CORNER COUNTRY TRIP.... around Tibbaburra

We decided to have a lay day at Tibbaburra just to catch our breath and take in some local sights. I have been out here several times and always have heard ( and seen ) the turn off to Mount Woods Station. We wandered back east into Sturt National Park, just 25km to the turn off before heading north onto the Gorge Loop road. 

This track is just on 100 km long and allows you to visit the old Pastoral Museum located just near the old wool shed. Here there is a host of old equipment that was used in the day when sheep roamed these areas. From old steam tractors, boilers, wheels, wool drying timber rows, even a working Whim !!….. This is a huge wheel where either horses, bullocks or maybe even camels walked around in a circle tied to the whim to draw water from a well deep below. When we were there, the bird life was amazing with flocks of budgies, cockatoos, to small wrens in the nearby peppercorn trees. 

From here it is a small walk across the bridge to the old shearing shed that has stood the test of time. It was great to see no graffiti or damage done to any of the building or the pieces inside here. We spent some time here exploring before a 5 min drive to a nearby waterhole for lunch. 

The loop continues past several lookouts ( where you can see a local creek snaking its way between the hills as the creek side trees have a definite green glow to them when water has run along its course ),  some very old lean too shelters and even several other run down buildings along the way. 

Because it had been a great wet season here recently there were plenty of emus around, was interesting to note that the father looked after the chicks during the day while the mother went off for food and maybe some time out !!!

It was pretty interesting also to see the variation in the landscape from the gorge lookout. From the turn we had been on mainly red gibber rock for some way, the lookout was made of conglomerate rock, and the last 20 km was a white sandy base rock. Def something went on here millions of years ago. !!

We finally came to the end of the gorge loop some 25 km north of Tibbaburra, and with an easy run into town the landscape soon changed into the larger moon type landscape that Tibbaburra is known for. I think i saw some where that the local Aborigines meaning of Tibbaburra, is the place of the large rock, or similar….( forgive me if i am wrong )…. as large moon type rocks surround the town. 

A great day out and something I would def look forward to and exploring it again.