Danggali to Renmark

 

Crossing the Barrier Highway, it was back to the station roads we are so fond of. Endless skies, red dirt plains and splashes of colour from patches of wildflowers kept our spirits high as we weaved our way over the dusty roads. When navigating these roads, you pass station homesteads, some are some ks from the main road but some are close, such as Quondong Vale, where you pass right by their front door and nearly go through the machinery shed. Bush etiquette is you slow right down and try not to create dust, common sense really. Lucky for them, there is not much traffic on these roads.

Soon we were at the turn off which would take us through Danggali conservation park. This area we had traveled before, we took a different track through this time, a less difficult route but none the less interesting.

On our first camp, we had set up and were enjoying the solitude, when a father emu and a brood of no less than nine chicks wandered close to us. They seemed unafraid but cautious. We watched as they nosed around, then the kids found a bush close by and started pecking at it with relish. Father soon joined them, and they spent some time picking the fruit, or seeds off the bush. When they had had their fill, they wandered off, contented. Another sight we were lucky enough to observe.

All too soon we were back on the bitumen and on the outskirts of Renmark. Moving on, then stopping at Berri, we stocked up on food and water, then found a familiar camp on the Murray river for a couple of days rest, before we headed to Deb and the camels for a visit.

Strezleceki

 

Innaminka, in South Australia, just over the border from Qld, is a small, so called town, mainly servicing the oil and gas fields and pastoral properties in the area, mainly comprises of a servo and a pub.

After topping up with water and fuel, we continued our trek, turning south, the Strezelecki track stretched before us into the distance. In the early days, the track, from Innaminka to Lyndhurst, a distance of over 400k, was all dirt, now there are long stretches of bitumen, mainly because of the oil and gas fields and the increasing number of trucks using the road.

Our journey along the track would take us about 200k down, then turn off and travel along station roads skirting the Gammon and Northern Flinders Ranges along their eastern side.

When the bitumen ended the familiar rattling of the corrugations and billowing dust clouds began. It didn’t take long till I stopped and let the tyres down to cushion the bone shaking effects of the rough road, with this done and a much lower speed, the ride became more bearable.

About 100k from Innaminka, Moomba, with towers of pipework and other structures, like a city skyscape in the flatness of the desert came into view. With this base of operations for the surrounding gas fields came an increase in truck traffic on the road. The double and triple trailer road trains rumble toward you, signaling their presents with a cloud of dust on the horizon. It is best to slow right down and get off the road to let them pass. Depending on which way the wind is blowing, you ether get lucky and miss their dust trail or get swallowed up in the white out of their wake.

A camp for the night at Strezelecki Creek crossing, finding a patch of shade on the eastern side of a tree on the creek bank, we hid from the heat of the sinking sun. the days in this area were hot and getting hotter, reminding us it was getting too late in the season to be out in this country.

After a cool nights rest, some 50k further on, the area called the Cobblers appeared. The Cobblers are dome shaped mounds of sand forming small dunes around clumps of Nitrebush. They presented a nightmare to early explorers and settlers trying to navigate their way through this maze of lumps in their way. Today the road has been bulldozed through them.

Another 50k on we came to the turnoff to Mt. Hopeless, where we turned off. With less traffic on this road, it was a lot smoother to drive. Across the Strezelecki Desert we drove till the outline of the Gammon Ranges appeared on the otherwise flat horizon. As we passed Moolawatana station homestead ,on the right, a track led off to the distant hills. Knowing the track from a previous trip, we took it and in a few ks came to Terripina Springs, a creek cutting its way through a rocky ridge line. This would be our camp for the night.

Under the shade of the river gums, with the red cliffs towering on both sides and the silence hugging us, we checked out the pool of permanent water, fed by a spring under the rocks in the creek bed, then rested and gave thanks we could experience such beautiful places.

Next day it was back to the station tracks, passing between Lake Frome and the Ranges, heading South, eventually reaching Yamba on the Barrier Hwy, fueling up, we crossed the Highway and continued south, again on station roads, our sights set on reaching Danggali Conservation Reserve and crossing through on our way to Renmark.

To Innamincka

 

Arriving back in Australia, we wasted no time getting home. Summer was approaching, Ned received a full service and all was checked and adjusted, ready for another stint traveling this amazing land.

Before long we were packed and ready to leave. A warm breeze at our back, Ned carried us out the gate.

Heading west we passed through Charters Towers, on our way further west into the channel country.

In three weeks we were booked on the ferry to Tasmania, our aim was to meander southwest to Roma then across to Cunnamulla, continuing to the South Australian border and Innaminca.

Once in South Australia it would be down the Strzelecki track and the eastern side of the Gammon and Flinders ranges to our friend Deb and the camels before traversing Victoria to Geelong.

Leroy, our daughters dog, or grandson as we call him, was traveling with us, as we were looking after him till we met up with his mum who was traveling northward towards us on the same road.

Surat, with a nice camp on the river would be a good spot to meet, so when we arrived we selected a spot and holed up for a couple of days. Leroy, only a small dog but with a heart of a lion, would look out the window at the sheep in the adjacent paddock and threaten to do them some damage. He was subjected to the indignity of a harness and lead at all times outside, much to his disgust.

With Leroy and his mum reunited it was back on the road for us. Bolon was our next camp, finding a spot beside a creek under the gum trees it welcomed us, as did a pelican who flew in and rested on a fallen log in the creek. He must have had a long flight as he stayed there on the log, all afternoon and night. In the morning, he rose and stretched, then slipped into the water and promptly caught a yellow belly fish for breakfast and glided downstream with a flick of his beak as a farewell.

Further west, Thargomindah rests in the western Qld sun, the Bulloo river passes through south of town and we found a camp on the river, though it was dry. A hot breeze blew down the dry riverbed as we set up and the flies called all their mates to come and check us out. All windows open and fly screens up we turned on the fan inside and settled in for the night.

Next morning, after a tour of the town, which didn’t take long, we took advantage of the hot showers offered at the local park and after spending some money at the store and servo we ambled on west again full of fuel and refreshed.

Adventure Way, that's the route name we were on, stretching from Cunnamulla to Innaminka, its a narrow, but sealed road, a bit rough and bouncy in places but more comfortable than the corrugated dirt tracks we so often encounter. We were now passing through the Santos oil and gas fields, with roads skirting off on both sides to various wells.

Innaminka sits just over the border in South Australia and that was our next stop. Before the border is the famous Dig Tree, where the ill-fated Burke and Wills expedition came to a tragic end, the expedition was a series of mistakes from the beginning and ended with only one member surviving. We detoured to the site of the tree.

Cooper Creek, the site where Burke set up a camp and left a small party of men to wait while he and three others set off to reach the top of Australia. After 4 months away they finally returned to find the camp had been abandoned, unknown to them, only hours before their arrival. The rest is sad history.

 A pleasant spot but conditions can be harsh, especially in summer. We contemplated the explorers fate while standing under the shade of the ancient tree, being thankful we have it so much easier than they did.

Indonesia

 

Here we go again.

After heading home after our latest adventure and spending some weeks on maintenance and cleaning up around the property, a trip to Indonesia was planned. So, after some organizing, documents and flights were obtained.

We flew into Dempasar in the middle of August at 11 pm. A good sleep at an airport hotel found us rested and ready for our new adventure.

 

After breakfast we negotiated a taxi ride to our pre booked hotel in Nusa Dua. Bargaining prices is expected and calculating the value of the new currency is a bit daunting at first, but with a bit of practice it got easier.

 

The hotel was in the Indonesian style and very comfortable. The people, from the staff to the locals were smiling and friendly.

 We spent a few days relaxing and going for walks around the streets trying local cafes and bargaining with hole in the wall shop owners for dresses and souvenirs. The streets are narrow and crowded with cars, trucks and many scooters, all vising for position, not a place I would want to drive in. Again, everyone we met were pleasant and welcoming, most wanted to sell you something, but they do it warmly.

Din wanted to have an experience with orangutans, so breakfast with the orangutans was organized. In the early morning a driver picked us up and drove us through Denpasar to the zoo, where we walked through the well-kept grounds to a bus which took us to the breakfast site. Buffet breakfast was served and before long a mother orangutan, with her baby on her back, came negotiating a rope strung above and along the pathway, then sat on a platform next to the tables. Then another joined her a little further away. There they sat and observed us all and had their own breakfast, which their keeper handed to them.

 We had a wonderful time with them and enjoyed a look around the other animals' homes.

 

Another week or so and a couple of hotel changes saw us at the end of our stay. We had enjoyed our little adventure into yet another culture, soaking up the sights and smells of another land, I also had some needed dental work done at a fraction of the price of Australia, but as they say, there is no place like home and we prepared for our trip back.