The meeting point for the trip on day 1 was Roma. Shane and Sophie met David, Melinda and Don at the Roma Explorers Inn for dinner on the first night. The next morning we diverged with a couple cars heading for Rubyvale and Shane and Sophie going via a different path planning to meet again at Longreach. Before we left Roma, we had a browse at the “Sculptures Out Back” annual outdoor sculpture exhibition celebrating local history, cultural heritage etc. Very impressive and some were for sale with hefy price tags – the artists must have had a lot of time on their hands.
Day two saw David, Melinda, and Don arrive at Rubyvale and joined by Brian and Jo. We were too late for any tours that afternoon but we did a sapphire mine tour the next morning.
Day 3 we met Shane and Sophie at Longreach for tours of the QANTAS Founders Museum including a wing walk on a 747 and a spectacular light show after dark. The Stockmans Hall of Fame was also on the itinerary though consensus was that it was overshadowed by the QANTAS Founders museum. Ben had left a day after everyone else and caught up with us in time for the evening light show.
Day 4 we visited “Australian Age of Dinosaurs” near Winton for a tour of the “March of Titanosaurs” and a wander through Dinosaur Canyon. The guided tour of the “March of the Titanosaurs” was the highlight – a story interpreted from a 54m long footprint track site, in a large air-conditioned building to keep out the flies and heat. We fuelled up at Winton and headed along the strip of bitumen to Boulia.
Lovely little town Boulia - where some of the locals not only don’t seem to lock their cars, but even leave the engine running while inside the local hotel buying coffee.
Day 5 We head out on the Donohue Highway, cross the Queensland Northern Territory border onto the Plenty Highway making for Tobermorey Station not far from the border. In my opinion Tobermorey Station is one of the nicest campsites I’ve seen, and certainly one of the remotest. If you like to get away from it all – this is definitely the place.
Day 6 saw us heading along the Plenty Highway to Gemtree Roadhouse and Caravan Park. Another nice little spot where we caught up with Scott and Tess. The roadhouse has an outdoor “Pub” with a larger firepit where meals and drinks can be purchased. David and Melinda did some garnet fossicking the next morning while the rest of us did the short drive into Alice Springs.
At Alice Springs, Cos and Tracey joined the rest of us. The following couple of days we did day trips out of Alice springs to the gorges of the West MacDonnell Range. The first photo is the group assembled at Simpsons Gap. My photo’s don’t do the views justice – See Cos’s or Davids photos for the different Gorges. The water in the Gorges was bitterly cold but that didn’t stop Cos from paddling out on his own at Redbank Gorge for photos before just about drowning or freezing to death. Brian and Scott used the last day of the Gorges trips to stay in Alice to finalise their permits for their continuing trips west and Ben peeled off to do a solo round trip of Kings Canyon and Ayres Rock.
The group at Simpsons Gap.
Day 10 Shane and Sophie headed north and the rest headed south via Kulgera to the Geographic Centre of Australia “Lamberts Centre”. After a group photo visiting the Centre, Scott and Brian headed off on their Western adventure and the rest of made for Dalhousie Springs via Mt Dare.
Dalhousie Springs is a spot we never get tired of visiting. Whatever direction you come from is long dry and dusty ,so it is a relief to get into the hot spring at Dalhousie for a swim. It is also very photogenic first thing in the morning with the mist rising from the water.
Ben caught up with us during the early evening at Dalhousie and next morning David and I headed south to Coober Pedy via Oodnadata , while Ben and Cos did a West to East Simpson Desert Crossing to Birdsville. Given that they would arrive during the Birdsville Races weekend, I’m sure they will have more to add to this report.
At Cobber Pedy we did the usual visits to “The Breakaways” and underground hotel, underground churches, mine tour and of course stayed in underground accommodation.
The next morning we headed for William Creek for and overnight camp and a scenic 2 hour flight over Lake Eyre including the Cooper Creek and Warburton Rivers flowing into the lake. There was a fair bit of wildlife visible from the air including Black Swans and Pelicans.
After the flight we headed to Leigh Creek via the Mound Springs, Maree and the Farina Ruins to overnight at Leigh Creek.
The next morning, we headed to Camerons Corner via the top end of the Flinders Ranges.
After a very pleasant evening at the corner store, we were awoken by the sound of rain early the next morning. Instead of continuing along our planned route to Bourke, via gravel roads, we knew a weather system was approaching and decided to make for Innamincka which was only a bit over 200km away but is serviced by bitumen roads. Just as well we left when we did, all roads to Camerons Corner were closed the next day and are still closed at time of writing 3 weeks later. We headed off before dawn using our driving lights along the Queensland side of the border towards Innamincka.
Day 15..ish. We had a pleasant breakfast along the road which even though wet in patches was very scenic. We even saw a camel – not an ordinary brown or 3 headed camel – but a white camel. A bit later in the day we ran into almost blizzard conditions when we reached the Strzelecki Track. Even though the road was at this stage bitumen, the wind was blowing sand across the road at times blocking out all visibility.
The last night was spent at Cunnamulla where we were up early in the morning to watch the lunar eclipse – then headed home. The others will tack on their bits of their travels in due course.
Many thanks to David for organising and leading the trip.
