16.7.19 - Birdsville common camp to Bashville.

A slower start this am. Pack up and into/through town. Dump stop for Meg n Stef. I stopped at Hardware to see if they had door seal to fashion a seal for Ska’s back door. No luck. 

We met at stockyards to head out to the base of Big Red and Bashville, which is the actual music festival we have come to in the edge of the Simpson Desert. The festival has sold out - 10 000 tickets evidently. 

The run out of town was still green either side and moving freely. 

A few vehicles ahead - Stef, Steve and Phil

And a few random others. 

Turning towards Bashville along the sandsune that is the start of Big Red. 

Pulling into marshalling area to get checked and directions to where we can camp. 

This was as much of a queue as we had. 

We did a basic set up to secure our site, then headed to the Redarc Plaza and concert area to participate in the Butbuah world record attempt. 

Walking to the  Redarc Plaza ready for Nutbusg record attempt at 12.00. 

We arrived, purchased our tickets - $10 to the Royal Flying Doctor Service. The previous attempt was last year with 1719 people taking part. 

Here we are. 

Ready to go with our stickers indicating which line and which participant we are. 

Into the concert area - counted through by World Record counters. Lined up in line 49 - second back row. 

Looking to the stage over the heads of others. 

A pano of the dancers ready to go b

We learnt that we 2 330 people who have to dance the Nutbush for five minutes with 90% accuracy. 

After a successful attempt, we headed back via the Merchandise tent to purchase our BRB goodies. Quite a few items already sold out. 

A coffee on the return trip to camp for a bit of phaffing with solar panels. There was a group if box heads who decided our site was a good cut through to the stage area. We were not pleased. Sarah gave them a bit of a serve to no avail. They then continued on through the fenced off area in front of our site - no clue! 

SO we got out  ropes between vehicles to cut them off and got Sarah’s and Dundek’s tent etc set up to mark our territory a bit clearer. 

Our sites. 

Solar panels doing their thing. 

Our 4 sites as one group. 

My home. 

Mary chopped up the leftover roast meat with some gravy, I had some sandwich thins and cheese. It was delicious. 

We sat around in the sun for a bit, more fiddling with various solar power things, before packing up the cart and heading down to the stage for the concert. We packed Megs cart. 

Phil and I pulling the cart. 

Hands up if you can hear us up the back 

Mary’s selfie

My selfie. 

We had listened to Dale Ryder from camp then arrived for Mark Williams from Dragon, followed by Steve Balbi from Misex. 

Mary and I went for a look around the Redarc Plaza, there is a number of food vendors some sponsors and other stakeholders with things for sale. 

I reckon the pork here would be good looking at the oven thing at the back. 

Here we are enjoying the last of the sunshine 

Here is the moon. One night off full. 

Looking to the stage. 

More moon 

It’s getting colder. 

I took a quick walk back to camp to put some thermals on and jacket etc, by the time I walked back to the stage I was too hot. 

The nights entertainment was good and the lights with Big Red as a backdrop is stunning. 

The Night entertainment was supposed to be Wendy Matthews who is unwell, so they brought forward Richard Clapton then a special group off all the artists plus back up band and the MC doing a tribute to The Easybeats - which is was good entertainment. 

I grabbed some Mexican Smokey beef quesadilla which was yummy. 

View of the stage from the walk back from camp. 

Sunset over Bashville

View from the food truck area. 

The stage with BIG RED in the dune in lights. 

At the end they all came on stage for final song Gonna have a good time tonight and we ventured up to mosh pit for a photo. When I got there I didn’t have my phone. I retraced steps to no avail. Luckily Stef stayed with gear I grabbed his phone/torch and went back again and found it partially sticking out of the dust - phew. 

Closer shots courtesy of Mary and Kate 

The lighting on Big Red - super effective. 

Then we packed our cart and pulled and pushed and dragged it back through the sand/dust. At least Steve, Sarah, Mary and I did. It certainly warmed us up. 

Mary had ‘set’ the fire in the fire pit so it was ready to go, with some chocolate and White Chocolate Port. 

It’s cool, but ok when the breeze dies down. 

Fire in the hole.