machine, I was off. There is not much to it. Just remember where the brake pedal and the accelerator are, keep the vehicle in a straight line and that the dirt is shoveled. While it was fun driving for a short period, I don't fancy being in there going at 10km/hr, having to grade 30km.

Wills and King

On our day off, we took a drive to a couple of local attractions. First stop was King's Marker. This is the place where they found John King, the sole survivor of the four men from the ill-fated Burke and Wills expedition who reached the Gulf of Carpentaria. The expedition was the first to cross Australia from south to north, finding a route across the continent from the settled areas of Victoria to the Gulf of Carpentaria. King survived with the help of the Aboriginals.

About 7km away, we visited Wills Grave. William John Wills was an English surveyor who also trained for a while as a surgeon. He was the second-in-command of the Burke and Wills expedition. He died alone after he was too weak to continue with Burke and King.

Dust Dust Dust

We experienced our first dust storm today. The morning started off really hot. Then the wind hit and started gusting by mid-morning. At times, visibility was no more than a few meters but that could be an illusion on my part when I could hardly keep my eyes opened! Having to run in and out in my housekeeping duty, I was handed a pair of eyewear and disposable mask. One would think I was handling hazardous linens!

Storm approaching

TJ meanwhile, had the task of unloading the delivery. I was told he had to take cover behind the forklift when a big windy gust blew up the dust.

TJ securing the door

The day ended with a sprinkle of rain, just enough to stain and smear everything red! Gotta work to earn my keeps, I guess.

Coongie Lake

On our day off, we went to Coongie Lake, about 2 hour drive from the hotel. Coongie Lake is part of a freshwater wetland system in north-eastern South Australia, which includes lakes, channels, billabongs, shallow floodplains, deltas, and interdune swamps.

It was my first time doing 4wd driving including going over sandy dunes. The lake is shallow, up to just a bit over the ankle. We saw a wild pig in the distance and loads of ducks, pelicans and birds.  There were plenty of mussels in the muddy ground, which we were told are edible. To date, we have yet to try it.

The Roster

Unlike our previous jobs, we get assigned various areas and jobs here, hence our title, 'All-rounder.' The roster is set weekly where we get the schedule of our assigned  jobs and time. We have been on housekeeping, "dixie-bashing", as TJ calls it, bar, breakfast and outdoor yard.

 I now have a new-found skill, folding hospital corner when making the bed.