Simpson Desert has never looked better but where are the tourists?

On a winter's day in one of the country's most isolated towns, only a scattering of intrepid travellers have arrived to see the desert in flood.

It is strange for this time of year. Birdsville should be stirring with the promise of peak season but it feels hushed, the streets eerily quiet.

Despite the environmental splendour, there is an economic lull.

At the Birdsville Hotel, Martin and Maureen Barratt have arrived from Darwin and are asking where to get a coffee. The local cafe and bakery are closed.

"I've never seen it this quiet. It's a crying shame," Mr Barratt says.

"We've been here hundreds of times over the years, and I've never seen it like this. It's pretty sad.

"It's been particularly quiet, particularly dead on the roads.

"The caravan parks are dead. How people are surviving I don't know."

The couple will spend the next six weeks in town, preparing for a gruelling 322-kilometre trek across the desert in September, with Mr Barratt walking alongside his son and grandchildren while Ms Barratt follows in a four-wheel drive.

They will bear witness to Birdsville navigating the ripple effects of flood, fuel fears and the cancellation of a massive music festival, at a moment when the surrounding country has rarely looked so green and alive.

"It's like being in Ireland, especially round here, it's just totally different," Mr Barratt says.

'Weirdest season'

The remote outpost, 1,600km from Brisbane, began the year cut off for months, as floodwater fed by weather events further north and local rain closed roads and forced isolation.

Then came global tensions and a fuel crisis, followed by the cancellation of the Big Red Bash music festival.

The route from South Australia remains shut, as does Queensland's side of Munga-Thirri National Park.

Pilot Amelia Mexted, 21, is at the pub doing paperwork, unable to fly on a rainy day.

"It's unusual to have weather issues during winter but the issues we're seeing are just one day of rain passing through," she says.

It is her second tourist season and she is up at dawn every day to fly those wanting to see Lake Eyre.

"It's a different flood to last year; there's more water in Lake Eyre, more birds," Ms Mexted says.

"The Eyre Creek has flooded between the sand dunes of the Simpson [Desert], so you're flying over these big natural lakes that have formed.

"There's so much green, the Simpson's come to life. [In] some sections, you can't tell it's orange sand underneath."

Aerial tourism has remained resilient, but the roads tell a different story.

Every business is waiting with bated breath for tourists to arrive.

Ms Mexted jokes: "It might go down as one of the weirdest seasons where it's looking its best and it's just us here to look at it."

Caravans start to trickle in

For the Ellises, who own the pub, bakery and aviation tour group, optimism lingers.

"We're finally starting to see those caravans coming through … hopefully, moving into the school holidays, that will pick up even more," Talia Ellis says.

"We've not had a fuel issue and we're starting to see the uncertainty about availability waver."

The Big Red Bash being called off this year triggered a wave of cancelled travel plans.

"We've been cautious, planning for the season … it felt a bit COVIDesque," Ms Ellis says.

"We felt like maybe we just have to run our skeleton core team and are hopeful that people will still come out.

"We don't want people to think we're flooded in … to the contrary … the amount of water around Big Red is a once-in-a-generation thing to be able to witness."

Ms Ellis says the reopening of the bakery is imminent.

Lyn Rowlands has started opening her cafe when she knows there are larger groups of people in town or events are on.

"It's pretty sad at the moment," she says.

"There hasn't been any or enough travellers coming through to warrant us at the cafe to open our doors.

"It's been really hard. This is an income for us and we're trying to give it our best shot and this here has really set us back big time."

Alex Oswald wears many hats around town: working as a mechanic, running the power station, volunteering with the fire brigade and SES, and, for the past six years, leading local tours.

He is also not so optimistic about tourism picking up this year, but hopes the council and community will band together to help everyone get by.

"I think this is a year for survival. I think people are sitting back and waiting to see what happens and it just means we have to deal with it," he says.

Birdsville without the crowds

There is a complicated mix of emotions in Birdsville.

Mayor Francis Murray says it is a testing time.

"Businesses are struggling in 2026," he says.

"It's really difficult. Our [tourist] season is only seven months anyway. When you cut that off by another three months, that's really tough.

"We depend on tourists coming through … it's a bit different to when I was growing up, you didn't depend on it and now it's our biggest industry, on par with cattle."

He hopes upcoming events such as the Camel Carnival, Birdsville Races, and the possible reopening of the South Australia road will provide the boost the community needs.

For now, it is the perfect time for those wanting Birdsville without the crowds.

"It's more authentic. You see the day-to-day operations, locals coming and going," Ms Ellis says.

"That's hard to experience when you have 10,000 people descending on the town at once."

While there is a tension between optimism and uncertainty, there is one clear message.

Birdsville is open for business, and the desert has never looked better.

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