The morning was grey and we were slow to get up, we had no intention of driving today. After a simple breakfast we headed the five minutes into town and up to the Big Blue I to find out more about heading to Birdsville. Convinced this was not on because of the weather we need to start to make alternative plans.

When I mentioned our intentions to the lady at the information centre she also sucked her breath in deeply and one of the other helpers muttered something about one of the tracks being closed. It seemed more like my plan of driving to Birdsville and down the track as a way to the Red Centre was not going to happen. The staff directed us to material on Charleville and we contented ourselves at looking at this. Al had decided she wanted to go and see the Flying Doctor information centre,  we had some repairs to our gear to do and we needed to make a plan B.

As we were browsing a guy came in and asked for the conditions of the road to Birdsville, my ears pricked up and I went to the counter. They told us they would check for both of us and rung ahead to Quilpie a town 220 kms west of Charleville on the road. It appears it hadn’t rained at all that far west and with sealed roads all the way, they said come out anyway. Well the guy asking didn’t need any more telling he just got into his vehicle and took off.

We now felt comfortable, it appeared the rain was local and there was no concern, we will find out for sure tomorrow when we head west again. I am now looking forward to it.

We went straight to the RFDS (Royal Flying Doctor Service) where we watched a video on the history of the service and inspected all the photos, stories and equipment that showed the background and history of this great service. It was very enjoyable and I got to pretend I was a radio operator again.

I spent the rest of the afternoon writing the log and relaxing around the camp before another big drive tomorrow.