Report by Jill and Steve Curtis
Arising to another fiery sunrise or sleep in and wake to the smell of fresh pancakes. As this is a free day, our options are Trek to the sand dune “Big Red”, look around town, go to the famous Birdsville Hotel or fix punctures (about 5 today).
Big Red is 36km out of town and the first real sand dune to cross heading across the Simpson Desert. We tried the different driving techniques to cross it, with differing success and even had some of our “Wheelie” friends conquer it. After lunch we headed back to town for a refreshing ale and/or a look at the museum.
A short walk after tea found us all in the now crowded pub for a super gala night. We spent many hours participating with the locals in the merriment of the occasion, listening to tall tales and true, music and poetry. The highlight of the night was Daniel’s grand entrance. He literally brought the house down, when persuaded to play his newly acquired didgeridoo. The evening concluded in the traditional style of happiness befitting this great establishment, but for now it’s off to bed, ready to pack for an early start tomorrow.
Alternate report by Caroline Davy
Notes that a couple of people stayed in camp while everyone else went to Big Red. Many actually did some schoolwork, Graham read a bit and then went on the rounds with Caroline while she organised the concert. First to arrange the venue: a bit of sorting out licensing requirements, and the Green Lizard Room was ours for the night. Then several visits to the school to borrow some PA equipment and microphones (first to make contact, then to follow progress of the ring-around to members of the P&C Committee for approval for the loan). We went around and talked to most people in the town (you can do that in Birdsville!) to invite them to the evening and persuade them to present an item.
Planning for the concert had started about 6 months before we left Sydney and we had made contact with several people in the town by letter or phone. We found that everyone was pretty good at dobbing others in to perform, but we ended up with terrific support from the locals as Steve and Jill note: one even wrote a poem for us commemorating our discovery that the taps in the disabled amenities are connected the wrong way around (no-one had used them before!).