Innamincka to Birdsville 13/6

BROKEN HILL TO BIRDSVILLE TO 15/6/16

HW

We headed off to our next destination – Mutawintji National Park where we arrived early afternoon and after getting set up at the basic campsite, which had flush toilets and solar shower, we headed off for a walk to Homestead Gorge (by the way we saw no homestead there).It followed along a dry creek bed of quite white sand with only a couple of small waterholes. There were lots of wild goats and roos to be seen and in some places the rocky outcrops were quite high. In one spot there was a large rock overhang with aboriginal art. The following morning we walked to Mutawintji Gorge which was much more impressive with very tall sheer rocky sides and more aboriginal art in an overhang. There was a large waterhole at the end of the gorge which was really picturesque.

We then headed north to Packsaddle which is really just a pub with accommodation for roadworkers in the middle of nowhere. However they had a couple of powered campsites at the side so we snapped one up. The roads leading up this way were sealed in places, but mostly dirt. We enjoyed the hot showers there and had a meal in the pub which is full of old memorabilia and one part looks like an old shearing shed. The next day we continued up to Tibooburra, stopping at the small town of Milparincka late morning. It is really little more than a ghost town with a pub, historic court house/museum and one or two houses. Then we made our way to Tibooburra over gravel and sealed sections of road. The countryside was still mostly flat with some ranges and mesa hills in the distance. Tibooburra means “Lots of Rocks” and the caravan park there had huge piles of boulders behind it so we climbed to the top to watch the sunset before heading to the Family Hotel, which has murals painted on the walls inside, and enjoyed our dinner there. We also checked out the other pub in town, The Tibooburra or Two Storey Pub which has recently been renovated so its usual display of hats hanging from the ceiling were missing. These old country pubs are really interesting places!

The next morning we were on the road again heading for Cameron Corner along mostly dirt roads which had been damaged in places by vehicles driving on them after recent rain but there was usually a couple of wheel tracks down the centre to follow. We were now in Gibber Plain country alternating with red sand dunes and in one place we drove across a huge dry claypan. We saw only five cars in two hours of driving. Most of the countryside is tinged with green because of the rain which fell in the area a month or more ago. I get the feeling we’re seeing this countryside quite differently to what it normally looks. We arrived in Cameron corner early afternoon after opening the gate in the Dog Fence to drive through into S.A. and driving past the Corner Post, then into Qld., we booked into our powered site at the caravan park next to the Corner Store. Frank was quick to organise his game of tri-state golf after we enjoyed the famous Corner Store steak sandwich for lunch. He played three holes in each state – a golf course like no other with red sand fairways and sand-scrape “greens”. The greens were actually made of oiled clay. The Corner Store/Pub had a huge collection of signed caps pinned up on the walls so we left one of our own! There were also lots of $5 notes pinned to the ceiling – a quirky thing where they put a drawing pin in your note, wrap and twist a 20c coin inside and you throw it up so it sticks to the ceiling. All proceeds go to the Flying Doctors.

Next day were were off to Innamincka in S.A. making our way over the 260 or so sand dunes! There was still green growth on the red soil in most places. We arrived in Innamincka late in the afternoon and set up camp right beside the Cooper Creek. What a great spot!! The creek was full and flowing quickly and looked like a river to me. The locals told us that it had flooded a month or two earlier and the spot where we camped was about three metres underwater. We spent two nights there and during that time we went to see all the Burke and Wills points of interest – the spots where both had died and King’s marker tree. Innamincka itself has only a pub and a general store.

On our way north we stopped in to see the famous Dig Tree where Burke’s ill-fated party missed their base camp party by only about 9 hours. We unhitched our van near the turn-off and drove in to see the Dig Tree site before continuing towards Arrabury Homestead where we turned off towards Cordillo Downs Homestead and historic stone shearing shed. The roads were alternating corrugated, stony and sandy and pretty rough in places. After stopping to have a look at the shearing shed which has not been restored but has thick stone walls and a curved corrugated iron roof, we continued on the punishing road until dusk. We knew we wouldn’t make it to Birdsville in one day and as there was no other option we stopped by the road in the middle of nowhere – literally. We were on a huge gibber plain – just red/brown stones and flat plains as far as the eye could see – no trees. We had some dinner and turned in and were rudely awoken by a car speeding past at 11.30 pm on the rough dirt road only a few metres away. We’d hardly seen a vehicle all day! Can’t say I’d like to repeat that exercise – you feel pretty vulnerable being alone in such an isolated place.

We arrived in Birdsville about lunchtime next day after more punishing, rough stony road and checked in to the caravan park for a couple of nights. They have the monopoly I guess so can charge $40 a night for a dirt site but the showers and toilets were large and clean and there was a laundry so I was able to catch up on some washing. The weather was warm, even at night. The following day after Frank had done some repairs we drove out to the Big Red sand dune which is a must-see. Of course Frank decided to drive the Pajero up (I walked up to take photos) and he made it up quite easily. There were other 4WD’s and trail bikes up there too. Driving down the other side and up again were a little more challenging but not really a problem. That’s another thing ticked off the bucket list!! Also that day we drove out to see the Waddi trees which are ancient trees which have extremely hard timber, and also walked around an Aboriginal Dreaming site which was quite interesting. Birdsville itself has only a population of about 100 and is situated on the Diamantina River which was quite high and flowing strongly also. The streets were really wide and the buildings sparse. The Birdsville Hotel is on the prominent corner and we enjoyed dinner there one night.

FW
As Heather said we drove to Mutawintji National Park on a dirt road that was almost like a highway. The solar showers worked well as it had been a sunny day and we had a nice hot shower each by torch light. (separately of course).

From Mutawintji we had to drive back to the Silver City highway then turn north. The highway had only just re opened due to heavy rains from Broken Hill to north of Birdsville. The road was quite bad and you could see where cars and trucks had carved up the road badly.
The Packsaddle roadhouse ( pronounced “Pub”) charged $20 a night for a powered site which included a buffet continental breakfast.

We arrived at Cameron Corner after again negotiating some badly chopped up sections of road which luckily had side tracks formed to get around the worst sections. Our first sight of the boggy claypan was after cresting a Sand Dune and believe me it made a certain orifice tighten until a side track around the mud came into view. Tick a game of golf at the Tri State golf course off the bucket list. The main club used was the Sand Wedge, with the longest hole being 240m and the shortest 56m. I scored well, well over my handicap. The next day I put 5 bucks up on the ceiling for the RFDS after 4 attempts.

Cooper Creek was interesting as there was a lot of information about the various tree species around the area. In fact we camped under the shade of a coolabah tree by the Cooper Creek! The road from Cooper Creek to Queensland border was one of the worst so far as it changed from white gravel to red sand to large rocky sections, lots of rocky sections.
We spent a nervous night in the middle of nowhere about 40Kms north of the old shearing shed with absolutely nothing around but the sound of the wind across the rocky desert and the distant howl of the dingo.

On arrival in Birdsville we discovered the water pipe to the tap on the drawbar had been knocked off by rocks and the handle to the Jockey wheel was also smashed off. Big Red wasn’t nearly as challenging as I had been led to believe although I think I took the easier route up the Dune.
Birdsville is holding a rock festival called the Big Red Bash in July and there will be more than 6000 people attending. That should catch the attention of the 100 odd locals.Les mer