The middle of the driest inhabited continent might be the last place you'd expect to find a boat, let alone one large enough to carry a road train. But with good conditions for growing cattle, a flooded track and almost $30 million from state and federal governments, the Cooper Creek barge is now operating in South Australia's outback.
00:00The Birdsfield Track is a 520km stretch from Maree in South Australia through three deserts to the Queensland town that shares its name.
00:13Not many people live here, but lots of cattle do.
00:17Good country for cattle. You know, it's not a very high carrying capacity country, but it will fatten them up. Yeah, bloody hell.
00:24It's a flood of epic proportions. Storms from Queensland earlier this year have drained toward Katitunda Lake Eyre, delivering precious feed for livestock on the way.
00:34We always love a flood, eh? We always think new beauty.
00:38The same floods cut the Birdsfield Track, making it difficult to get the cattle to market. That is, until Margaret arrived.
00:47And this is Margaret. She's come from the north-west of WA, and she's helping to ferry precious cargo like these cattle across the floodwaters of the Cooper Creek.
00:57The South Australian and Commonwealth governments have spent more than $27 million bringing the barge to the outback.
01:04We want to make sure as we can guarantee that we're not going to have jobs lost at our avatars.
01:08We knew there was a potential of about $18 million worth of lost revenue for them.
01:13Images like these, from Cowrie Station, give a sense of the cattle being mustered to be trucked south.
01:19The barge is now operating 24-7 in a bid to move the cattle before the weather warms up too much.
01:26And so far, it's proving a hit with those who need it.
01:30This is probably the smoothest, the smoothest whole trip it is on this.
01:34It's pretty amazing, because I thought when we put a truck on, it would sink down more. Yeah, but it didn't, yeah.
01:39A boat called Margaret, keeping the cattle industry afloat.
01:43And now that we have no idea of жд costing ourselves a half of guests for sale,
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