To Birdsville & beyond

Apologies for the gap in posts - I thought Mr Rudd promised internet coverage to the bush - well apparently he didn't sort out this great part of Oz before he jumped ship!
From Tibooburra we explored the eastern end of Sturt NP, which was a group of old pastoral properties (sheep) bought back by the government. We camped at one of these - Olive Downs, a great spot just a few kms south of the QLD border. Next day we headed off west across one of the 4wd tracks in the park that runs pretty much parallel with the dog fence. With all the rain this park is looking amazing and the wildlife is amazing, from emus to other birdlife - the kids lost count of Kangaroos at 150+. A last stop in the park was at Fort Grey where Sturt (the explorer) had a northern depot on Lake Pinaroo - apparently his party carried a whale boat all the way from Adelaide to here and part way back again, finally realising I guess what a daft idea it was - no inland sea up here buddy, though if here now you could partly understand the thinking.
We passed through Cameron Corner (SA, NSW & QLD) for lunch and another country burger and filled up at $2 a litre, the dearest to date. Then it was due west for approx 60km crossing a series of sand dunes that pretty much run north-south and are quite close together. With the track only graded recently and the dunes being quite sharp it was a continuous roller coaster, of the Toyota variety. Lachlan wasn't impressed at all, and we had to stop a few times as he was feeling crook.
We turned onto the Strzelecki Track and headed north past the Moomba gas and oil fields and setup camp on the Cooper Creek at Innamincka. I thought the tracks had been in good condition but the trailer thought otherwise, with a broken mount on the stove, a broken stay and a juice pack in the food box that decided to share its contents with everything else in the box! A wheel nut on the cruiser also worked its way loose!
The next day was spent exploring around Innamincka, mainly taking in all the Burke and Wills historical sites. The arvo was spent repairing the stuff that broke the day before and taking advantage of the hot showers.
Birdsville was our goal the following day. The Cordillo Downs Rd has just opened but was 4wd only so we decided to head north along that. It was a great drive, not fast though with constant waterway crossings and detours, which just meant that just graded a path around the dodgy piece of track in question! We decided to take the 160km “short cut” track via Cordillo Downs Station, checking out the huge historical shearing shed made out of stone with a curved corrugated roof. This is now cattle country, Dingoes made sure of that. This track was a lot rougher but a great drive, stopping for lunch at a remote billabong and stopping to let a “flock” of emus come up and check us out – must be because Lachlan and Chantal look a little like emus! Once on the main Birdsville road the speed picked up, but with tyres aired down for the rough tracks we couldn’t sit on normal hwy speeds. (Stop press: Now in Birdsville, we have just heard this track and most roads out of Birdsville are closed with the rain late yesterday and overnight – only 15mm and most roads are closed – scary really!)
In Birdsville we setup in light rain which overnight got heavier, leaving the camping area very muddy – the type of stuff that sticks to your feet and before you know it you’re a couple of inches taller. We got up late and spent the day exploring Birdsville which was restrictive with the rain and it being bitterly cold. Highlight was the pie and coffee at the bakery, though long-life milk makes for a distinctive taste for your latte. Their signature offering is their pies – we indulged in “Curried Camel” and “Kangaroo & Claret”. And how cool is this bakery, you can order a XXXX with your pie ! Over the three days I reckon we raised the share price of the bakery with the amount of cash we off loaded there! You can get a real feel for how many people would be here come race weekend in early Sept, with infrastructure all over the place – deserted but ready!
Come Thursday and they finally opened the road north to Bedourie (& Mt Isa) just after lunch. Though we were hoping to head east via Betoota and Windorah to Longreach we high tailed out of town as there was no decision when that road would be open, and considering more rain was predicted we were more than happy to change our plans. The first 50km north was OK but then the road deteriorated, and there were numerous sections with water on the road and long muddy sloppy sections, which made for a heap of fun and turned the car to a shade of orangey/brown. It was very slow going to Bedourie where we washed off a heap of mud with the complimentary hot springs water high pressure hose. North to Boulia and we had a good run on asphalt except for one 15km muddy section and as usual we setup up camp as the sun was setting.
Today was a long haul on the blacktop (570km) to Longreach which was a welcome change, it was all single lane width which made passing an interesting process as the edges of the road were still very soft and muddy. All camping options were booked out with grey nomads, so we ended up 25km east at IIfracombe.
The nights are still cold, with thermals still the norm at night and borderline beanie territory. It is slowly warming up during the day, but Louise is still holding off pulling the bikini out! No cases of scurvy yet, even though we hanging out to stock up on fresh fruit tomorrow in Longreach. The kids are doing well with schoolwork and are pretty good with their diaries. We’re also enjoying the half hour extra of daylight at the end of the day, one of the advantages of being at the pointy end of the country in winter.
The kids have asked for their mates to join up as followers, so get to it you orrible lot :-)
Over and out.