Bobby Dazzler Newsletter
Issue #3, March 2003
The Great Bobby Dazzler Quiz
Keep your brain in top shape by taking the Bobby Dazzler Quiz! Here's the minimum score (out of 20) we think you should get if you've still got reasonable control of your faculties:
1. If you're an Aussie who's been on a Bobby Dazzler Tour: 12
2. If you're an Aussie who hasn't been on a BD Tour: 7
3. If you're a non-Aussie who's been on a BD Tour: 7
4. If you're a non-Aussie who hasn't been on a BD Tour: 2 (guessing has to pay off sometimes!)
If you get at least 4 more than the relevant score, you're either very well informed about the Australian Outback or else you're cheating.
The implications are clear: if you want to increase your knowledge of this kind of life-changing info, either come on a Bobby Dazzler Tour, or become an Aussie, or both.
The answers are given at the end of the questions.
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QUESTION 1: How is the hole down the middle of a didgeridoo traditionally created?
QUESTION 2: The aboriginal name for The Olgas in the Northern Territory is Katatjuta. What does it mean?
QUESTION 3: What mode of transport is The Ghan?
QUESTION 4: The Flinders Ranges in South Australia are named after whom?
QUESTION 5: In which Australian state or territory is:
a) Yulara
b) Wee Waa
c) Finke
d) Coober Pedy
e) Tibooburra
f ) Cradock
QUESTION 6: Marree is the town at the southern end of the Oodnadatta Track. It used to be called Herrgott Springs. Why was the name changed?
QUESTION 7: A cattle thief pioneered a cross-country droving route which later became one of Australia's famous "Tracks". Who was the cattle thief, and which Track?
QUESTION 8: At Cameron Corner, where New South Wales, Queensland and South Australia meet, the only building is a shop. What is it called?
QUESTION 9: On what river is the city of Broken Hill?
QUESTION 10: In which Outback town do you find the Pink Roadhouse?
QUESTION 11: What is the height relative to sea level of Lake Eyre:
a) At sea level.
b) 20 metres above sea level.
c) 12 metres below sea level.
QUESTION 12: Curdimurka is an abandoned railway siding near Lake Eyre. What has made it famous in recent years?
QUESTION 13: The Lasseter Highway which runs out to Uluru is named after Harold Lasseter. What was Lasseter's claim to fame?
QUESTION 14: Give two meanings for "drongo".
QUESTION 15: In what city is the Henley-on-Todd Regatta held?
QUESTION 16: What is the Barcoo Rot:
a) A disease of humans caused by poor diet.
b) Deterioration of building timber caused by extremely dry weather.
c) Hoof disease suffered by cattle.
QUESTION 17: Why are visitors to Coober Pedy advised not to walk backwards?
QUESTION 18: What is a gibber plain?
QUESTION 19: Bobby Dazzler Tours often stop at Maiden's Hotel in Menindee. Who were the famous explorers who stayed at Maiden's Hotel in 1861?
QUESTION 20: Uluru (Ayer's Rock) is approximately the same height as:
a) A 60-storey building.
b) A 90-storey building.
c) A 110-storey building.
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ANSWERS
Q1: Termites eat out the core of the branch while it is still on the tree. Aboriginal didgeridoo makers can tell by careful tapping whether a limb is hollow. Be suspicious of a didgeridoo which has a perfectly straight hole -- it has probably been bored out mechanically. Termites don't worry about straight lines.
Q2: Katatjuta means many heads. It is located about 35 km west of Uluru, and is a cluster of many massive stone domes, some even higher than Uluru. Strangely, the type of stone is quite different to that of Uluru.
Q3: The Ghan is a train, which traditionally runs between Port Augusta in South Australia and Alice Springs in the Northern Territory. The name commemorates the Afghan camel drivers whose camel trains serviced the route before the train line existed.
The line used to follow the Oodnadatta Track, but was replaced by a new line further to the west in 1980.
Bobby Dazzler Tours often follow the old railway track from Alice Springs down to the Finke River, actually driving along where the rails and sleepers used to be, rather than on the very rough road nearby.
Q4: Matthew Flinders circumnavigated Australia in 1802-3, and sighted the southern end of the ranges from his ship, The Investigator, while exploring Spencer Gulf.
The Flinders Ranges contain some of the most spectacular scenery in South Australia, with many dramatic rock formations more than 500 million years old. Wilpena Pound, Bunyeroo and Brachina Gorges are visited on Bobby Dazzler Tours.
Q5: a) Yulara is the resort town near Uluru (Ayer's Rock) in the Northern Territory. Bobby Dazzler avoids the commercialism of Yulara, and opts to stay at Curtin Springs Station instead.
b) Wee Waa (pronounced wee war) is a town in northern New South Wales, and is at the centre of a major cotton-growing area.
c) Finke is a town on the Finke River, right at the southern end of the Northern Territory. Bobby Dazzler Tours visit Finke after travelling south from Chamber's Pillar. Before 1980, the Ghan railway line passed through Finke. Now the town is very quiet, and the population mainly aboriginal.
d) Coober Pedy is in South Australia, and is Australia's largest opal-mining centre. Many of the residents live underground to escape the oppressive heat. Bobby Dazzler Tours always enjoy a night in an underground motel.
e) Tibooburra is in the north-west corner of New South Wales. The main street features a replica of the heavy wooden boat which explorer Charles Sturt and his party dragged overland from Adelaide on his futile search for an inland sea in 1845. They were marooned at Depot Glen, 40 km to the south of Tibooburra, for six months due to lack of water. Their diaries record temperatures of up to 132 degrees F (55 degrees C) in the shade.
f) Cradock is a tiny village in the Flinders Ranges in South Australia, where the main attraction is the delightful Cradock Hotel, as frequented by Bobby Dazzler, and as featured in the March/April edition of Vogue Entertaining and Travel (pp. 110-115)!! It used to be called the Heartbreak Hotel (long before Elvis!).
Not all the places that Bobby Dazzler Tours stays at get featured in Vogue, but it's certainly gratifying that one of them has been! I guess we give you the full spectrum of experiences.
Give yourself a point for this question if you got at least four of them right.
Q6: Marree's name was changed in World War I when anything sounding Germanic was out of favour. Herrgott in German means "Lord God".
Q7: The cattle thief was Harry Redford, whose activities are recounted in Rolf Boldrewood's novel Robbery Under Arms. In 1870, he stole 1000 cattle from a property in south west Queensland, and successfully took them across the border into South Australia, and then down the desert route now know as the Strzelecki Track, a total distance of some 1200 km. He had unwisely included some branded cattle in the mob, and in 1872 was apprehended and brought to trial in Roma, Queensland. The jury members were so in awe of his feat that they returned a verdict of "not guilty". The ensuing furore in the community lead to the Queensland Government cancelling the criminal jurisdiction of the Roma court for three years.
Bobby Dazzler Tours often travel the Strzelecki Track, and give opportunity to marvel at Redford's achievement to bring cattle through such harsh country. Long-distance drovers were known as "overlanders", and Redford was one of the best.
Q8: Cameron Corner is an isolated spot. The nearest town is Tibooburra, some 150 km to the south-east. Innamincka is about 200 km to the north. The shop at Cameron Corner, where you can buy fuel, beer, bread, and a few other staples, is known -- naturally -- as "The Corner Store".
Q9: The raison d'être of Broken Hill is minerals. Silver, lead and zinc were discovered there in 1883, and since then, 147 million tonnes of metal have been extracted from the mines. There is no river at Broken Hill (trick question -- don't you just hate trick questions!). The city's water supply comes by pipeline from the Menindee Lakes, 110 km to the east, but in the current extreme drought conditions, the lakes are almost dry, and there is talk of having to send water by rail to Broken Hill.
Q10: The Pink Roadhouse is in Oodnadatta on the Oodnadatta Track at the edge of the Simpson Desert. Run by local identities Adam and Lynnie Plate, it is the dominant feature of the town, and sells just about everything, including tyres, saddles, postage stamps, books, and Oodnaburgers. Everything to do with the Roadhouse is painted pink.
Q11: Lake Eyre is some 12 to 16 metres below sea level. In other words, this normally dry salt lake near the centre of Australia is actually lower than the oceans around the coast. There was a proposal put forward at one stage to construct a pipeline from the coast to Lake Eyre, and allow gravity to bring sea water into Lake Eyre, but many doubt the ecological wisdom of such a scheme.
Q12: No-one has lived at Curdimurka since the Ghan railway line was relocated back in 1980. The nearest town is Marree, 85 km away. Someone had the bright idea of organising the Curdimurka Outback Ball, which now happens in October every second year.
It is a true desert scenario -- no trees, no water. The organisers truck out generators, portaloos, vast amounts of beer and wine, a large portable dance floor, and a live band. About 3000 people usually attend, emerging from their tents in their ball gowns and tuxedos to dance the night away under the stars.
Q13: In 1897, Harold Lasseter was found unconscious in the desert far to the south-west of Alice Springs. When he had recovered, he told of a fabulously rich reef of gold he had found, out beyond the Petermann Ranges. As proof of his claim, he had some very promising specimens of rock.
He refused to disclose the exact location of the reef, but by 1911, had raised the funds necessary to lead a party back to the reef. Conditions proved so difficult that the party had to give up without finding the location.
In 1930, another expedition was organised. After incredible hardships and all manner of problems, the party decided not to proceed further, but Lasseter was determined to press on until he found the gold.
The following year, his body was found in a cave in the desert by a group of aboriginal trackers.
Does the reef exist? No-one knows to this day. Would a man risk his own life, and the lives of others, for the sake of a hoax?
Q14: The spangled drongo is a dark coloured bird (dicrurus bracteatus) found in many parts of Australia in spring and summer.
A drongo is also a slow-witted or stupid person, quite similar to a dill, ratbag, mug or nong, as in "Don't be a drongo -- of course you should go on a Bobby Dazzler Tour!"
Q15: The Henley-on-Todd Regatta is held every October in Alice Springs, on the Todd River.
There is seldom any water in the Todd River -- in fact it's said that if you've seen the Todd flowing twice, you're a true Territorian -- so organising the Regatta requires a deal of imagination. The Regatta is held in the dry riverbed, and indeed on one accasion just a few years ago, the whole event was at risk of being cancelled because it started to rain, and it looked like there might be water in the Todd River!
Amazingly, there are rowing races, naval battles, and all sorts of novelty events -- great fun if ever you get the chance to be there!
Q16: The Barcoo Rot is a sort of scurvy or skin condition, caused by tainted food or dietary deficiencies. It was sometimes experienced by shearers and cattlemen, whose diet often consisted mostly of tinned meat, damper and billy tea. According to one commentator, the only cure was fresh vegetables or beer.
The term was presumably coined in western Queensland, in the vicinity of the Barcoo River, but the Barcoo Rot was reported as prevalent on the Western Australian goldfields in 1894.
The Barcoo River was brought to prominence by Banjo Paterson's poem, A Bush Christening, which starts like this:
On the outer Barcoo where the churches are few,
And men of religion are scanty,
On a road never cross'd 'cept by folk that are lost
One Michael Magee had a shanty.
Q17: Coober Pedy is Australia's largest opal mining area, and there are literarily thousands of disused shafts for miles around the town, usually with the opening uncovered. To step backwards when taking a photograph, for example, can be very dangerous -- you could end up at the bottom of a shaft up to 100 feet deep.
Q18: Gibber comes from an aboriginal word for a rock. A gibber plain is a flat area of land covered by rocks. In some remote areas, gibber plains stretch to the horizon. Sometimes the rocks are larger than a fist. The rocks have been exposed by countless centuries of wind and water gradually removing the soil, leaving only the rocks to be baked to extreme hardness by the sun.
Traversing a gibber plain is difficult for man or beast (and even takes its toll on the tyres of the modern 4WD!). For horses, it is downright torture. Camels do better with their large soft feet. There are stories of the sheep and cattle dogs which have to work in such country being fitted with leather "booties" to protect their feet from the stones.
Q19: Burke and Wills and their large expedition party (including camels) set out from Melbourne in 1860 to try to cross the continent from south to north and claim a large government-sponsored reward. Maiden's Hotel on the banks of the Darling River was an outpost on the fringe of the unexplored areas of Central Australia, and Burke and Wills actually stayed there as they planned their strategy. The original guest rooms are still in use, and it's strange to think that one could be sleeping in a room which Burke or Wills once occupied!
The bar and dining room were destroyed by fire a few years ago, and have been rebuilt.
The rest of the Burke and Wills story is an epic of Australian exploration: their success in crossing the continent, their return to "The Dig Tree" after four months absence only to miss their support party by a few hours, and then their death in the Outback.
Q20: At 348 metres, Uluru is approximately the same height as a 110-storey building! No wonder the first glimpse appears on the horizon some 50 km away when approaching on the Lasseter Highway!
The sheer size and "presence" of Uluru is hard to imagine without actually seeing it!
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POSTSCRIPT
In case you hadn't worked it out by now, the main reason for this quiz is to get people enthused about the wealth of interesting things there are to discover in the Australian Outback. And to persuade some to come on a Bobby Dazzler Tour and experience it first-hand!
It's not too late to book a tour this year (March to October). There are two vacancies on a Grand Tour (about 19 days) scheduled for late September/early October. Interested? Please get in touch.
Anytime from now to the end of October is a good time to travel in the Outback. There are often special events such as gymkhanas that we can take in. Camping is not a compulsory part of Bobby Dazzler Tours -- we can plan non-camping itineraries. Why not call for an obligation-free chat about the possibilities?
And a final thought ....
The best things in life are not things.
