We started the day with a visit to Birdsville Bakery, just like a lot of other travellers. Thereafter we started the long trek down the legendary Birdsville Track to the town of Marree. The track was in much better condition than we had expected though there was a lot of small scale water damage with most of the small creek crossings being rough. There was also a lot of water still around in the paddocks beside the track and in ponds in the creeks. We only encountered maybe half a dozen pools actually on the track that we needed to cross.

The recent rains and floods have turned the country through which the track passes into a green wonderland interspersed with red rock of the Sturt Rocky Desert. The land is almost unendingly flat except for sand dunes that run approximately north-south and hence parallel the track. We read at one information board that some of the dunes are 250km long. It is mind blowing to think of the drovers who moved herds of cattle along this track in the late 1800s and early 1900s. The monotony, heat and flies must have been horrible and they must have been tougher than us tourists as we travel in our air conditioned vehicles and still complain about the heat and flies.

We spent the night in the campground at Mungerannie Staion Hotel. A nice night.