Big Red

A large slice of the town plus and an area the size of Victoria is owned by the one family who run cattle for export.The impact of these cattle holdings can be seen in the landscape on the way in to Birdsville. The red soil patchworked by green pastures and lagoons comes as a real surprise when you see it for the first time. When there’s plenty of water around the outback looks benign. I can only imagine what a drought might look like.

However, the green doesn’t hide the long red sand dunes that herald desert country. It was a chance conversation that teased a ‘must see’ into my brain – the Big Red. A sand dune famous for it’s size and the sunsets. Signposted at Birdsville 38klms away and now the backdrop for The Big Red Bash Music Festival. Sounded irresistible, so around 4pm I took a run to see for myself.

Of course, I forgot to bring the portable compressor with me, so any idea of hill climbing to the top was off the table. As it was, the drive in from the main road was challenge enough with plenty of water still pooling on the main track, requiring some ad hoc detours. Five minutes later I had parked at the bottom and started the climb to the top, with still and hour and a half to sunset. As views go, it was OK, but not a pinch on Deon’s Lookout. But, the colours were fantastic with the red earth changing hue every few minutes.

Two kinds of people go out to see Big Red – the sunset’ers and the hill climbers. It seems that climbing this sand dune via the steepest incline possible, is a rite of passage for many 4WD enthusiasts as well as the dirt bike rider. Some spectators were enthusiastically engaged in watching the ‘heroics’, while the sunset’ers attitude ranged from curiosity to disdain. The tour bus arrived in due course and the boomers set up with their white wine and nibblies.

In the meantime, trudging up and down sand dunes was taking it’s toll and I was glad when the sun levelled out with the horizon and I could sit back and catch my breath. Out of the blue, my mate Ken rang, glowing about the moon in the early evening sky and how I should get a pic while the going was good. Now mind you, he’s ringing from Sydney, nearly 2000klm away, but the heads up proved prescient. I left early to find some sort of vantage point on the way back to town.

Which brings me to The Big Red Bash. I had tried to score a gig as a photographer for this annual bash, but missed out. It’s held in the shadow of Big Red and the event ground is probably about 50 acres. But at $729.00 a ticket plus on site accom at $190.00 for three nights, it was like oooooh, yeah nah. Besides, the line -up was sooo 80’s. Mind you, a Pink Floyd tribute band doing Dark Side of the Moon and Wish You Were Here in this setting, under the night sky and a crescent moon. Well……