7 April 2024
We arrived in Windorah at around 3pm on Saturday. We’d planned to try the free camp behind the Western Star Hotel, but when we went to the front door, they weren’t open. A sign told us that hours had been shortened due to the extensive rain that has been falling over the last month or two, even though this is traditionally the start of the tourist season. We decided not to wait and instead went a block up the road and set up in the one caravan park here.
A few other guests at the caravan park soon told us that they had planned to leave on Sunday but couldn’t as there were no options to get fuel. The local servo had electrical issues stopping their pumps working, and the local cafe / general store / second fuel option had closed at lunchtime on Saturday and wouldn’t open again until Monday. People are warned out here to have plenty of fuel on board before leaving town given the remoteness, so it was critical to get fuel.
Nicole and I went to the Western Star Hotel for a drink and enjoyed a few beers out the front. We met a young lady who was travelling from Adelaide to a property 75km outside Birdsville as a governess. She’d had to take the long way around to get here to avoid flooded roads and was also short on fuel for her next travel leg.
So, we had a chat to the publican who thought something should be done. He called the cafe and was fortunately able to negotiate it opening for an hour from 8:00am to 9:00am Sunday morning. So, there we were, at 8:00am in the morning, four vehicles lined up ready to take on fuel, hopefully making the owner’s efforts to open worthwhile. However, there was no option to buy anything else aside from fuel, so we’ll have to stock up on groceries at Longreach.
While we expected remoteness, this was a reminder that you definitely can’t take anything for granted out here. Except flies!!
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