Back on the road again today. Sounds funny but we are leaving QLD, going into SA for lunch, then camping in NSW !!…I was looking forward to today as I have never been to the top end of the Strezlecki Track, normally coming from the east, I turn south at Merty Merty to head down the track. Back out on the Adventurer way, we soon found the road rough again with all of the gas field traffic, but it was as simple as slow down to avoid any altercation- and honestly all the other drivers out here were great. Probably the roughest part of the trip so far was a detour around a new bridge over the Cooper River, a very rough and rocky section.
As we drove into South Australia we were greeted with the standard welcome sign and information boards- always great for some local information. Some 30minutes down the road the traffic from the gas fields and other 4wds was getting a little heavier, and as we found out, the settlement of Innaminka appeared over a rise.
First impressions ???…..bugger living out here in this harsh environment. I know the works get good $$$ but bugger that !!!!…. We were surprised to see several streets here and a handful of houses around the main hub- which was the local servo come pub come meeting place. Some of the others needed fuel so they paid the $2.20 plus for fuel.. Inside the ice creams, drinks and other items weren’t much cheaper- but when you are this isolated thats what you pay. I must admit that the toilets were pretty clean and the few locals that we saw were def friendly as usual.
I have been coming out here to the outback for around 8 years and have never done this section of the desert region before and I have heard about another Strezlecki Track- named The Old Strezlecki. Basically it runs directly south from Innaminka on the eastern side of the main or new strezlecki, crosses several other gas field tracks and then joins up near Merty Merty station which is on the intersection on the road to Cameron Corner. Upon some further info from the shop I found out that the track had recently opened as it had still been wet, at the moment little traffic had gone through and it may be a tad sandy in places- sounds good to us.
We crossed the very low creek crossing near the camp area, I have seen this crossing on several Dvd’s and was looking forward to some water- but nothing !!. I run a Hema navigator in my 4wd with all desert mapping and the track was on here, so this mdd life heaps easier. For the first part of the track we passed pretty close to working gas stations ( you know the ones you see on TV with the fire burning from the pipe ? ). The reports we got re a sandy were correct- yet it wasn’t too bad, bit dusty and some places it was down to just a 2 wheel track. We found where there were issues with boggy waterholes, and considering there had been no rain they were still a bit muddy but there was evidence that other trucks had been bogged. Thankfully there were side tracks. Off the top of my head the track was about 80km long to where we were to turn at Merty station. I enjoyed this drive, we saw plenty of dingoes both brown and a few black ones, stopped at several gas pumping rigs- you don’t realise just how big they are till you get up and personal. A few emus scattered around in the paddocks, vast open skies, but probably what I noticed was the start of the really red sand dunes. This was channel country and we were driving along with the sand dunes.
Was looking forward to stopping at Merty for lunch, as this is where you can climb one of the huge dunes for 360` views - breathtaking. Here at Merty you can also free camp beside the dunes where there are stark white outback gums scattered throughout giving plenty of shade and they are a stark contrast- white against the red. Arriving at Merty we were pleasantly surprised to be the only ones here. Pretty sure we enjoyed over an hour here, climbing the dune, soaking up the views, a spot of lunch and chatting about the drive to here.
Our next stint was to start heading east from here to the infamous Cameron Corner. So when you think about it- this was the most westerly point that we would be- does that mean we are starting to head home ??…. bugger. The drive to CC is great as you rise and fall over the dunes ( or jump ups as they are called out here ), some had steep approaches and others were steep on the descent side- love this country out here. So now because we are heading east- we are actually crossing the dunes.
I told the others in front ( during the course of the drive- we all had a stint up the front to get out of the dust and to enjoy the clean air and views ) to keep an eye out for a yellow double decker bus that had been abandon out here by some one. Well we arrived at Cameron Corner- and this was the first thing that the first car said “ did we drive past it ?’’…. it was on the GPS but not there !!!…. Later we found out by a local that one of the stations had towed it away and buried it- because legally it was on their land and they were sick of people stopping and making a mess….
Anyway……in all the years I have been coming here with friends the standard thing to do is to have a hamburger and a beer… today was no different. It sure was nice to sit away out of the flies and to have some one else cook lunch. After lunch we walked up to the marker stone where the three states meet ( NSW, QLD and SA ), and to read the local history and explorers travel on the nearby info board.
A great website to read about the ‘Corner’ is www.outbacknsw.com.au/cameron_corner
Our camp for the night was going to be just 24km further east from here in NSW at Fort Grey. Passing throughout the the Dingo Fence again- tall white gates with the fence running in either direction in a straight line up and over the dunes it was a great sight. The road east is very wide and generally sandy- we passed several motor bikes with their support 4wd that were heading west on an adventure and that was the only traffic we saw until we got to camp mid afternoon.
Tomorrow we explore Fort Grey and its history.
1 comment:
Thanks for sharing fabulous information.
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