Moving on from Pooncarie towards Menindee I was surprised to find about 35 km of tar that was not there a few years ago. The rest of the road was just as I remembered. Washouts, dust and corrugations still abound.
We camped out at the Pamamaroo lakes, about 1km from the weir. Fantastic camp with water and flushing loo (happy wife). Had to travel a bit to find wood but the Ural is just the go for that. Lovely camp fires each night just make camping a delight.
Stopped to buy fruit from a roadside stall on the way out of Menindee and found it was actually a little shop. The guy loved a chat. Said he had been there since 1976 and we were the only sidecar that had ever stopped. He was very keen to take us around the side where he dragged an old sidecar frame from beneath an olive tree. Olives were the size of an egg and were all over the place. His dog ate them but was very particular about the state of ripeness, sniffing at about 50 or 60 before making his choice.
SORRY PICS ARE OUT OF PLACE..... Click on pics to enlarge.The guy did not know what the sidecar frame manufacturer was and it seemed way too small to be mated with the Indian motorcycle that he pulled out of the Darling river along with some other machinery.......yes, that's what he said. Found an Indian and a sidecar frame in the river. The Indian was missing lots of parts but that didn't stop someone from relieving him of it. We gave him the $3.50 for the mandarins and headed back to camp.
A few days in Broken Hill at the caravan park, for a last taste of civilisation for the wife, and we were off to White Cliffs via Willcania. The highlight of Broken Hill was undoubtedly the honeycomb cheesecake at the Musicians Club. Not impressed with Willcania either. Bars and screens on most windows in the town and a wooden surround at the till in the servo come store to prevent anyone gaining easy access says it all. Something to do with the culture (or lack thereof) of the people who are indigenous to the area. Anyhow, I wanted to take the wife there so she would appreciate the next stop.
White Cliffs. Rocks, rocks and more rocks. A most desolate and uninspiring place until you spend some time there and find that most people live underground or at least partially. The houses are built into the cliff face and you see very little of them a and even less of the people. Whilst wandering around, we met a Dick in a little opal shop who has been there 14 years and loves it. He had done a bit of opal prospecting during his holidays over the years. So, at 50 something, he up and says to his wife "I am quitting my job and going to White Cliffs to mine opal". Her reply was " you have a few chores to do around here before you leave". She is now happy in White Cliffs............he says !
Dick runs his little shop, happy to chat about the local history and opals. He is now pushing seventy but still does 2 or 3 hours every morning in his mine, except for Sunday when he plays 9 holes of golf on the local course. He says the ladder down into the mine is what will eventually stop him but he is looking at the possibility excavating an open cut ramp down to the mine. Dick gets enough opal to make it pay but he says he will never be rich. Dicks opal was a bit on the expensive side for even my wife but she was tempted. Fortunately, salvation came on the walk back to camp when eagle eyed wifey picked up an opal on the bloody road would you believe....
Tibbooburra was our next town and we made camp at Olive Downs in the Sturt National Park, about 55 km further north. Nice camp site but not as good as Pamamaroo Lakes. Fantastic views on the Jump Up Walk. A Jump Up is a flat top hill I believe. The map shows a 4x4 track (middle road) that heads toward Cameron Corner. We decided that was a good idea on the Ural, so the next day we headed off to check out the track and the sites along the way. Lovely Ural highway and great semi desert scenery. We only got half way to The Corner and decided to do a loop back down to Tibbooburra for some phone reception before exploring the Jump Up Loop road back to camp. That was a pleasant 160 km ride with every type of dry sand, clay and rock road or track that one could want in a single day.
Fort Grey was our next camp site. Only 112km back through Tibbooburra on the Silver City Highway and then the Cameron Corner Road. Guess what ? If you are going this way, take Jump Up Loop road and Middle road from Tibbooburra to Fort Grey. Even though they are listed as 4x4 tracks they are the better way to go.
Camped at Fort Grey, we did the tourist walk to check out Sturts campsite and the old homestead. Flood waters have taken their toll on the homestead and the rangers have been very slack in maintaining the posted walk through and around the lake. The walking track and signage was very difficult to find and follow. With the wife's sense of direction, she would still be out there. It is 16km around the lake when full but with no water you can walk across and round in circles very easily.
On our second day at Fort Grey we decided a hamburger was tempting for lunch so we fired up the Ural and headed the 34km to Cameron Corner. The first 10 km was the worse corrugations we have encountered on this trip thus far. The hamburger was great and if I was not now writing home about it, then I would say Cameron Corner is not really much to write home about ! Yep, did take a photo of a finger in each of three states at the same time though.
On the way back to our Fort Grey camp the Ural developed quite a rattle, unlike any I had heard before. Yes the corrugations are good. Checking the bike over, I discovered both tank mounting bolts were just about out. Bloody Ural requires a lot of maintenance......had to tighten 2 bolts !
I pondered what maintenance Sturts party had to do. Sturt set out from Adelaide to find the inland sea. He took with him 16 men including a doctor, 2 sailors and a few stockmen. They had 200 sheep, 30 bullocks,11 horses, some stock dogs, a bullock dray and a boat. Fort Grey became Sturts supply campsite.
Leaving Fort Grey, we passed again through Cameron Corner. This time we had scones and cream for an early morning tea, whilst our friends devoured hamburgers with the lot. The burgers at Cam Corner are very nice.
We were quickly into the sand dunes that traverse the track towards Merty Merty station. It is like a sandy Luna Park Big Dipper that just keeps on going for ever. Blind crest after blind crest with cattle, the odd skippy and a very scary semi-trailer using more of the track than he should. He was destined to be very pissed off when he reached his destination and discovered he had no chains left to secure whatever his load would be. His chains were spread along 5 or 10 km of the track.
The cattle are the biggest worry. You can pop over a crest at 70-80 kph and there they are just standing in the middle of the track. You really need to keep the speed up though or the corrugations shake your teeth out....never mind your fillings !
I missed seeing the Merty Merty homestead. Must have been concentrating on the track at the time. We reached the Strzelecki track and turned right for Moomba.
For a while, the Strzelecki track was like a super highway, still dusty, but smooth and flat. We pushed on through land that looks to have the value of three shillings per hectare and unable to support life. As the kilometres passed we began to see Pipus plants. Sparse at first but gradually the Pipus plants became more prevalent and the Pipus plant carers were to be seen frequently on the road.........Santos make billions of dollars from these pipes in the Moomba area.
We reached Innamincka and found a nice campsite right next to the Cooper Creek. After setting up camp and lighting our fire, we had a lovely steak and enjoyed the last drops of our wine. Looks like it will be all downhill from here.
We stayed on the banks of the cooper for 3 nights and enjoyed our little bit of Burke and Wills history. If anyone else happens to be passing through Innaminka, please drop off a personality for the store keeper........he really needs one. All the staff in the pub next door were fantastic, as were their burgers.
Heading for Birdsville via Arrabury. Weather gorgeous, road rocky. 35km and we have a rock through a rear tyre. We had been advised to take the road through Arrabury as the direct route was very rocky......hmmmm !
Swapped the tyre and repaired the damaged one (ready for the next puncture) and continued on. While we were stopped, the wind picked up and was right in our face. The road was really just sharpened rocks. At times, so deep it was like the brakes were on. Change down a gear and accelerate and we just kept slowing. Eventually we climbed a hill and the change was dramatic. Sharp red rock one side and on the other the track became super soft sand. Much quieter than listening to the sound of rocks trying to tear at everything underneath but still making for slow progress against the wind.
We reached Cardillo Downs station and stopped to admire the historic stone shearing shed. Apparently the largest shed of its type in the world.
Cardillo station is a mere 70,200 square kilometres in size and runs 7000 head of cattle. 1 head per 10 sq km. It was a sheep station till 1941, when the dingoes took the majority of the seasons lamb drop. The remaining 42000 sheep were transferred to another station further south. It was deemed far too expensive to fence the dingoes out of such a large area. Hence the change to cattle.
We camped along the way by the ruins of an old homestead and continued the next day towards Birsdville.
The wind has just kept increasing in strength. The support vehicles are struggling in the soft sand with the head winds. Both experiencing huge fuel consumption. Meanwhile, the Ural continues to get great economy.
Now in Birdsville enduring a small dust storm in the caravan park. Expect to be here a couple of days before going further north. Think I will have 4 showers a day, just because I can.