A little bit of Australian history and lots of flies

We had a day off from flying in Arkaroola yesterday and had a pleasant stroll around the village in the morning. At 1pm we all joined the Ridge Top Tour. This is a 42km 4WD tour over rough disused mining tracks. They pack 10 seated people onto the tray of a Toyota Landcruiser and set off. You're squashed in like sheep in a sheep truck but it quickly becomes apparent why.  You bump and grind up some of the steepest tracks I've ever seen.  There is some support from the squashed people beside you but you still have to hang on tight.  The tour lasts about 5hrs and takes you high onto the peaks of the Arkaroola wildlife and geological sanctuary.  All the while you're being told about the pastoral and mineral history of the area. There's times when I thought the track we were going up or down would cause the vehicle to flip.  However, we all returned battered and bruised but well. It's good fun and most informative.

 

Although the the northern Flinders Ranges where Arkaroola is situated is rugged with peaks that reach 2,500 - 3,000ft it was silky smooth flying today as we took off and circled the village with a waggle of the wings to the friends we had made.  I flew north following the route of the Ridge Top Tour track to Sillers Lookout where you stop for coffee before heading back.  Leaving Sillers it was recommended that we fly north to the Mawson Plateau which is lovely rolling high country peppered with water courses and the occasional abandoned mine.  At the edge of the plateau I set heading for the Dig Tree Airstrip about 1.2hrs flying away.

The route to the Dig Tree takes you right across the barren Stryzlecki Desert.  There ain't nothing out here and this is the bit I love about flying in the outback. No sign of human habitation from horizon to horizon.  The ground is covered with sparse scrub and saltbush, dry lake beds and sand traps.  On flights like this I offer a small prayer of thanks for my health, ability and means (not to mention a reliable aircraft) to be able to do trips like this.

On the north western flank of the Stryzlecki Desert there are numerous unattended oil and gas fields which are interesting to fly over.  I believe there's hundreds of kilometres of pipelines under the desert that retrieve the oil and gas although there's not much evidence of them.

The Drig Tree historical reserve offers a nice long sand runway which wasn't difficult to find. We followed four other aircraft into the strip from the Gunedah Aero Club who were on a two week flying safari so it was good to swap flying stories with them.

The Dig Tree Reserve is the site of the Burke & Wills expedition's depot camp 65 from which Burke & Wills and their party of explorers journeyed to the Gulf of Carpentaria in 1860.  The depot party they left behind remained at the camp for 17 weeks but gave up waiting and returned to the Darling River after burying supplies for Burke & Wills near the "Dig Tree".  As luck would have it Burke & Wills returned to camp 65 on the evening of the day the depot party left.  The depot party left a "flame" on the Dig Tree - an area where they removed the bark of the tree and carved a message on the exposed trunk to "Dig 3ft NW" for the cache of supplies.  In the 156 years since it was carved the bark has grown over much of the flame but parts of it and messages and figures on surrounding trees can still be seen.

Burke & Wills eventually perished some weeks later near Innamincka.  What would they have thought of three kiwi aircraft flying over the Tasman to cross parts of their track that they struggled along for weeks and weeks?

 

The flying conditions from the Dig Tree to Birdsville were great. Calm winds, warm and unlimited visibility. For those watching my Spidertracks track you would have seen that I diverted off track to fly along about the last 40nm of the Birdsville Track. At approx 500ft I whistled over several "grey nomads" in their caravans on the track as I flew north to Birdsville.

Birdsville is a great place and full of Aussie character.  It's one of the most remote settlements in the outback and hosts the iconic annual Birdsville Races.  Thousands of people drive for days and days to attend the races which is high in the calendar of outback events.

The flies here are terrible and the other guys are having trouble adjusting to them.  If you stand still for too long they'll cover you and are more persistent than a wife with a list of weekend chores.  In the end you just have to give up and ignore them - the flies that is!

After fuelling the aircraft and checking into the pub it was off to the Birdsville Bakery where a "Kangaroo & Claret" pie  with a cold beer was had for lunch.

I'm looking forward to swapping stories in the bar with the locals tonight ...