Day 8 Birdsville

We lined all the aircraft up for gas and then taxied them down to park across the road from the pub. Tied the machines down, unpacked the gear and loaded most of it onto a little bus from the caravan park that Andrew had booked us into for the evening. Originally we planned to take the sunset tour out to Big Red, and even though it was cut off the tour guide offered to find us an alternative. His wife had just been airlifted to hospital though and we thought it unfair to take him away from the phone. We were more than happy to explore the town and then the hotel, where we gradually grew tired and emotional through a quality-assured process of measured hydration.

Most of us wandered over to the bakery for one of their famous pies and Majella and I tried out their quondong tart which was both tart and sweet. Bill, Helen, Majella, Nat and Harriet took in the local Museum which is also something of a legend. Some also wandered across to the local art gallery and admired yet another German's etchings. But the gravitational pull of the whole place is towards the pub and it was not long before we found ourselves in the bar. Anyone taking a photo (or wearing their baseball cap backwards) had to make a gold coin donation to the RFDS and there was half a beer keg mounted high on the wall for the money. I gave Sam and Zac some coins and showed them how to do it in what must have been one of the most inept demonstrations of coin tossing ever witnessed.  Once the boys got in on the act though there were coins flying in all directions and the target didn't seem to be in any danger of taking a hit.  I  was just as hopeless as Sam and Zac and that was before an ounce of liquid refreshment had passed my lips.  We all had a few rounds in the bar and then moved outside onto the verandah - some members of the party completely disgraced themselves by drinking on the footpath! What part of 'It is forbidden to consume alcohol beyond this sign' don't you understand.  Photographs of the Birdsville Races on show in the hotel, however, demonstrated that ours was not the first infringement.

The little town is a staging post for 4W Drivers taking the Birdsville track south through the Strezlecki desert to Maree (or north from there to Windorah), and west along the QAA line to Poepell's corner and Dalhousie Springs on the other side of the desert. This latter was the route taken by Dustin and his mates in 2010. With the tracks cut south and west, however, there was not much point and so the place was well down on numbers.  So we pretty much had the pub to ourselves as we slowly whiled away the afternoon and early evening watching the late arrivals joust with the cross-wind and the birds as they came into land over our shoulders. Our super heroes played on the footpath and the road, which is pretty quiet, and we all took it easy and enjoyed each others company.  The bulk of the trip was now in the skies behind us and we were good - a little wistful perhaps - but good.

We chatted to a few other pilots who flew in and watched the sun set slowly over the silhouettes of our aircraft. Then we retired to the dining room for dinner and a few more drinks. Soon after we grabbed the ceremonial rums and wandered back to our digs. Anthony triumphed in a quick game of Pass the Pigs, which pleased Sam, and then we slipped away to bed. This was our last evening together. Tomorrow we would all go home.