Last Friday we spent the day touring interesting historical aspects of Thargomindah. By chance we visited the Bulloo Shire office to discover a splendid Anzac memorial display.
Saturday it was off to Noccundra. The only thing in the town is a very historic and beautiful sandstone pub. Nearby is the immense Noccundra waterhole on the Wilson River. Then on Sunday we headed to Innamincka for a couple of nights on the bank on Cooper Creek. A beautiful location with wonderful wildlife especially birds of many types and a local dingo.
A lot of history in the area including the 'Dig Tree' of Burke and Wills fame, Burke's original grave site, Wills original grave site and the location where King was found.
Tuesday we headed south down the Strzelecki Track as far as Montecollina Bore rest area. The track had been blazed by 'Capt Starlight' the infamous cattle rustler to become a main route for moving stock. The track for the day was through the Strzelecki Desert so mainly between sand dunes. It passed the large Moomba oil and gas processing plant and hundreds of wells. A surprise was mobile phone reception at the plant lookout, the first since Thargomindah.
Montecollina Bore is a lovely location with hot artesian water bubbling into a small lake and then overflowing to create an extensive wetlands, an attraction for much birdlife. We heard many howling dingos through the night but didn't see any.
Wednesday it was down the remainder of the Strzelecki Track this time it being very rocky and often rough - 60-70kph maximum speed. We passed the ruins of Blanchewater Station which in its heyday was the major producer of horses for the military. At the end of the track is Lyndhurst, not much more than a roadhouse but with free coffee or tea for tourists stopping there. To our surprise the mobiles had intermittent reception so got a few messages answered. As there was nowhere to camp we continued on to the 'former' ghost town of Farina.
Farina is having a revival of sorts, the Farina Restoration Group doing great work renovating some of the ruins including the bakery from which you can get fresh bread etc. There is also a lovely campground but you have to light the fire under the 'donkey heater' to have a hot shower.
Overnight it started to rain lightly which increased as we finished packing. We headed north to Marree on a wet muddy slippery unsealed (for the most part) road. Janet managed the sideward sliding in true professional driving fashion. Arrived in Marree, still raining, so booked into a cabin (there is only mud to pitch the tent on) for a couple of nights as we are looking as being stuck here with most roads now closed.
Friday morning and it's still raining but lighter now. All roads out are now closed so along with a number of other tourists we are stuck here till the rain stops and the roads dry out. At least we have a TV as there's nothing else to do here in the rain. We are definitely not getting to Lake Eyre to see where Donald Campbell did his land speed record.
