Sign Post Birdsville

Birdsville is a small town located in the Channel Country of Central West Queensland, Australia. It is 1590 kilometres west of the state capital, Brisbane, and 720 kilometres south of the city of Mount Isa. Birdsville is on the edge of the Simpson Desert, and the climate is very arid. At the 2011 census, Birdsville had a population of 283.
Birdsville was known as Diamantina Crossing from 1881. Later the name Birdsville was adopted believing to be on account of the prolific bird life in the district. Proclaimed a town in 1887, Birdsville was located at the border of South Australia and Queensland to collect tolls from the droves of cattle being moved interstate.
Many of Australia's pioneering European explorers travelled through the Birdsville district well before the town was gazetted. Monuments to acknowledge the feats of Captain Charles Sturt, Burke & Wills, Madigan and others are located throughout the town.
Birdsville had a population of over 300 at the turn of the twentieth century. It had three hotels, a cordial factory, blacksmith store, market gardens, police and customs facilities but after Federation in 1901, the tolls were abolished and the town fell into decline to about 50 throughout the 1950s. Livestock trade kept the region alive and in recent times tourism has joined cattle as the major industry in the area.
When proclaimed the town had three hotels, two stores, a customs house for interstate trade, a police station and a large collection of commercial buildings but in 2007 there was just one hotel serving canned or bottled beer, library, visitor information centre, museum and a hospital. Today Birdsville is a popular tourist destination with many people using it as a stopping point across the Simpson Desert. It is also known for the annual Birdsville Races, which are held in September each year in aid of the Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia. The tiny town population is augmented by many thousands for the two day event, and hundreds of aircraft fill the town's 1,700 metres (1,859 yd) airstrip. In 2010 the races were cancelled for the first time in the event's history due to rain.
Birdsville also has an 80 kW geothermal power station, the only one of its type in Australia. Water is extracted from an 80-year-old bore on the Great Artesian Basin at 98 °C and is used to heat the operating fluid isopentane in a Rankine Cycle engine. The geothermal plant produces around one third of the town's electricity. The water (once cooled) is also the source of the town's drinking water. Birdsville is very much on a lot of peoples "bucket list" if they have a caravan or a 4 wheel drive. An ordinary road car will do the journey if you take precautions and a couple spare tires.

I put this blip up for people outside of Australia so that you can have an idea of distances, to get to Mt. Dare it is a couple of days and there is 1,114 sand dunes in the way between 10 - 30 meters