Day 8
Sunday 02 September 2012
Day 8 Birdsville - Beetota - JC Hotel Ruins - Windorah 382 kms It was up early and readying for the trip
home.
First off to the Lions Tent for a steak sandwich beside the garage,
and we were off.
The couple of kilometres drive to the turnoff is a 50 km/hr zone and most people
do exceed this as it is out in the desert so to speak, but this day was
an auspicious one for Jed as at the turn off was the legalised traffic
harassment team again, and one had trained
his radar gun on Jed. A mandatory $230 fine will help keep the corporation
going.
Thankfully no-one else was booked, but all had to undergo
the magic puff yet again.
The whole procedure took a long time and the frustration
totally flummoxed our reporter who when let loose, took off south along the
Birdsville Track toward Adelaide, never to be seen or heard of again until
we all got home to Junee.
The dust on the gravel road from Birdsville
to the turn off at JC Hotel Ruins on the way to Windorah, was the
worst of the trip.
It was blinding, choking, grit in your eyes
stuff, and decidedly dangerous when vehicles over took us, especially
the tour buses. A shower of stones and rocks could easily have
done serious damage, but by the grace of God we all survived without
any incident.
Brad described the journey thinking he was
in Star Wars going through the Astro Belt !
Many times we stopped to let traffic past
as the head wind totally obscured our vision.
Brad lost three more of his rear wheel spokes
as they were found to be broken when we arrived in Windorah.
Cookie 2 decided it was all too much, so gave
Brad his rear wheel, while he traveled the remaining journey home
with Cookie 1.
We spent the night in Windorah, had our evening
meal at the pub again and were all in bed by 9 pm.
Meanwhile - Ron G and Moira were on their way south instead
of east, and although there were many indications of their wrong direction,
none was taken note of, until they arrived at Mungerannie Hotel, 315 km south
of Birdsville.
The road was generally very well formed, and in parts
like a sealed road, but there were many dips for water crossings and these
had large very sharp rocks in them, and these together with the roughness
in these water crossings, were very hard on the tyres, and did do damage
to the fittings under the bus.
They decided it would be best to go back to Birdsville,
refuel and then carry on east and catch up to the others..
This was not to be as about half way back, three tyres
gave out in very short succession. The damage under the bus was found at this
time, and reapirs were effected.
As it was now toward the end of the day,
and no more traffic came to provide help, they camped on the road for the
night. The sunset and sunrise were spectacular, due to all the dust in the
air.
Moira was in trepidation, but other than a camel farting
no sound and no traffic was heard all night.
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