AUSTRALIA
ROADTRIP

South Australia
Western Australia
& Northern Territory

Start Location Victoria

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BIRDSVILLE TRACK CLOSED

Day One

Outback South Australia to

Birdsville, Queensland

A major setback to derail our nine day Birdsville Road Trip itinerary. Apparently the Birdsville Track is affected by recent heavy rain covering large sections of the track.

This presented several options. Postpone the trip or do the planned itinerary in reverse. Postponement meant perhaps waiting twelve months as other upcoming tours were set to begin a few weeks after our return by the tour operator.

Our small group tour in one 4wd Landcruiser planned and run by Desert Sky Tours based in Adelaide needed the itinerary to be rearranged to allow extra time for road conditions on the Birdsville Track to improve. A few extra days hopefully would be enough to allow the track to reopen. The Birdsville Track is 517 km in length and is all unsealed road.

Howard the driver and tour operator, thought if the road trip was done in reverse we would have a good chance of driving down a reopened track. If the track was still closed for a further extended period our only option was to reach Birdsville via our reverse itinerary through outback New South Wales and outback Queensland. However we would have to return the same way where the roads were somewhat in better shape.

The vast majority of road trips into this part of Australia's outback are done from May to October, as daily temperatures rise close to 50°C or well over 100°F in the summer months. In the cooler months from May onwards, the days are generally sunny with average highs in the mid-twenties Celsius.

Birdsville from Adelaide is around a 3,400 km return trip via Broken Hill in New South Wales.

So on day one our small group of three left Adelaide bound for Broken Hill in the far west of Outback New South Wales. A distance of over 600 km. Driving the South Australian mid north towns of Burra, Terowie, Yunta and Olary.

We were soon driving along the World's End Highway past the Wildongoleechie Hotel towards Burra and up to Peterborough for a quick lunch at a café.

World's End Highway was a rather apt name considering our road trip venture into the Outback.

A group of feral goats were strung out beside the road not far on approach to Broken Hill towards the end of our first full day.

Burra

Burra is well known for its former six hundred or so Miner's Dugouts along the banks of the Burra Creek. Miners lived in these dugouts for protection from the extreme heat and cold weather. Virtually all dugouts were flooded in 1851 and only several survive intact to this day. There is no public access, but the remaining dugouts may be viewed over a wire fence from a road. If time allows, a gate key can be obtained from the local tourist office for a fee and for a closer inspection of the dugouts and other attractions.

Terowie

Terowie was declared a "historic town" by the South Australian government. There are many well-preserved 1880s buildings in the town, and is home to over one hundred and thirty people.

The town was a large staging camp for WWII troops, using the railway to allow access for mass troop movements to Alice Springs and on to northern Australia.

A most famous speech of the World War Two era was made in the town during a visit by General Douglas MacArthur, who in his famous speech declared for the first time "I shall return". The speech referred to retaking the Philippines, the Pacific islands that the Japanese had overrun.

Traveldriven

DRIVE ADELAIDE TO BROKEN HILL