Moving the front wheel to the rear
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OUTBACK DISASTER
AVERTED
WORDS AND IMAGES : GRANT AND LINDA HANAN , MY AUSSIE TRAVEL GUIDE
AN ENCOUNTER WITH A BROKEN-DOWN TRAVELLER ON THE BIRDSVILLE TRACK SERVES AS AN EXCELLENT REMINDER OF HOW QUICKLY THINGS CAN GO PEAR-SHAPED WHEN YOU ’ RE UNDER-PREPARED .
Australia is such a big country – at some stage your travelling journey could see you on a dirt road or two . And if you find yourself around northern South Australia or south-west Queensland , one of these could be the Birdsville Track . This 500-plus kilometres of outback dirt road is iconic , to say the least .
It runs through three deserts between Marree and Birdsville , so it ’ s pretty remote and you can ’ t be complacent or take anything for granted . When people have differing opinions and perceptions of road conditions in general , it ’ s not until you have first-hand experience that you truly get a real sense of the conditions . Suffice to say , the Birdsville Track isn ’ t the type you treat as if you ’ re simply going on a Sunday drive .