Well, the week of the Birdsville Races has finally arrived! After four days in Birdsville, we can’t remember what the weather is like if it isn’t 38 degrees with next to no shade.
Our last day in Longreach was Tuesday, which we celebrated with a trip to the river with our friend Liz and her family, who had generously let us stay with us for a few days and taught us the valuable lesson that corn thins with peanut butter is the ultimate road trip snack.
We headed to Windorah on Wednesday, where Victoria from the information centre had us learning the best Russell Coight moves from South Aussie traveller Lucas, who we then battled it out with playing human-sized snakes and ladders (photo below). We watched a beautiful sunset at Sando’s Sandhill and attempted to line dance on the sand dune – turns out that’s tricky – before heading back to Victoria’s for a feed of fresh yabbies… yum!
On Thursday we hit the road to Birdsville, stopping in at Betoota on the way to challenge some strangers in pool. Despite hating running, we both gave the RFDS Fun Run a go in Birdsville on Friday, then went for a dip in the Birdsville Lagoon, had a token curry camel pie at the Birdsville bakery and ventured out to Big Red for the sunset.
We drove to Big Red again on Saturday morning and watched vehicles attempt to drive up the dunes… often getting one metre from the top and then doing the ‘crawl of shame’ back down. We hit the pub afterwards, were entertained by the CrackUp Sisters, and then ran into a group of Victorians who had spare tickets to the cocktail party on Saturday night… we danced the night away to the Memphis Moovers, with a few enthusiastic newbies keen to learn some bootscooting. We then camped with our new Vic friends and enjoyed a delicious cooked brekky together on Sunday morning. A top group!
As for the races, we learned quickly betting isn’t for us. No wins, but a great day, and we’re keen for tomorrow! Later this week we’ll head south through Marree and the Flinders Ranges, then out the Yunta for the hoedown-themed Yunta Easter Tennis Tournament.
Yours in boot-scootin’
Kate and Claire.
Comments