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Contrasts in the outback constantly change.

The plane had a full tank and the mail to deliver on the return south the next day had been deposited with the Post Office here.  We again reload it on our return.  It was now a longish 70-minute nonstop flight to Boulia over "channel country", noted for the vast number of dry creek beds in the area.  We passed over the Tropic of Capricorn, en route.

Boulia is a town of about 250, mainly council-run, with the council workers responsible for road maintenance in the area.

It took time for the pilot to refuel for the next day, complete the paper work formalities, and put the plane to rest for the evening.  It was just after sunset, about 6:30, when we set out in the pickup truck for the 5-minute drive into town.  I checked into the new Desert Sands Motel and was informed I should walk the short 2 blocks to the Australian Hotel, where tea would be served at 7.  Tea at 7?  I was more in the mood for a couple of ice cold beers and a steak!

I passed through the bar, crowded with locals and truck drivers, to the dining room, where a table for the two outsiders in town on this Saturday night had been readied.  Another lesson in Australian English.  Meals here are:  Breakfast, Dinner, Tea and if you have a late evening snack, that's supper.  I had that cold beer with my Tea!

Saturday night, the dining room was full of locals and all eyes were on the television over our heads.  I couldn't see what was getting so much attention until Jeff explained it was election day in Queensland and the results were coming in.  The Populist Australian politician, Pauline Hanson, a fish and chip proprieter,  was about to grab a quarter of the vote, giving her party the possibility of holding the balance of power in Queensland.  Her ultra-conservative One Nation Party has wooed disgruntled voters from the established conservative parties with populist policies against Asian immigration, aboriginal welfare, foreign investment and foreign trade.

NOTE:  In May, 2000, she is no longer in politics.

Outback people may not only prefer country life, even under these severe conditions, they even dislike city life to a point of hatred.  Jeff had been raised in the Outback and only tolerated the city to obtain his dream of a commercial pilot's license.  He described disgustedly getting into an elevator in Sydney and saying, "G'day" to the business people only to have them all simply look away in silence.  He had spent 3 hours in the Sydney train station trying to find how to buy a ticket.  When he asked people, "How do I get on a train?", they not only ignored him, but nearly ran to get away!  The result is that to this day he has never been aboard a train!  He could find no true friends in the city, not like the wonderful friends he has across this vast Outback.  "Amazing, they lock doors in the city!"  Fancy having to worry about the day of the week - here only mail day is important!  Then, with a glittering smile, he told of delivering a tricycle for a young girl's birthday two weeks ago, and how she was already tearing open the box as he lifted it from the plane.  "I made her day!"  On the Christmas week run, the pilot wears a Santa Claus cap!

There was a counter at one end of the restaurant, with 9 chrome bar stools, and the ubiquitous "telly" overhead.  The counter was used only as a service area, so the kids had gotten up on the stools, kneeling with elbows resting on the bar and chins in hands, glued to the TV.  I couldn't see what they were watching, but commented that it must be something kids waited all week to see.  Jeff laughed, "It's TV!  The program is not important!"

Moving to the bar in the next room, where perhaps 70 people were gathered, I asked Jeff what the local drink was, I could at least seem informed when I ordered.  I had taken only a sip of my XXXX (4X lager) when the truck driver on my left shouted, "Shit, that stuff will eat out your insides!  Get yourself a Gold!"  I left the lager can sitting on the bar and joined the locals changing to a XXXX Gold!  About half were barefoot aborigines, with not more than 4 teeth each.  One of them took quite a liking to me immediately.  She was not 5 feet (150cm) tall, had hair pulled tightly back into a ponytail, was shaped like a pear and was toothless, except for a single lonely eye tooth.  I had no idea how old she could be, but found out later, she was about 40.  She had been working the bar all evening to get the guys to buy her a beer.  From the looks of things, she had been quite successful!

One of the truckers told me they were leaving at 3am for Brisbane and were going to drink till time to leave.  I found out it was a 3-day drive and wondered how often they stopped to rest.  A few well-placed four-letter words explained it clearly - they don't! I assumed they drank till 3 as they wouldn't be able to drink again till Brisbane - wrong!  The cases of beer were already in the truck!  You should see these trucks.  They are called "Road Trains".  That's 3 semi-trailers behind one tractor and it is about 50 meters (164 ft.) long. Seems there's no speed limit out here, so watch out!   (It's easy to speak the local bar language.  Just insert the "F" word between every other word you utter!)

Early Sunday morning, we were en route again.  There was a new load of mail from Boulia, all sorted and carefully loaded, to make quick access at each stop.  First was Sandringham with a soft red dirt runway.  This station is 1,700 sq. miles.  Then, just a short 10 minutes to Bedourie, a small town of 30 is located on the banks of Eyre Creek.  We were met by the seventy something local part-time postal agent, Jean Smith, who had plenty of opinionated right-wing comments about "Labour bleeding the country", "Black welfare money thrown away" and a host of other opinions, but we must move on.

It was 10 minutes to Glengyle, a 3,000 sq. mile station on Eyre Creek.  As we descended, 3 large flocks of pelicans were spotted flying over the creek.  While some crates of machinery parts were unloaded, I was introduced to Hiroko, from Sendai, Japan.  She had arrived only 2 weeks previously for an extended stay of six months or more, on an Australian working-holiday visa.  She was very excited to find someone who could speak Japanese, but even more so to find a letter from Japan in the bag.

We traveled on past Durrie, 4,500 sq. miles, and on to Roseberth.  The mailbox at Roseberth is the one I am delivering the mail to in the photo.  After only a 6-minute flight we landed again at Birdsville to refuel, have lunch and continue, with Joyce and Bob now back aboard.

I moved back to my seat behind Bob, where I found it most comfortable with a nice big window on my right side that gave me a wonderful view of the scenery without having to look stretch for a view over dash board up front. 

The folk from Pandie Pandie had been to Birdsville for a night on the town and had picked up the mail, so we skipped that stop and continued to Clifton Hills, where we were delayed a bit as folks rushed to the house to retrieve a forgotten letter.  It would be a week before the next change to mail it!  It was on to Cowarie where a dad brought along his son and a friend, both in 1st level (1st grade), to meet the plane, reminding that most kids in the outback study by radio from "The School of the Air".  Joyce commented that they were wearing neat casual clothes and the father was freshly shaved!  "Of course, it's Sunday," was the reply. 

We were up again and by now had become well-acquainted with who we were - we were "Alpha Charlie Zulu".  Our plane was assigned "ACZ" as its code.  On each take-off, change-of-course or altitude, the pilot reports to Brisbane, if in Queensland, or Melbourne, if in South Australia.  For identification he uses the ACZ code, or "Alpha Charlie Zulu".  This way too, if anything goes wrong, headquarters  have a way of  knowing approximately where the plane is located.

What happens if someone has an accident or becomes suddenly ill on one of the stations?  A airborne doctor is summoned from the nearest Flying Doctor Hospital.  At this time, there is no charge for this service.  We were told that, in a span of only a couple of months, one of the stations had had 3 calls for the Flying Doctor as the local kids suffered a series of accidents including a broken arm, seriously cut face and other mishaps. 

At Mungeranie, we landed right along the Birdsville Track and were met by a couple who have a camper / RV camp now hosting about 12,500 tourists a year.  Driving the outback has become a popular vacation for Australians.  Ten minutes later, we landed at Mulka, where we were greeted by a most gracious pair, Margie and Garry Overton.  Garry has been manager of the station for 7 years, having taken over from his brother who had been the owner for 15 years.  According to the Guiness Book of Records, this is the driest inhabited spot on earth.  Only 3-4 inches of rain fall in a year.  It sprinkled rain as we crawled out of the plane to stretch a bit.  Margie and Garry answered our many questions with aplomb but also offered an amazing look into outback life.

"Do you have a television?"  "No, we could and may someday, but not now."  "What do you miss?"  "We would enjoy being able to keep up a bit more on current events."  "What do you do in the evenings?"  "Oh, we listen to CD's, read, watch some video, but mostly, we talk to each other."

Margie orders canned and packaged good by fax.  A delivery truck comes by every 2 weeks.  The truck also transports frozen goods.  The system works quite well as long as you don't forget something important.  What is missed are fresh vegetables.  Margie described how she was trying to overcome that.  They have an above ground swimming pool that has proven rather useless as it simply gets too hot in summer to use.  She mulched up some of the desert soil, filled the pool 1/2 full and she now has a veggie garden.  In fact, they were featured a few weeks back on the front page of the garden section of a weekend national newspaper with photos of their lawn and garden.  Put a bit of water on this soil and it will grow most any thing, but getting the crop to market along with cultivating in the harsh hot climate of summer makes it impractical.  The time and cost of trucking the crop to market would make the effort meaningless.

Bob pointed out to us the amazing variety of desert plants, most of which cattle can eat sometime during the life cycle of the plant, provide wondrous nutrition.  The Overtons currently have 1,000 head of cattle grazing, but the ranch could handle 4,000 head.

Water?  Amazingly there is an abundant supply.  In the 1890's the government drilled wells at an average depth of 3,500 to 5,000 ft. (almost a mile) deep and inserted 10 inch (20.54 cm) bores.  These were to provide watering points 25 miles apart, for the thousands of cattle that were walked some 600 miles down the Birdsville Track from Queensland to the South Australian markets.  The water comes up under enough pressure, like a geyser.  There is so much pressure that water could be pushed through pipes an additional 45 miles (72.45km)!  The original bores have had several seams added over the years until now the bore is only about 4 inches (10.16 cm) in diameter.  The government and ranchers are currently debating maintenance responsibilities.
 

I faxed a copy of my article to Margie and Garry Overton at Mulka Station to have it checked for accuracy.  They  responded, and added a few points of interest of their own.  I share these comments with you:

22 June 1998

John,

Marree is the closest town with any sort of conveniences, "no Big Macs" here!  It is some 200 kms (124 mls) down the track from Mulka.  We usually take our swags or bed rolls whenever visiting friends or neighbours as the return trip is generally much too daunting to even contemplate doing the same day. We think of the Birdsville Track as one long street although geographically neighbours are up to 4 hours away.  We always think of distance in terms of time as the road and weather conditions vary so dramatically.  It is nothing to travel 3 to 4 hours to attend a function.  Each individual station may hold functions which may be social or work related.  The Mungerannie Hotel which is the last "watering hole" in South Australia seems to be the focal point for the locals along the track.  We have had several theme nights eg. Italian, South American, where we dress in costume and carry the theme through with the food, music, decorations and the children also carrying through to their school work. The Camel Cup is a great local event (Camel Races) and is well patronized by locals and tourists.  Ringers (stockmen) will travel for 2 to 3 hours for these events and also just to have a beer, particularly at the completion of mustering.

Birdsville is 380 kms (236 mls) from Mulka Station and takes 3 to 4 hours to drive.  Margie is the relief nursing sister at the hospital and is on call to relieve for annual leave, sick leave, etc. and usually works for 1 to 2 weeks at a time.

                                                Signed - G.K. Overton - Mulka Station