Farina to Birdsville

4/7. Decided to have breakfast in the 'town' and very nice it was too.  Did the shopping, posted the Grandkids postcards etc, stocked up with alcohol and off we went.  Lyndhurst was one of those amazing disappointments but we have got used to them now.  We got to Farina and it is a lovely spot.  We will probably stay for two nights and just chill.  Then off to Lake Eyre- so close to where we have been wanting to go for a long time.

6/7. We did stay for two nights at Farina.  It was such a lovely place.  The ruins were amazing and I took lots of bird photos, no surprise there!  Saw my first Letter Winged Kite, what a beautiful bird.  Steve took some night shots of the ruins. 

In Maree we saw Tom Kruse's truck, he was an Outback Legend delivering the mail to Birdsville across the desert, sad to see he had passed away only the week before aged 96.   We headed for Lake Eyre but had to stay about 45 klm away in a place called Mulroonia by the Frome River.  Top spot again.  Lots of birds and a quiet place too.  Listened to the State of Origin, a night to remember eh!!!   (Pete....)

7/7. So, Lake Eyre.  Amazing place, nothing there, but a spectacular nothing if that makes sense.  We walked 1.8 klm to the waters edge through salt encrusted mud.  We paddled in the lake and Steve set the Spot It going so you could see we were there.  It was like Christmas Day.  I took a photo of the one bird we saw which is a bit ironic as one of the main reasons for going was for the birds!!  Too salty though.  It didn't matter.

We left LE and drove to a place called Clayton on the Birdsville Track.

8/7. This was a good stop.  We had a quiet night and jumped in the Artesian Spa bath (bush version) the next morning.  It was so hot and just fantastic.  What a treat.

The Birdsville Track is in very good condition and we just scooted along.  We only found out a couple of days previously that the river had flooded again at Cooper Creek so we got to cross the river on the boat after all.  Another tick in our box.  It was lovely there and Steve got his fishing rod out again and I got a photo of a Black Shouldered Kite.  It kept us both happy.  

We then got back on to the Birdsville Track and drove to our next camp spot at the Mungarannie  Hotel.  This was next to some marshes and became a very busy camp site.  So many people stopped for the night.  There aren't too many places on the Track to stop!  it proved to be very cold and we ended up with frost on the tent again.  A big brrrr .  It took us a while to defrost. 

Next morning we passed a natural hot spring beside the track, thermometer measured the water temperature at 92 deg C !!!

Doing the Birdsville Track the hard way!

9/7. We arrived at Birdsville quite late after a long drive from Mungarinnie.  It didn't stop us walking the 2 klms to the Birdsville Hotel though.  We had a couple of drinks, saw another note lamenting the passing of Tom Kruse, and spent a cold night in the middle nowhere!