We finally made it to Boulia for the fun, frivolity and shit loads of wind & dust at the yearly camel races; the races follow a circuit around several country towns but Boulia is the cream of the crop, if you see any forget the rest and make your way here and see this one.
Once again make sure you stock up as there is only one store here that sells everything and I mean everything, from bread, milk and normal grocery lines to TV's, tiles, hydraulic oil in 44 gal drums, hardware, generators and bags of cement. Suppose they have to as either way (Winton or Isa) to buy anything is 300km +.
Cost per person for the 3 day event was $40 and for that they open up the grounds for free camping for the week prior and up to a week after the event so it is not a bad deal. The ground has an amenities block with hot & cold water and showers which is bore supplied but very clean and drinkable (no smells or bugs to worry about). You had to pick your time for the showers; mid morning and mid to late afternoon may see you short of hot water.
The road to Boulia from Isa is 320km or from Winton 360km so it all depends which way you want to travel. Either way the road is single lane with a wide shoulder either side, if road trains approach make sure you get completely off the bitumen and stop. These rigs are 53mt in length and 3 or 4 trailers long; the last thing you want is the oncoming rig hitting the dirt on one side (40 plus tyres) and throwing stones and dirt everywhere.
The above is part of the morning training on the lead up to the events which take place mainly Saturday & Sunday; we arrived on the Tuesday to make sure we got a good spot for the van. The training involves a lot of camels being let out on the track and 2 or 3 guys on quad bikes behind the pack giving them some encouragement to get a move on.
Boulia's red stump advising that west of here is the Simpson Desert.
Boulia's only pub the Australian Hotel; this one is also on the top 30 to see in Queensland; beer is $5 a can to either drink in or take away, glad I picked up a few in Isa before heading here.
Market stalls were set up by some visitors (6 or so stalls in total); this guy seemed more interested in knitting hats for his stall stall rather than get involved in the race events, this is the second bloke I know who likes this sort of stuff; one of our readers knows who the other is.
Getting here early was a good choice as we managed to get a good camp spot near the amenities; from here we could reach with about 3 hoses to fill the tanks up when required rather than cart water in containers.
Although there was quite a few in when we arrived the camping ground swelled considerably from the Wednesday on, from a town that normally boasts a population of 300 the numbers go out to 3000+ for this event.
One of the races in progress; over the weekend there was about 16 in total.
This was another event to behold called “camel tagging”; it is quite simple to explain but not so easy or quick to do. Several camels are let loose in an arena where the object is to tag the camel by sticking a piece of duct tape to the camel, run back to a marker and then chase the same camel and retrieve the tape, fastest man (or woman) wins. You can see the duct tape near the camels hump which has just been put on.
A photo with the winner of the cup and in case you are wondering the winner is the beast in the background with a hump, not me.
The blokes had to be quick at night time if you wanted a bit of you know what; the trick is be early so you don't end up with an ugly one.
This was one of several signs around the camp and racetrack area; apparently there have been some quite painful but funny accidents like people being so pissed they have fallen into camp fires, it seems if you do this you sober up quite quickly.
This was our Boulia family; a great crew that got together to enjoy daytime races and nighttime happy hour and a good camp fire. Hope you are all well and still living the dream and hopefully we will catch up soon (don't forget we need side access!!!!).
Don't know if anyone watches channel 7 and the morning show Sunrise but if you do you will know this guy David Koch, nicknamed “Kochie”, how he made it way out here had me stumped.
One of the many nightly fires enjoyed by us all at Boulia.
This was a fantastic place to be and we would highly recommend it to anyone who wants to experience the raw environment and great hospitality Boulia has to offer. The people we met and the friendships we made will stay with us for a long time to come; the deeper you delve into what these small outback towns and communities have to offer the more you want to see.
Hope you have enjoyed our Boulia experience; take note this event is on every year on the second weekend of July; you can find out more by contacting the Boulia tourist info centre and if you go make sure you see the Min Min lights show in town, the cost is $15p/p and it is worth every cent.
Love & warm regards to all – David & Linda – The DavLin Rig
