Weekend rain to make a further impact on Lake Eyre and the Outback

There has been more considerable widespread rain across the northern South Australia and into Queensland over the last few days which will certainly further enhance water going into Lake Eyre as well as freshening up the country side yet again. Innamincka recorded near 40mm which sees the roads still shut for a few more weeks as the Cooper Creek is flowing over a meter above the causeway.

Birdsville Pub recorded about 25mm or an inch in the “old scale” and with this bonus rainfall, it will really freshen up the Outback country no end! Timing was not great for us as we did have a 2 day Lake Eyre & Outback Ultimate Weekender scheduled , but we did see this rain forecasted early on in the past week and made the call early to cancel and reschedule to another date. This was the least that we could do for our guests who are paying good money for an experience of a lifetime with our Outback & Lake Eyre tours and it would not have sat at all comfortably with us if we knew that passengers were flying in low cloud, rain and very little visibility. Coupled with these conditions, trying to land on a very sticky Innamincka airstrip or at the Dig Tree would have been tricky at the very least! The rescheduled date is now July 14-15th with 4 vacancies remaining and more details can be found on our website at Goin’ Off Safaris.

The great Coongie Lakes are again at its peak and is a spectacle and an array of bird and wildlife, which is unbelievable to see. Lake Eyre filling is still of great interest and local rainfall of 16mm at the Marree region will definitely make creeks run to again empty out into the lake just like the Warburton River & the Cooper Creek are doing so at the moment. Below is an image supplied by “The Sentimental Bloke”, Peter MacDonald of the Warburton Groove showing water running into Lake Eyre north. He has also taken a superb image of the Margaret Range on the worlds largest cattle station, Anna Creek. We fly just to the south of this range on our 3 day Supreme Scenic Safari enroute to Coober Pedy and Peter has perfectly captured this beautiful countryside in its glory after summer rainfall.

Had a mate catch up with David Brooks, one of the big cattle station owners around Birdsville. He commented that he has not seen the country any better in all of his life, which can be backed up by many others a lot older than David himself. So much so that they are even baling hay of cattle feed which is extraordinary! You can see by the picture below how well his cattle look & the amount of tucker that is available in this part of the country. Bloody good luck them I reckon and there will be some very happy locals at the Birdsville races again this year!