Friday 2nd June – Day 1.
Finally, the trip that has been planned for many months has arrived. Jase had taken Thursday off to pack the truck and do a little bit of final running around, while I worked, as I’m already in ‘holiday deficit’!!! Had a look over the truck when I got home and surprise, surprise it was all in there.
We left home at 5am, after having our last shower for a few days, with clean hair and clothes. Put the swag on the top, which is going to be how it works for the next 21 days. Drove to Lithgow, with a big fat ZERO km’s on the clock and a full tank of fuel. The temperature was only reading 3 degs and it was incredibly foggy through the Old Bell’s Line of Road, we arrived in Lithgow at 7.15am, the fastest trip to Lithgow we have ever done. Got coffees, a toasted ham and cheese croissant, non-winning lotto tickets, then on our way again. It was fresh outside the car, only 6degs.
We headed on to Dubbo, arriving at 11.15am, not stopping as there was no need too. The fog lifted occasionally but then there were periods where it was very heavy, but not much traffic around. We were not long outside of Wellington when we came across a car on its roof, the driver was out, sitting nearby with support, a broken power pole by the road. Emergency services had just arrived, so there was no need for us to stop and assist, as there were a few vehicles already there. We stopped at Trangie, by the Macquarie River for some lunch, arriving at 12.15pm and leaving at 12.50pm, before the stretch to Bourke, via Byrock arriving at 3.05pm, to the Mulga Creek Pub for our first beer, which will be one of many consumed in outback pubs throughout this trip!
We headed off for our final destination just after 3.30pm. The road from Nyngan to Bourke is so straight and long that even the GPS got bored and Jase won’t drive it, so I did that stretch. There were many wild goats to look out for and the start of our emu spotting, something I love, but Jase thinks is an embarrassment to our Coat of Arms! The more we got towards Bourke, the more goats and emus were around.
We arrived in Bourke, making our way to May’s Bend, arriving at 4.45pm having done 774.7kms, to spend the first of 21 nights in our swag. Found a great campsite on the Darling River, set up the swag, gathered some firewood and settled in for the night. We spotted the first of many wild cats we would see and numerous possums about, but other than that, there was no other wildlife about.
We had a very simple, delicious meal of chicken corn soup with some 2-minute noodles thrown in for good measure, mopping it up with a wrap, quick and not much washing up. We let the fire die down, then headed to bed about 8.20pm, not late, but we had had an early morning and a big day in the car, which although was easy driving, it makes you tired none the less. It wasn’t terribly cold, so only one sleeping bag was needed and Jase had worn shorts the whole day and evening.
Saturday 3rd June – Day 2.
Wasn’t a cold night by any means, we were expecting it to be a lot colder. We got up, made tea, had some breakfast, which is only the Benevita chocolate breakfast biscuits, then had a coffee while packing the swag and strapping it to the roof. We finally left Mays Bend by 9.10am, not going to Bourke.
While driving, I did a fuel comparison and it was way cheaper to fill up at Bourke, than our next stop of Cameron’s Corner, so we did a U-turn and headed into Bourke to fill the tank. There were two guys on adventure bikes we had a chat to and a couple in a Landcruiser, towing a trailer that were having car problems, that we couldn’t help with. Filled the tank at $2.099, 126.8L. After the fuel and chatting, we finally headed off a bit later than we hoped, at 10am.
Our next destination was Hungerford, yes, crossing into QLD, but also a visit to the Royal Mail Hotel, one pub we wanted to visit during Covid, but couldn’t cross the border. He had our beer, sitting on the veranda, at 12.25pm. We were still drinking it, when two other guys on adventure bikes rolled into town, Vinny and Luke they were travelling through, heading to The Finke Desert Race as well. They grabbed some beers and sat with us, to talk all things bikes, trips and next destinations, which for them was Thargomindah, which was only 150kms away.
We left the pub at 1.30pm, staying longer than we had planned, but when you get chatting and have the same interests, it doesn’t matter if time gets away! They stayed for another beer as we left them to head to Cameron Corner, some distance away.
Travelling along Old Hungerford Road, we turned left onto Bulloo Downs Road, travelling a bit before sighting a handwritten Bulloo Downs Road closed sign, tucked away in a corner of the track. Bummer. We headed back to Old Hungerford Road, as the GPS showed tracks through Mirintu Station, so we headed to Hamilton Gate to see if we could get through to Bulloo Downs Road, not realising the road had been closed for months, due to major washouts from the weather, earlier in the year.
From what we could see, the station seemed abandoned, it was called Old Mirintu Station, but there were numerous tracks, heading to Bulloo Downs Road, the issue was, we had to find them. Jase was driving, following the tracks that were on the mapping, however, we were bush bashing through, literally through deep scrub. I was like, you are on the track, left, right, but there was no track to be seen. Eventually after about 30 mins of this, we gave up, making our way to the NSW side of Hamilton Gate.
It was much the same there too, he was following tracks on the mapping, but there were no tracks under the car. Not as much bush bashing this time, but enough time went by, that we decided to head back to Old Hungerford Road, as there was a ‘tent’ marked on the mapping, a free campsite by a waterhole. Making a B-line for the marked ‘tent’, we arrived at Cardenyabba Creek at 5.45pm, having done only 432.8kms from Bourke.
We think the marked ‘tent’ was pinpointed during floods, as the waterhole was very low, so we just set up camp a few meters from the edge. We spotted a few wild pigs around, expecting the night to be noisy with animals visiting the waterhole, but it was still and very quiet. While organising this trip with food and shopping, we decided to take some Moto meals, for convenience, in cases like this, arriving late and not wanting to prepare meals. We set up the swag, got a fire going, still not terribly cold, then had a Moto meal of Beef Bourguignon for dinner. When you are hungry, they go down a treat and the plus of not much washing up!
After a cup of tea, a fair bit of star and satellite gazing and the fire had died down enough, we went to bed about 8.40pm.
Sunday 4th June – Day 3.
As per previous nights, it wasn’t terribly cold. I do have the second sleeping bag on hand in case of emergencies though, Jase leaves his in the bag. We had breakfast, tea and a coffee, while packing the swag, then headed off about 8.05am, towards Thargomindah.
Was a dirt road the whole way, we arrived just before 9.30am after seeing heaps of kangaroos and emus about and we didn’t pass one vehicle either way. We stopped at the Info Centre but it was closed until 10am and we didn’t really want to hang around for that long, so got going to Noccundra, where we had a beer at the pub, arriving at 11.15am. We sat at the bar and chatted to the young girl, who was very knowledgeable about her area, road closures, the Big Red Bash and other things going on.
After the beer, we drove across to the Wilson River and had a quick lunch of wraps on the bank. There were a few campers about, mainly grey nomads with their huge vans, some looked to be staying the night, others lunching like we were. One thing you forget when travelling in the outback is the flies….they decided to show themselves here, making lunch became a race between me and them!!
We departed the riverbank just after 12pm, making our way to Warri Gate. It was an uneventful journey with not even a handful of cars on the track and the ones that were, all were travelling in the opposite direction. Despite it being an uneventful trip, it is still most enjoyable, with just blue sky and red dirt, however, the blue skies were looking ever so slightly ominous.
We went through to NSW at Warri Gate, just before 2.30pm, it was a little cooler this time here, as last time it was over 35 degs. There was no one around as we turned off the Silver City highway towards Sturt National Park which snaked it’s way along the border to Cameron Corner. There was just a very light sprinkle starting to fall, not yet enough to cause issues on the track, but the clouds did look dark all around us.
We arrived at Cameron Corner at 4.20pm, found a camping spot, then headed in to the Corner Store for a beer, as you do. We chatted to some guys on adventure bikes and others in a Prado, with a roof-top tent, all of us having the same idea of a beer, while watching the wind pick up and the skies grow darker. After our beer, we managed to get the swag up, before a windstorm swept through, bringing rain, thunder, lightning, and a lot of red dirt!!
When it died down slightly, we went and jumped in and had a beautiful hot shower, washing bodies and hair felt lovely, even though it had only been two days. After that we sat in the truck mulling over dinner plans, eventually deciding on the Corner Store with another beer and some hot chips between us. While there, the publican said it was more than likely the tracks out would be closed, as it was more than 10mm rain, which out there, normally closes tracks for 24 hours. She said they get the road report between 8-9am the next morning, so between us and a few other travellers nearby, we decided to leave early, before the signs were changed.
The chips were delicious, the beer went down well, it was still sprinkling while we sat at the bar, chatting to fellow travellers and locals alike. Was a fun evening, but not late, as we headed to bed by 8.20pm, listening to the wind, thunder and constant light drizzle of rain on the swag, our skylight openings were definitely shut tonight.
Monday 5th June – Day 4.
So, there was on and off sprinkles of rain all through the night, but as we discussed, it does always sound louder when in a swag or tent. Jase had an early morning call for the bathroom at the ungodly hour of just after 5.15am, so I decided to get up with him and we walked over to the Corner Post.
It was dark, very slippery and extremely muddy, just to cross the road to get there, our shoes were full of deep red mud. We squelched our way back to the swag, noting the road sign still said ‘open’. As we were up and dressed, we packed up our wet, muddy swag and headed off to the Strzelecki Track, leaving in the dark at 6.45am. I took a pic of the road sign, just in case.
We were the first one on the track and it was wet and slippery and there were large puddles of water in the middle of the track at some points. With all the lights on, the sun rising, it was special to be out there, we stopped on a dune and looked back and saw car lights in the distance, but they never caught us. The truck’s traction control was working overtime to get through some patches, but it managed. The water on the road wasn’t just water, but a combination of a vortex of mud – Jase tried to go around the puddles, but we ended up sliding into the middle of the puddle.
The truck was an absolute mess, thick deep red mud in all the wheel arches, we think at one point we would have been carrying well over 100kgs of mud. The sun finally rose, the lights were turned off and still we slid our way to the Strzelecki Track, finally making it, after driving through heavy fog at times, arriving to a bitumen road. We were surprised as we assumed it was dirt.
Driving the bitumen, mud slowly falling off the wheels and arches, the road turned to dirt, but not red dirt, it was a greyish white colour, but more slippery than the first track we were on from Cameron’s Corner. We passed a travel truck, towing a caravan and stopped for a chat. He said it was no better the way he had come, in fact rather muddy and extremely slippery, we said much the same our way, although there is a section of bitumen.
We stopped at a driver reviver spot (aka a wider area from the track with a bench and table) at 9am a few km’s away, for our morning coffee, Jase started his new hobby of attacking the wheel arches with his new ice-pick to get rid of some of the mud. It was extremely slippery where we were stopped, our shoes were caked in the stuff which took some time to clean.
Leaving the rest stop, with clean shoes at 9.45am, it wasn’t long before we came across a couple of guys, one sitting on the tailgate of his rodeo, the other standing beside his adventure bike, going no further. The tyres on his bike had become slicks in the muddy conditions, so they decided they were going to wait it out for a bit, until the track dried slightly. They had beer, so they were fine, so they said!!!
Eventually we came across the triple road train that was bogged in the middle of the road, that the couple in the travel truck and the guys with the one adventure bike and car told us about. There he was, just sitting in his cabin, we had a chat and he said he had no choice but to wait it out. We found out later that he was there for two days!!! I didn’t take a pic but would have liked too!!
Arriving in Lyndehurst at 1.45pm we needed fuel, so found the cheapest one and filled up, it only took 211.58l at $2.05, which isn’t as bad as we thought it would be. We left at 2.05pm for Farina, which was only a short distance up the road, arriving there at 2.30pm. The track in was extremely boggy, with a lot of deep puddles. As it was a sunny afternoon, we quickly found a camping spot, set up the swag and took out the mattresses, in the hope the last of the sun would dry things out. We went for a walk up to the ANZAC Memorial, which was a lovely area, then back down to prepare a fire to get our dinner cooking of sausages, canned veg, eggs and potatoes.
We were treated to a stunning free show of the sunset, which spanned 180degs and then the moon rising, which was full and rich. After a delicious dinner, the amazing nature show, we were in bed early, 8.10pm, but remember, we were up early for our joyride through mud!!
Tuesday 6th June – Day 5.
As per previous nights, it wasn’t terrible cold, so only one sleeping bag was needed. We had a very relaxing morning, Jase even having porridge after rising at 7am to wet gear as there had been a heavy dew the night before. Packed up slowly, trying to dry the swag as we had tea, then coffees. We drove into the town centre and walked through the underground bakery, which was a great thing to see, then the shop, where we bought some hamburger rolls and chocolate chip biscuits. It is a fantastic little place, that volunteers have done an exceptional job to get it all up and running again, the bread was even cheaper here, than in Sydney!
Had a walk around the ruins, some of which were been carefully restored, even bumping into Jeff, the Rodeo driver and Trevor the adventure bike rider that we saw stranded on the Strzelecki Track, the day before. The track out the other side of Farina was just as boggy and waterlogged as the track in, making for some fun driving, leaving finally at 10.15am.
The track was slowly drying out, except where I stood to take a pic, just outside of Maree, my clean shoes, yet again, full of mud….ah well, what can you do. We pulled to the William Creek Hotel for a beer at lunch time, 1pm, not too early for beer this time! We ordered then tried to find our friends card, Baxter, who paid to have it pinned when we were there in 2019. We thought it was his actually work business card, but it was his expired drivers license, couldn’t find it. As Jase had service, he texted Baxter, who gave us the exact location of the card, we looked and it was still there, so we sent him a pic of it!!
We left the Hotel at 1.55pm just as the guys, Jeff and Trevor pulled up to get fuel. Had a chat and told them we were going to camp at Algebuckina Bridge, they said they would have a late lunch at the Hotel, then find us near the bridge somewhere to catch up.
On our way, we arrived at Algebuckina Bridge at 4pm, after making a stop at a dried creek bed to gather some firewood for the night, our new thing to do! We found a fantastic spot on the Neales River, which had water flowing and looked rather deep, clean and inviting. Set up the swag and gathered a small amount of firewood before attempting to take a dip in the creek. Jase went down to the water’s edge, which was rather steep and went to get in, however as it was going to be way too difficult to get out and not get covered in mud, he decided against the swim, even though it was warm enough for one.
We got the fire going early, in also hope of elevating the flies which has suddenly shown up in force! Dinner was burgers with egg, a beef patty, avocado, cheese, a combination of grilled capsicum and brown onion, it was delicious!!
Sitting around the fire for a little longer we watched some campers come in, maybe about 7.30pm, full lights on and camped at a spot not far from us. The fire died down, cups of tea were drunk, then it was bed by just after 8pm. It is early to bed, but we have had rather restful nights and long days in the car, that does make one tired.
Wednesday 7th June – Day 6.
So, we weren’t out of the woods with wet weather just yet, as there were storms and rain rolling around from 12am, deep thunder could be heard some distance away, which continued throughout the night. We didn’t rise until about 7.20am to a very muddy campsite and again a wet swag…..
We slowly packed up, while having tea and then coffees, yet again with muddy shoes. I also made wraps for lunch, so all we had to do was grab them out of the fridge when the time arose….save trying to make them with the flies!! We finally left the waterhole at 8.45am.
Jase drove as we made our way to Oodnadatta, arriving at 9.40am and as we had been there previously and knew we had a long day ahead of us, we decided not to stop and continue to Dalhousie Springs. At the intersection of Hamilton Station and the track to Dalhousie Springs, we stopped for a break, Jase got our wraps out and I took over the driving, following two guys in two utes heading in the same direction. It started to sprinkle ever so lightly, making for a slippery track, there was areas that had a lot of water over the track, so more mud was added the underside of the car!! At one point we passed a travel truck that had a fair bit of gear on it, not sure what and why!
We pulled into Dalhousie Ruins first, where we came across Jeff, Trevor talking to the guys, including others that we had a beer with at The Royal Hotel Hungerford Vinny and Luke . They said to Jeff, when we turned up, in our filthy truck, that he didn’t tell them it was their friends from Hungerford. They had been discussing people that they had met along the track and some ‘cool Sydneysiders’ in a black Landcruiser was brought up, those Sydneysiders was us!! It was a fun little get together, Jeff and Trevor left for Dalhousie, we were not long after them as it was still lightly sprinkling. The boys from Hungerford had joined the rest of their crew and also their support vehicle, which was the one that we had passed earlier in the day were set up for lunch, so were staying a bit longer.
Getting into Dalhousie Springs was something else, the track was extremely slippery, we passed Jeff and Trevor, the bike on its side, with a broken weather shield, we stopped to help, but they waved us on. We parked, grabbed our swimmers and towels, and headed to the Springs for a swim and surprisingly, it wasn’t terribly busy, which was nice. Took one of the provided pool noodles and just floated around, the water temperature was about 38degs, just bliss and very relaxing, except of course the little fish that liked a nibble every now and then. A few people left and others came in, we ended up chatting to an older couple who had done a fair bit of travelling, so we swapped stories of places to stay, fuel prices, road conditions and other travels we had each done. An extremely pleasant afternoon, so much so, we stayed for a wee bit longer than planned.
As we were drying ourselves, the Hungerford guys rocked up and went swimming, we bid our farewells until the next time we meet somewhere and headed back to the truck to dry off, get changed, then head towards Mount Dare for a well-deserved beer!!! We left Dalhousie at 2.30pm, with 65km to get there, the track was muddy, but not that slippery, compared to other ones, but outside Mount Dare pub, arriving at 3.45pm, the mud was overwhelming. Jase parked the truck, then I actually walked along the sidestep to the front, then did a big jump, there was a lot of mud.
Had that beer, sitting at the bar, talking to the publican about the weather, football, and road closures. Left at 4.30pm, heading to Lamberts, the Geographical Centre of Australia, where we were going to camp the night. The road was open, however there was so much water over the road, even at the Northern Territory sign, it was like driving over inland seas, not deep, but just so much of it.
Made it to Finke, in the early evening, but it wasn’t dark enough for the full light show on the truck, just yet. Travelling along Finke Road to make the right-hand turn towards Lamberts, the sunset was yet again stunning, so had to stop for pics, the full light show now in operation on the truck. It’s funny, though, travelling in the NT, there was no wildlife around, no kangaroos, no emus and no goats, so the night driving wasn’t that concerning, it was still a dirt road and you had to be careful, but no animals jumping onto the track.
Arrived at Lamberts at 7pm for the crazy drive in, the track is narrow, windy, goes left, right, or right, left, a most enjoyable drive, there was one car on its way out somewhere, so they pulled out to let us pass. Surprisingly, there were a few campers about, but we found a spot, which is often hard at night because you can’t see the landscape. Jase set up the swag, while I got the fire going, ready to sit and relax for a bit.
While Jase was getting the swag up, he came across what we think was a male funnel web spider, should’ve have taken a pic, but didn’t. He was very cranky, rearing up and not happy at all, so Jase used the shovel and flicked him into the bush.
Fire going, swag up, dinner was served, which was a very nice, easy moto meal of Chicken Tikka Marsala. Cups of tea were had as we yet again spent the night star and satellite gazing through the trees. Bed was later than normal, at 9.20pm, not a freezing night, but coolish.
Thursday 8th June – Day 7.
Had a good night’s sleep, despite other campers around, it was fairly quiet and wasn’t terribly cold, although I still have my second sleeping bag on hand, just in case. We packed up slowly, having tea and breakfast, then coffee’s before heading off at 8.20am for Alice Springs.
I drove out, right, left, left, right, there were no other cars on the track, so I could choose any route. We arrived at Finke, and it didn’t look busy, there were cars, trucks and a few bikes about. We headed on the Ghan Service Road to Alice Springs, with not that many cars about. I was traveling at about 90kms an hour, as the road was in fairly good condition, I could see a car behind us, through the dust. Then I looked back again and the car that was some distance back was on top of us, blasting his horn to make me move over, so he could get past. I moved, and he absolutely flew by us, in a 300 series Landcruiser, we think travelling well in excess of 120km per hour. At one point, it looked like he left the ground going over a bump in the road he was going so fast.
There were already people set up on dunes, in flat open areas all ready for the race, the closer we got to Alice Springs, the more we saw….they were keen, as the race wasn’t until Sunday and it was only Thursday. We arrived in Alice Springs at 11.45am and found our Caravan Park for the night. We booked in, set up the swag to dry, as there had been another dew the previous night, had showers then headed into town for some shopping and a look at ANZAC Hill.
ANZAC was a lovely spot, overlooking the whole of Alice Springs, even the cut out of the Ranges, that the road went through, that Jase found amazing. It was a beautiful day, with a slight breeze and about 18degs. Using the PetrolSpy app, we found the cheapest fuel in town, which was in the back of one of the industrial areas, a 24 hour credit card one, filling up the tank, it took 215.03 litres at $1.83pl. We went and found a supermarket to stock up on some essentials and get some more alcohol, which was running low in both beer and bourbon. We shopped at Woolies and was astounded at the security that was around, we also noticed that BWS wasn’t open and didn’t open until 3pm. We took the shopping back to the park, put some much-needed washing on and reorganised the back of the truck.
While we were waiting for the washing to finish, we had a beer and worked out a different route to get home as the Simpson Desert was still closed, due to flooding of Eyre Creek. When all that was done, we quickly went to BWS and bought our two cases of alcohol. Jase had to show his driver licence to the police standing at the door, who asked a few questions, is this for you? will you be sharing it? Inside, there was a large queue, with 3 registers open to deal with the sudden influx of people arriving to purchase whatever it was they needed. Once at the register, Jase had to hand over his licence again, where it was scanned a second time, a long process and extremely eye opening for us, who come from Sydney and can by any alcohol from 9am.
We raced our purchases back to the Caravan Park, left the car there, grabbed a jacket and Toby Prices’ book and headed off into the town centre for the street fair, that they have for The Finke Desert Race. As we were only 2km from the town centre we decided to walk in there, which wasn’t a drama at all.
When we arrived, the street was split into two arears, one end was a street fair, with markets and food stalls, the other end was for the Race, with bike, buggies and trophy trucks on display with merchandise. Toby Price had his own gazebo, his Trophy Truck, himself, and co-driver Jason Duncan signing autographs. We stood in the queue waiting for our autograph, as Jase said he couldn’t remember the last time he stood waiting for an autograph. When it was our turn, he happily signed our book, then they both stood for photos, then Jase asked the question about KTM and The Finke, Toby kept standing then discussed that KTM have blacklisted the race for him as too dangerous, that his contract was up for renewal in March for hopefully another two years, then after that, he was definitely going to be competing for the Ironman, both bike and truck at the Race. If that is the case, in two years, we will be there to see it!!
We walked along to the street markets and food stalls and grabbed a bowl of chicken and chorizo paella, which was sensational and I’m glad we shared a bowl, as it was rather large. We luckily found a spot, so sat down to eat, while watching people walk by. After finishing that, we headed back, deciding to walk, despite people telling us it wouldn’t be safe, we felt fine, only coming across a few groups of Indigenous Australians, who crossed the road when they saw us. Back at the Caravan Park and in bed by 9.30pm. It felt cool, so had the second sleeping bag ready.
Friday 9th June – Day 8.
As predicted it was a cold night as there was frost on the swag and car when we woke, so we both had very cold fingers when packing up. Had showers again, as we weren’t going to have then again for some time, then headed into town to hopefully grab two coffees, for our trip out to Chambers Pillar.
Found a café in town that was busy, so we went in there, it was warm while we waited anyhow. Coffees in hand we left Alice Springs at 8.30am, heading first to Maryvale Station, which had fuel and a store, beside the Aboriginal Community of Titjikala. The road was dirt and a good track, not wet at all, we arrived at the Property at 9.40am, so went in and had another coffee, Jase thought his was nice, I didn’t think so much of mine though. We had a chat to the Managers of the store asking about road closures and any bypassers, there was only one, the way we wanted to go, so, we just had to change our plans, only slightly.
Leaving the store at 10am, we passed a sign that said no more firewood collection, so we stopped and grabbed a fair bit, if we didn’t use it here, we could just take it to where we camp to watch the Race for the next two nights. The track into Chambers Pillar was an awesome one, with a very steep jump up, that was also rocky, then the very steep decline on the other side, straight up and over, we went. You could see the Pillar on the horizon, so we didn’t think we were too far away.
We arrived at the Pillar at 11.20am, drove to the main campground first, there was one lot of campers there, but they looked to be leaving, we then went to the second campground and found a lovely spot between some trees, below the dune, that we went and walked up. You could see the Pillar from the top, so we decided to camp in the spot down the bottom and take chairs up at sunset!
Set the swag up, then went back to the main campground, where we could walk to and around the Pillar from there. We were the only ones there now, some people were just leaving, after having just done the same walk. It was a very peaceful stroll around the base of the Pillar, then up some stairs to where the rock had been carved with initials of travellers over time. Back at the truck, there were a group of guys having beers, having come out for a day, from where they were camped at the Race. They invited us there on the way through, when we left, so we made note of where they were set up and said we would call by.
Back at our campsite, we had lunch, of biscuits, dip, cheese and avocado, then got out the maps to finalise our journey home, via The Plenty Highway, the Dig Tree, Birdsville, Culgoa National Park, Lightning Ridge, then somewhere near home.
Taking our chairs to the top of the hill, with a beer, we settled in for a nights viewing of the sunset, which didn’t disappoint at all. Every time you looked away, then turned back, the colours had changed on the Pillar and surrounds, so another photo had to be taken.
Dinner was a piece of spiced lamb, with the new favourite mix of grilled onion and capsicum and tzatziki dip on a wrap….sensational. After a rushed cup of tea, as we heard dingos/wild dogs nearby, we headed to bed about 8.40pm, under beautiful clear skies.
Saturday 10th June – Day 9.
Had a good night’s sleep, although it did get rather fresh very early in the morning. We were up and ready to go, having had a cup of tea while packing the swag, leaving the Pillar at 8.35am, heading to our next camp, which will be for two nights.
We went up and down the steep jump-up, then back through the Aboriginal Community of Titjikala, making our way back to Finke, but not quite that far. The track back to the Service Road was excellent, with very sharp washouts, narrow and sandy, following a fence line of a private property. We crossed the actual racetrack numerous times, then at one point, we turned a corner and came face to face with an actual herd of donkey’s, something we really weren’t expecting, and they were on the track!!!
Following the guy’s instructions, we stopped at their campsite, with the big, corrugated smiley face beside the track. They had a large group, with a big firepit, cooking their toasted sandwiches for breakfast. They were thrilled we had stopped by, we asked what time the scones would be served!! Left them and headed towards Finke, deciding we wanted to camp about 30km’s outside the town, so roughly 190km’s from Alice Springs.
There were people camped on top of dunes, so we made a bee line for a dune around 30kms, found one, arriving at 9.30am and after the third attempt, we got up there, parked the truck, pulled the awning out, put up the swag and settled in for the next two nights. We had a stack of firewood still and there was plenty around, so that wasn’t going to be an issue, but the flies were out of control already.
As we hadn’t had a coffee in the morning, I made one, but Jase was that excited, he had a beer with lunch. We went for a walk down to the track and had a look, then across to the Service Road, which was busy with cars, trucks and bikes going to and from, or looking for a great vantage point for the Race. Came back to our spot and got the fire going, had a delicious dinner of meatballs. Was a beautiful sunset, the stars were out and it looked to be a beautiful, clear night. After cups of tea, we went to bed about 9.30.
Sunday 11th June – Day 10.
Well, what a shit night, we both had. The people that were also on the dune, some distance away, partied and played music until well after 12am, not even good music, some beat that was on repeat, over and over again. Despite this, we were up early, by 7am, to get breakfast and coffee’s ready before the first truck came through.
Cooked chocolate chip pancakes, lucky we took the fly cover thing, it was very much needed, even though it was early, the flies were bad. Made the coffee’s and settled in for the spectacle of what was to come. There had been a light sprinkle of rain overnight, but was clear over us now, although looking towards Alice Springs, it looked rather dark.
Someone had told us that you can listen in to the comms on channel 1 on the CB, so we got out the hand-held and listened, it was fascinating. They announced car one had left, which was Toby Price, then one guy said, Toby has just come through a certain checkpoint, barely touching the ground. It was all very exciting. The anticipation of the cars/bikes coming through was building and about 8.50am, you could hear Toby’s truck in the distance, a fair way off. The helicopter following him was coming into view, then you could finally see some dust!!!
You could hear his truck maybe coming 7 mins ago, then the helicopter came, and it was just amazing. As we were on a dune, we were looking down on the track, you could see dust and lights coming from his truck, then he was below us. The helicopter was flying so low, he was level with us, it was like, we had to duck. Then Toby was gone, but you could still hear his truck another 7 mins in the other direction, the sound was deep, angry, and bloody awesome, it was an absolute thrill to see and hear him fly by.
Wasn’t long before the second truck came past, then a buggy, another truck and side by side. There were coming through at quicker intervals now, so more to see. There was constant chatter on the CB, which was going back and forward between checkpoints, spectators on the track that had to be dealt with, injured drivers and so forth.
The first bike, David Walsh flew passed followed by the helicopter, then more and more bikes. It was a steady flow of bikes, you could hear them coming, but obviously not as noisy as the trucks, buggies or side by sides. There was a lot more chatter on the CB during the bike race, than the car race, with more riders injured, broken bikes and flat tyres. Was still great to listen too throughout the day, with the last rider announced at 4.30 in the afternoon.
As the race was finished and the sweep car had come through, we walked down to the track for another look, a few ruts had appeared already on the corner. As we had been sitting and standing most of the day, we walked for a bit longer to try and get some steps up before settling in by the fire for the evening.
Got the fire going and had a sensational dinner of steak, veg and potatoes, while watching the sunset and the sky transform into night, with a beautiful, full, Milky Way. It was a clear, cloudless night, with a slightly coolish breeze, not as cold as we thought, but you could feel it away from the fire. We had a cup of tea, then headed to bed, about 8.30pm, I read, Jase, yet again, feel to sleep pretty much straight away!!!
Monday 12th June – Day 11.
So, the arseholes next door to us on the dune partied a bit harder last night, still pumping the same shitty music until after 2am, I love it. I love that people do that with total disregard for any other person around them. They knew the people across the track from us, below the dune, they were of the same mold, as those people cut down a green tree to burn on their fire…..I mean really???
We were up earlier than the day before, to get ready, as we were only 30kms from Finke, which meant they would come through a lot earlier. We got breakfast ready, which was delicious bacon and scrambled egg wraps, with coffee, which went down a treat!! They announced the first truck had left Finke at about 7.10am, so Toby went flying by us at 7.25am. Yet again, you could hear him coming well before you could see him, including the helicopter, that went by at our eye level!!!
As we were so close to Finke, the trucks, buggies, side by sides all came through closer together, with not much of a break between them, which made it more exciting. We slowly packed up the swag, washed up the breakfast stuff in between cars, waiting for the bikes to start.
David Walsh came through at about 12pm followed quickly by others. When the sweep car finally came through, we headed across the track then down to Finke, leaving at 1.50pm, making our way to Old Andado Station, where we were going to stay for the night. We were on the Service Road, but somehow ended up on the actually racetrack in Finke and the guy at the finish line, waved his chequered flag like we were finishing too….it was funny.
We arrived at Old Andado station at 3.05pm, found a campsite, set up the swag, then went and had a look at the Old Homestead, which was just the way it had been left in 2006. They hadn’t lit the donkey for the hot water, but we decided to have a shower anyhow, Jase going first, then me. The water wasn’t freezing, but not hot either, but still nice to have clean hair and body after 3 days. We settled in by the fire, watching other groups arrive, there were two helicopters there, with pilots, that were doing surveying work around the property. We had a moto meal of Mushroom Risotto, which was more like Mushroom Risotto Soup, we put way too much water in!!! Still nice when you are hungry and warming, as it was coolish away from the fire. The sunset, yet again, was stunning and the birdlife around the Homestead was very full, mainly Galah’s, in full noise and colour, flying by our heads. Bed was about 8.30pm, after having counted our maximum ever number of satellites.
Tuesday 13th June – Day 12.
Was up and ready to depart at 7.45am, after a coolish night and fresh morning. Had another good look around the Old Homestead, which is great how it was left and nice that it hasn’t yet been vandalised. The trucks were still there, in the carport, just left as they were. There was still plenty of birdlife around, as the water course was just near the homestead.
On our way, we stopped at the Mac Clark (Acacia peuce or Waddy-wood) Conservation Reserve arriving at 8.40am, which was established to preserve the Acacia peuce tree, where one of the rarest trees in the Australian arid zone grows. It was fenced off to protect it from wildlife and was a fascinating place to see, hard to get a good picture of it. It was extremely cold, as there was a cold wind, we were going to have coffee there, but it was just way too cold, even for Jase, so we headed off again.
We headed off, the track was great, heavy bulldust holes at times and rather severe corrugations at times, but such a great drive. Jase said at one point, stop, slow down, I had no idea what for, until I looked over and saw the reason….wild camels were off to the right of us, rather close to the road. Once we stopped and got out for a pic, they kind of disappeared, but we still managed to get a pic. They were the first wild camels we have seen, so quite exciting.
One or two cars came past, heading the other way, yet again, no traffic travelling in the same direction as us. We stopped about 120kms outside Alice for a coffee and lunch, alongside and below the West MacDonnell Ranges, which was peaceful and beautiful with the changing colours. While we were having our lunch, so maybe 45mins, we didn’t see on car, which was fine with us, as we didn’t get extra dust in our coffee!!
After lunch, we headed off, driving through Santa Teresa Aboriginal Community about 1.05pm, noting there were more and more cars and big trucks on the road, which was still dirt. It wasn’t long before we arrived in Alice Springs again, heading straight to the same campground to book a site for the night, arriving at 2.05pm.
We unpacked, set up the swag, had showers, then did a small amount of washing, which was much overdue. Headed out to get my replacement cask wine and a little bit of shopping, only to find out that bottle shops are closed, Sunday’s, Monday’s and Tuesday’s, something we didn’t know. We went back to the same self-serve servo to fill the tank, which, although wasn’t empty, we knew fuel on the Plenty Highway would be a bit more expensive, this way, we wouldn’t need it unit Boulia. Back at the campground, we re-arranged the fridge to fit in the shopping, then went back out to grab a pizza for dinner. Found a nice little restaurant on the other side of the river, but had to eat early, as it was booked out for the night.
Shared a pizza, garlic bread and had soft drinks, as they didn’t serve alcohol, all done and dusted by before 6.30pm! Back at the campground, we had a cup of tea, then headed to bed, around the same time of 8.30pm, not late, but as you can’t have fires, it is too cool just sitting there.
Wednesday 14th June – Day 13.
There was no frost this time, when we woke, although it was still very cold. Had another shower, as our next one wasn’t going to be until Birdsville, which was two days away. Packed up the swag and headed in to town for a coffee and something for breakfast, which was actually a very nice bacon and cheese toasted croissant, made fresh for each of us. We were on our way to Ruby Gap, via Trephina Gorge, by 8.25am.
Arrived at Trephina Gorge, which had quite a few campers there, the road in was dirt and at times, rather narrow. We did the shorter walk of only 2kms which took you up over the Gorge, then down, walking along the riverbed. It was a stunning place, very peaceful, with a few people around doing the same walk. It would be an amazing place to see with water flowing, we kind of figured out which way it did flow when it did have water from the debris around the base of the trees. The walk didn’t take us long and before we knew it, we were back at the truck, making our way out to Ruby Gap, but first stopping at Australia’s oldest Ghost Gum, which is apparently over 300 years old. It was beautiful to see, as we have been noticing how stunning these trees are, absolute white trunks against the dark red of the dirt and surrounds.
Making another turnoff, this time to John Hayes Rockhole, which was a great track in and out. It was definitely a 4WD track only, dirt, with some very rocky sections and very narrow, with not many passing points, which was lucky as we didn’t pass any other vehicles. The Rockhole was a lovely little place, which had water in it, although it didn’t have sun on it at the time, so didn’t look inviting for a swim. Jase went for a walk and had a look over some rocks, where there was another waterhole. It would be a busy, beautiful place in warmer months.
Back in the truck, with Ruby Gap the next stop. The track, which was wide enough for two cars, turned into a single track, winding its way through hilly countryside. It snaked up and down, twisting and turning, through dips, and curves, it was a beautiful track. There were Ghost Gums on either side, the stunning white trunks standing out bright against the red dirt and green leaves, the hills in the background went from dark red to grey/green and the blue sky, it was just beautiful landscape.
We came to the sign board of Ruby Gap and crossed the very soft, sandy creek bed, before coming to the closed gate. I opened that, Jase drove through, then it was back onto the soft, sandy creek bed. The track crossed it numerous times, then we climbed over rocks, up embankments, down the other side, over more rocks, through the creek bed again before we came up behind three 4WD’s ahead of us. We had one last obstacle to climb over, a large rock, before coming to land in the creek bed, behind the other 4WD’s.
It surprised us that when we arrived there were other people camping, two with trailers and one with a roof top tent. The 4WD’s we followed in weren’t camping, after we had a chat to them, they were only there for a visit, like we were. As it was now lunch time, 1.10pm, I got a cup of tea going and a lunch of biscuits with cheese, dips and avo. Washed up quickly, then went for a walk along the riverbed, which was very rocky, but smooth types of rocks, from years of water flowing over them. There were sections of bodies of water, one largish, which in the warmer months, you could probably swim in.
After our walk, we decided it was time to head off as we still had one more stop before heading to our final destination of the Gemtree Fossicking area, where we were camping that night. The drive out of Ruby Gap didn’t see to take as long as the drive in, but Jase took a different route at one point, which ended up in deep sand on the riverbed, lucky we managed to get out though, as there weren’t trees nearby to winch from. We were told by two walkers that a car had got bogged a bit further on from us, but by the time we got there, another car had pulled it out.
On our way again, leaving Ruby Gap at 2.50pm, stopping once more, this time at Arltunga Historic Gold Mining Town. Yet again, we are fascinated as to how someone even starts to dig for gold in the middle of nowhere. We walked around for some time, with no one else around. After the town, we went to where the mines were, walking the short distance to one, but others were way up the hill, which were just too far to get too, at the time of our visit. Stopping again at the Arltunga Cemetery, then walking to where there was a gold mining facility, which had stopped operating only a year or two ago.
Finally on our way to Gem Tree, leaving Arltunga at 5.55pm, already dusk. We were travelling on the Binns track, which wound its way through properties, up and down, long sweeping corners and rather a wide track. Numerous cows were about, on the track, but we saw no other wildlife. The sun was setting, which yet again, was just stunning, especially across the rolling hills, dotted with trees.
The track turned left and as soon as it did, it became instantly narrower. It still snaked its way through properties, rolling hills, with cows still around, we went around one corner and came to a sudden stop with a cow in the middle of the road, surprising us all, even the cow.
There seemed to be a lot more gates that I had to open and close and as it was getting dark, I needed to take my headlight. One time, I had opened the gate, and just stood there waiting for Jase to drive through, finally having to yell out to him to drive, he had been on his phone looking to where were heading.
We arrived at Gem Tree at 8.15pm, actually the very point where a tent was marked on our mapping, but there seemed to be nothing around. We drove around the area for a while, even passing a sign that said ‘no camping beyond this point’ to still see nothing that resembled a campsite. After maybe 15mins we came across a single truck and caravan, so thought, this must be it. Still having no idea of the lay out of the land, we found a small clearing, enough for the swag, fire, and truck, then got busy setting up. Our new routine was Jase setting up the swag and me getting a fire going, even though we didn’t need it for dinner, as we were having a moto meal of Beef Teriyaki, which was delicious and not soupy at all!!! Because of such a big day and arriving so late, we finally went to bed just after 10pm, very late for us!!!!
Thursday 15th June – Day 14.
It was a fresh morning, although no frost. Once you could see the lay of the land in the daylight, it was a large open area, with numerous looking campsites. I got a small fire going, but not huge, just to warm our hands while packing the swag away. We decided to have breakfast on the Plenty Highway sometime later, so left early at 7.30am.
The Plenty Highway was a mixture of bitumen and dirt, trees and birds and not much else. There were properties around, two which sold fuel, which we didn’t need. We stopped for our morning coffee at 10.15am, on a dirt stretch where there was a kind of rest area off to the side, nothing there, just a side track off the main one. It wasn’t long before we were joined by a guy driving a truck that happily chatted to us. He was mining for copper and was waiting for some guys that were bringing him a part for something, they had left Mt. Isa very early that morning. We offered him a coffee, but he politely refused.
Back on the dirt at 10.55am, I was driving, it was easy driving, there weren’t many other cars about, but there were flocks of birds on the road. Unfortunately, there was a bird in one flock of pigeons that took off just that little bit later than the others and I hit it, head on. Jase said, it’s all good, he went over the top, but when I looked at the front of the car, we could see feathers flying over the bonnet. Bugger.
I had to stop for a toilet break, so before I hid behind the only tree for miles, I had a quick look at the front of the car, and there was the poor pigeon, still in one piece, but kind of stuck between the spotlight and grill, he hadn’t made it. I said to Jase he would have to deal with that, which he did with a stick, however, as they didn’t dislodge the bird, he had to get one of the shovels down. After that was taken care of, and I had gone behind the tree, we were off again.
As it was dry, we were chucking up a fair bit of dust behind us, when we were overtaken by a ute towing a camper trailer, travelling at some speed. He went by, and was a bit in front, when we noticed the camper trailer swaying badly, he quickly pulled over and we saw he had a blown a tyre on the trailer, the speed he was going on the dirt road, towing, we weren’t surprised.
We stopped at the QLD/NT border, arriving at 1.30pm, Jase took over the driving, as I had done my fair share that day. We headed off again, this time for Boulia, where we arrived at 5.10pm QLD time (4.40pm NT time). It was a tiny little town, with not even a general store, or one that we could see. After searching on our maps, we found a lovely little camping spot by the Burke River just outside Boulia and yet again, we were the only ones there.
Set up the swag, I got a fire going, ready to sit down to a lovely dinner of chops, eggs and veg, which was sensational. It wasn’t a very cold night, although like other nights, you could feel a chill away from the fire. We had a cup of tea, listening to road trains go by, as the road wasn’t terribly far away, then went to bed by just after 9pm.
Friday 16th June – Day 15.
It was a cold morning, after a rather cold night, so we got the fire going while we slowly packed up the swag, had coffees and breakfast. We need fuel, so headed back into Boulia and found the IOR petrol station, that was the cheapest one in town. Set up our online payment and filled the tank, which wasn’t empty, but was a fair bit cheaper than Birdsville fuel, which was our next stop. We were surprised there wasn’t more in Boulia, I was actually mixed up with the town of Biloela, which had been on Backroads and seemed to have a bit more in the town.
Finally heading off at 9.35am, yet again, not seeing many other vehicles on the road. We stopped at Bedourie, arriving at 12.10pm, had a look at the Information centre and was horrified to see the road to Birdsville was closed, due to earlier floods. The lady behind the counter calmed us down by saying we could get to Birdsville, but had to take a detour.
As it was lunch time, we went to the pub and had a beer and shared some hot chips with gravy, all the while chatting to a local also enjoying a burger. The young female publican didn’t contribute to the conversation, so we were lucky for the company of the young guy who was full of knowledge about the area, despite coming from Cairns. He was a fly in fly out worker.
We left Bedourie at 1.15pm, passing Lake Machattie, which was full of water, something we weren’t expecting to see. Finally arriving in Birdsville at 4pm, making our way to the Caravan Park, where we had booked for two nights. Grabbed a spot, set the swag up, had showers then headed to the Birdsville Hotel for some relaxing beers and a meal. It was fairly busy, but we got a table and settled in, chatting to whoever came passed the table.
We bumped into Trevor the bike rider that was with Jeff, so had a chat to him for a while, then also bumped into Vinny and Luke, the two guys on bikes, we first met in Hungerford. We had dinner, Jase having a chicken parmigiana, and I had crumbed cutlets. We then sat with the guys, while they had their dinner, then we all sat outside after our meals, chatting to a guy who was fairly local, running people and camels out to the desert for research. He said he talk fresh food and clean people out, but then picked up rubbish and smelly people!!!
It was a late night for us, we arrived back at the campground after 10pm, finally getting into bed after 10pm after a great day driving and a relaxing evening. It felt rather cool, so had the second sleeping bag at the ready.
Saturday 17th June – Day 16.
Finally, a proper sleep in. No need to get up and start packing, rising after 8.30am. As there was no rush, we had showers, then headed over to Birdsville Bakery, where we had coffees, Jase having a curried camel pie, myself a bacon and cheese pie. We sat out the front, watching the world go by, before having a look at the hardware store for some bolts for the roof racks, which we didn’t find.
Walked back to the campsite and put the little bit of washing on that we had, before sitting in the sun to go over the maps to mark out our travels so far, but also to finalise our journey back to Sydney. The caravan park wasn’t terribly busy, with a few groups arriving and some packing up to leave. We did some reorganising of the car, packed away our maps, then headed into the Simpson Desert to look at the Eyre Creek crossing and the reason why we couldn’t cross the Desert.
We got to the bottom of Big Red and let the tyres down, attached the sand flag, and up we went. Both surprised when we got to the top, as there was no one else there. We could see people below, as they were getting ready for the Big Red Bash, which was a few weeks later. Off we went and like last time here, it was incredible, even heading down Big Red, towards the second dune, is amazing, I absolutely love the Desert, love it.
It took us 1.15hours, travelling only 19kms, to get from Big Red to the Eyre Creek crossing, which was, we think we counted correctly, 26 dunes in total. There were no other cars in either direction the whole time out to the crossing, although, we did see a few groups that were having lunch, then camping along the Creek for the night. The amount of water was yet again and incredible sight to see, this time stretching far wider than in 2019, when we had to take the bypass track across, the bypass track is also full and can’t be crossed this time.
We tried to have lunch by the creek, watching the abundance of birdlife, but the flies ruined it for us. They make the simplest thing of even biscuits with dip unpleasant, no meat to be seen, but still we got ravaged by them, so ate quickly and packed up, making our way back to Big Red for our dinner on the top, watching the sunset.
I drove back, taking the same amount of time and seeing no cars until we got back on top of Big Red. We did see emu’s running through the Desert on our return, which was exciting, as on our previous trip we didn’t see any wildlife at all. Back on Big Red and settled in for the late afternoon, evening, more trucks made their way to the top. All of them going back down, up again using one of the 3 or 4 tracks, down again, up again, numerous times, even with different drivers of the same vehicle. We could have joined in the fun, but our eyes were fixated on the fuel prices when we had to fill up again.
Late in the afternoon, we pulled out our bottle of Sparkling Red, celebrating the fantastic trip we had had thus far. Dinner was a moto meal of Roast Lamb, veg and potatoes, which was easy, warm and delicious!!! It was a beautiful sunset, absolutely stunning. You think you are getting a good pic, then when you look again the colours have changed, so you take another one, then another and another. We were eventually the last ones standing on Big Red, everyone else had left after the sun went down. We went down Big Red, lights ablaze heading for Birdsville, arriving at the campground after 8.30pm, unfortunately a large group of campers were sitting around a fire with a guitar and singing……something we can’t stand.
We had cups of tea, washed up and went to bed, with the singers still going and getting louder, finally well after 10.30pm, heading towards 11pm Jase went and rang the office to get someone to tell them to shut it. There was a no noise curfew after 10pm, so we were well within our rights to get them to shut it, just before 11pm.
Sunday 18th June – Day 17.
Up early as we had a fairly longish day in the car, it was cold, no fire to warm us up, but it was just the swag we were putting away, as we had packed the truck the night before. We need to air up the tyres, so headed to the Roadhouse, which for us, was still closed, so we had to go somewhere a bit out and air them up using the truck compressor, which can be a bit noisy and takes time.
Finally leaving Birdsville at 8.25am, heading to Betoota. I drove and again, not many others on the road in either direction. We stopped at the Betoota Hotel, but it was a bit too early for a beer, so we had a pie instead. Sat at the bar, chatting to the publican, something we very much enjoy doing, they had a lot of merchandise, which we weren’t expecting, so I bought a shirt.
The publican suggested, on our way out to stop and walk up Mt Leonard, which he described as looking a bit like a pimple…..which it did!! We had a coffee first, sharing it with the flies, before making the small, but steep, rocky climb up the ‘Pimple’. He was correct in saying there was a stunning view from the top, it was a clear day, so we could see 360degs, to the horizon. One property, you could see had a lot of water in one of the dams, he said they actually fish in it!!
After our walk down, back in the truck, I continued to drive, leaving at 11.25, after our stop and walk. We made a detour, this time to Haddon Corner, which is where the Queensland and South Australian borders meet. It was a great drive in, as it turned into desert type landscape, having to cross two dunes, with deep red sand, before reaching the mark. We were the only ones there, so took some pics, then headed off again. There was chatter over the CB, so we had to be a bit careful crossing the dunes the other way, in case the cars were right there!
They were heading in, just as we were making our way back to the main road, turning towards the Dig Tree, our camp for the night.
The track was deep red hard dirt, very narrow at times, with quite high embankments on either side, a great track to drive. I was getting a bit tired, so decided to pull over and let Jase drive, I’d had my share for the day, even thought there was less than 80kms to go.
We turned off towards the Dig Tree and there was still a fair bit of water across the road, two rather large puddles, that people had gone around. There were two caravans in front of us, which both pulled over as we were travelling a bit quicker than them, due to the washouts full of water!! Finally, we arrived at the campground about 4.10pm, and it was surprisingly busy, with caravans, tents and the like. We drove some way up, along the Cooper Creek, looking for a more secluded spot, finally settling on one, looking down on the creek, which was fairly full and flowing.
Jase set up the swag and I went on the hunt for a little bit of firewood, to get it started, but there was nothing around at all. We still had a fair bit in the bag on the back, so used that to get a cranking fire going for our dinner of sausages, potatoes and grilled capsicum. It felt rather cool setting, so was grateful for the fire. The sun was setting, so watched that, through the trees, before starting to cook our dinner. It wasn’t until after our dinner that Jase said he heard dingos in the distance, I couldn’t hear them, some of the other travellers might have been concerned, as we saw people like to travel with their dogs!
Back to our normal, early bed time of 8.30pm, after a cup of tea, washing up and making sure nothing was left outside, as now I could hear dingos too, even our shoes were packed away.
Monday 19th June – Day 18.
It was a coolish night, but no frost on the swag when we got up, it has also been a still, noiseless night, surprising us both, as we were right near the creek and heard nothing. I got a small fire going to warm us up while we packed the swag away, also having a cup of tea, then headed to the Dig Tree for another look, finally leaving the area at 9am.
Jase drove, the road was bitumen and all other cars seemed to be traveling in the opposite direction, even big triple road trains. We passed numerous gas fields, one or two of them looked like small towns. The road narrowed at one point, becoming single lane, which would have made it interesting if we had had a triple road train coming at us, luckily, we didn’t. We stopped at the turn off for Nockatunga Station for a coffee, watching cars with caravans go by, and also a triple road train, with everyone stopping to check we were alright….you don’t get that in the city!
We left our mid-morning stop at 12.15pm, making our way to Thargomindah again, arriving at 1.40pm. We stopped at the tourist information centre and the girl there was really lovely, she said as we walked in, have you been around a campfire, as I can smell you, oops. We finally got our hands on a NSW map, the last one they had, lucky, as we were still a little bit unsure of our final days journey.
Then it was a race to the pub/bottle shop so I could get my cask wine, which I had run out of and couldn’t get anywhere. As we were in a small town, and it was lunch time, we had a beer, which we probably shouldn’t have, as the publican was not chatty, not interested and rather unpleasant to say the least. Jase had to book into his next Hard Enduro race at Hilston, which he did, celebrating again as we do each time he gets in!
After our extended stop, we headed off, leaving at 2.45pm, heading to Eulo, which was another free night’s camp along the Paroo River. Jase spotted a dingo to one side of the road, he was single, just wandering around, something we weren’t expecting. We arrived at Eulo at 4.30pm, and yet again, was surprised to see it so busy, with lots of caravans, whether they were there overnight, like us, or set up for an extended stay. We had to drive in a fair bit, before finding a lovely little spot right on the river, enough room for the truck and swag and a fire.
Stuck to the routine of Jase putting up the swag and myself getting the fire going, which I struggled with this time, finally getting one going, even though we didn’t need it to cook dinner with. We had beef madras with rice for dinner, mopping it up with a wrap, very warming and yum. It was an extremely peaceful evening, no one making any noise, hearing fish jump out of the water at numerous intervals. A cup of tea, then bed, just before 8.30pm.
Tuesday 20th June – Day 19.
Had a lovely, slower morning, cooking bacon and egg wraps with avocado and coffee. Washed up and packed the swag after a rather cold night, no frost though. We finally left at 9.20am, driving through the little town of Eulo, a bit bigger than we thought it was going to be. It didn’t take us long before we were pulling into Cunnamulla, arriving just after 10am.
As we needed to fill the tank, we found the IOR fuel stop and got busy, it was a fair bit cheaper than the other stations in the town. One group came to fill, but found the process too complicated and when we left, we saw them at one of the stations paying over 5 cents more per litre. Had they asked for assistance we would have helped them, it took us a bit of time to set up, but well worth it. The only thing is, there are none in Sydney, the closest one to us is Newcastle, so that doesn’t help us at all.
Needing another coffee, we stopped at a bakery and ordered coffees, and also a cream puff and lamington for later in the day, or tomorrow. We left Cunnamulla at 10.45am, making our way to Culgoa National Park, which we had meant to visit on a previous Moto trip, but couldn’t as it had been closed due to rain.
We arrived at the National Park at 2.45pm, looking on our GPS, you could see a pic of a tent, but it was on the NSW side of the border. It was a confusing area to drive around, we seemed to travel away from the camping spot, and there was a road closed sign, with the gate also closed to NSW. It felt like we were travelling in circles, we stopped at a hut, which also said there was camping, but no one was around, and it didn’t look like a camping spot to us, so we continued.
There were heaps of emu’s and kangaroos around, but not just grey ones, lots of the big red ones, that we don’t normally see on our travels. We travelled into NSW, but there wasn’t a gate, just a cattle grid, but not long in NSW, we had to go back, there was a sign saying you are entering QLD, but nothing saying welcome to NSW on that side. We travelled along a road and spotted a huge eagle just sitting on a log beside the road, I spun around, but Jase was a bit slow getting the camera out and by the time he did, it was gone.
We finally arrived at what seemed to be the real campground, at 3pm, with no one else around. We found a spot and set up the swag and collected a bit of firewood, you could feel it was going to be a cold evening, night. Got a huge fire going, as it was very cold, and being away from the fire, you could definitely feel the temperature difference, we also needed a fire for dinner.
Settled in, Jase had a beer I had a wine, then we got dinner going, which was spiced lamb shoulder, with grilled veg and potatoes. Dinner took a while to cook, but we weren’t really in a rush, eating, then getting to bed at our normal time of before 8.30pm…..it was cold.
Wednesday 21st June – Day 20.
It was a cold night, so much so, when we woke up, there was frost, so got the fire going to warm up. We dragged the swag in to the sun, to try and defrost it before we packed it up. Had coffees and breakfast before heading off for a short walk to Burbar Creek for a look. We followed the track, through a very beautiful woody area, the ground was between thick mud, marshy and sandy, including deep ruts from torrential rains. The creek was low, and muddy, very peaceful though. You could see that massive amounts of water had gone through at force, causing trees down and a lot of debris around the trunks.
Back to the campground, we packed up the swag, which was now dry and headed off, just after 9am. To make our way out of the National Park, we continually did the hokey pokey going between the NSW and QLD border, all with cattle grids and no gates, which surprised us. We did drive through Goodonga and was totally blown away by how busy the caravan park was next to the Artesian Baths, it was wall to wall caravans and camper homes. We arrived in Hebel, at 10.40am, late enough for a beer, we decided. Parked the truck and headed into the pub, grabbing two beers, and stubby holders, sitting outside in the sun, it was still rather fresh, but nice in the sun. We watched the world go by, travellers, guys on bikes, caravaners, and road trains.
Left Hebel at 11.20am, arriving at Lightning Ridge at 12.10 after an uneventful short drive. We pulled into a caravan park to book in for the night, found a spot on a grassy verge, set the swag up, then had much needed showers, which were hot and awesome. Had some lunch, then headed into town for a look and called into the Info Centre to check on the Coloured Door Tours. Got what we needed, so took off to start our tour.
We love Opal mining towns, how they live and dig. It’s fascinating to see that they will dig a hole, not find anything, then dig another hole, just 3 meters away from the first one, to try again. We have decided it must take a special person to live that way, as during the winter months, it would be freezing, but yet, extremely uncomfortable during the hot summer months.
There were miners going about their business and we wanted to have a chat with one, but he was busy and wasn’t making eye contact, so we left it, he probably didn’t want to talk to tourists anyhow!!! It was hard to get a pic that showed the extent of the mining and how they live, but either way, we love the experience and adventure of visiting these areas.
Back in the park, we got ready and walked to the pub for dinner and to watch the last State of Origin game, QLD had won the series anyhow. Settled in, sitting at a high bench in front of the TV, with some other travelers, discussing adventures, fuel, food and a lot of other things. Was a fun evening, Jase had a pork snitty, I had crumbed cutlets, but both meals were a little bit disappointing, he was going to have ribs, but they were so busy they had sold out of them. After QLD won and a great night, we went back to the campground and went to bed, was about 10.30pm.
Thursday 22nd June – Day 21.
We had a small sleep in, as we weren’t rushing too much, got up and it wasn’t as cold as the morning before, so no frost on the swag!! We packed up and headed straight to the Artesian Bath for a soak in the pool, at a delicious 41.5degs, we decided it was warmer than Dalhousie Springs. There are signs saying you should only stay in the bath for 20 mins as it was so hot, I think we stayed a bit longer though and maybe because we were there so early, it wasn’t terribly busy. Got changed and headed into town for breakfast, got coffees, then we got cooked to order sandwiches, from a couple selling them outside Westpac Bank. Jase had a steak, sausage, egg, bacon sandwich, I had bacon, egg and sausage, both were hot and delicious, very filling though.
After breakfast we went to the John Murray Gallery, which was just beautiful, his paintings were just outstanding. If we had the space, it would be great to have one of his outback paintings on the wall, maybe one day. I did buy two hessian bags though, with his trademark emu drawing. We stopped into an opal shop and bought a small ring for my birthday which was coming up…..can’t wait to wear it!
Leaving Lightning Ridge just after 10am and it started to rain, it had been cloudy all morning, so kind of expected some wet weather. There were emu’s everywhere in the paddocks, and not just one or two, but rather large mobs. It stayed a miserable, dull, cool damp day all the way to Hill End. We were starting to suffer some car trouble, with the truck chugging, is all I can describe it as. One point we even reversed down a hill and had a look, not that we know what we are looking at. Finally made it to Hill End, then decided to travel down the Bridle Track as it was now open all the way through to Bruinburn. There were kangaroos everywhere, no more emus and no more red dirt.
It was dark and misty, while making our way down the track, it’s very steep and with the car playing up, wasn’t the best trip I have had. Found a campsite, past a large group of campers, set the swag up and tried to get a fire going, which we managed, despite some damp timber about. It had stopped raining, so we sat around the fire, which was nice, as you could feel it was going to be a cold night. Jase saw some eyes in the distance, so grabbed a torch and there were two deer’s peering at us, something we didn’t expect to see.
We had our last moto meal of chicken curry for dinner, as it was later and I really couldn’t be bothered to cook a bit meal, nor wash up. It was delicious, warming and not messy, which was the added plus!! We stayed in front of the fire for a while longer until the last of the wood was burning safely, before heading to bed for our last night in the swag after 3 weeks.
Friday 23rd June – Day 22.
Well what a night for our last one, it poured and poured, then stopped, then poured some more, washing the red dirt off our truck…..and of course, we had to pack up a wet swag, typical. We left at 7.40am and unfortunately the truck didn’t even make it up the hill from where we were camping. Going a different way, we made it out of the campsite and headed off towards Bathurst, then finally home.
The wildlife around the area was extensive, with kangaroos, deer, wild goats and even an eagle, perched on a tree, waiting for breakfast. It was misty and foggy and if the car wasn’t playing up so much it would have been a nice drive, but I was too stressed to enjoy it, worried we were going to end up stranded somewhere. They did a great job opening the Bridle Track, carving a new road into the mountain, which was very steep, both up and down, with stunning views overlooking the valley below. The car chugged its way up the hills, it was very nerve-wrecking.
We rounded a corner and was surprised to see a ute on its side, off the causeway, settled in a creek. Even more surprised to see a young guy sitting beside it, next to two swags. We stopped to check he was alright and he jumped up for a chat, saying they landed there last night, in the rain, so left it there, and his mate had got a lift into Bathurst to get some help, early this morning.
On our way again, we hobbled into Bathurst, grabbed a coffee and went to Repco to get a new fuel filter, which we changed in the carpark, in the sun, as it was rather cold, at only 9degs. The two of us cheered when the truck started and we were on our way home, leaving Bathurst at 11.10am. Unfortunately, we didn’t make it far outside the city before the truck went chug chug again, causing us to rethink our trip home. We turned around and pulled into a mechanics, only to be told that he wouldn’t be able to look at the truck for days. Our next stop was Bathurst Toyota.
Luckily for us, they were brilliant, they had a quick look and determined it was the secondary fuel filter causing the problems and would have to be changed. They had a courtesy car, so we grabbed a lift into town and a beer and some lunch in a pub, sitting in the warmth and the sun, it was cold.
After lunch, we started to walk back to Toyota, however, as Jase only had shorts on, it was even a bit fresh for him, so we called the courtesy car and he came and picked us up. We sat in the warmth of the showroom, helping ourselves to a hot chocolate. Finally, the truck was given the all clear, we settled the bill, which wasn’t a lot and headed off for home, the time now 4pm.
From there, it was an uneventful trip home, arriving in the dark at 7.15pm, a few hours later than we expected, but home none the less. We set the swag up in the garage, to dry and unpacked the rest of the truck, which didn’t take us that long, before having showers and getting some washing underway.
All in all, we did 7946kms in three weeks. We have both seen a bit of the world, over our years and have decided that this trip was one of the most fantastic either of us have ever had. The adventure of being in the outback, a place we both love, talking to locals and other travelers alike, the thrill of meeting Toby Price, then the anticipation and excitement of the Finke Desert Race, the reason for our adventure, made this trip an incredible journey and one that created amazing memories that will stay with us for years to come. We highly recommend it.
