AVAN

Unfortunately, the timing of Martin's trip to Arkaroola didn't suit us and neither will Peter's trip to Tibooburra. Consequently, we set-off on our Pat Malone – as Darby and Joan.

We headed up through central-western NSW – Deniliquin, Hay, Ivanhoe and Wilcannia. From Wilcannia we made a day trip, like everyone else, up to the White Cliffs opal fields and back. Like other opal fields such as Coober Pedy, the climate is hot and semi-arid so many people live underground – in sweet-smelling, white-walled houses. It's interesting that many of the opal fields (Coober Pedy, Andamooka, White Cliffs & Lightning Ridge) all lie in a region about 1000kms across and at about 30oS. The white (silica) rocks stand out - especially the hills such as those at White Cliffs. The town is aptly named. Because of the sunshine, and being off-grid (initially), the first large-scale solar power station was built at White Cliffs. It has gone through a number of phases / upgrades and the photo shows it's current state (it's privately owned, now).

FromWilcannia we went on to Broken Hill with the intention of travelling north to Tibooburra, across to Cameron Corner and on to Innamincka. However, it had been raining further north and the Cameron Corner track was closed.

Solar power station (dishes) at White Cliffs

This didn't stop us from proceeding. Instead of going to Innamincka in an anti-clockwise loop, we headed off in a clockwise loop, starting at Peterborough.

We stayed at Rawnsley Park for a couple of nights and visited Wilpena Pound, along with some of the viewing spots and the Cazneaux tree. Next we headed up to Angorachilna where we only stayed one night before going on to Arkaroola.

At Arkaroola we stayed in relative luxury in one of the motel rooms on the basis that we would be spending the next 4-5 nights in remote areas and without power. As those who went on Martin's trip will attest, Arkaroola is a magical place. I went on the walk to the place where there is a replica of the 550myo fossil Spriggs found (in the Ediacaran Hills further west). See photo. These Ediacaran (preCambrian) life forms were unknown until his discovery.

Sturt's desert peas were just starting to come out; the photo below shows some on the road to Stubbs Waterhole.

From Arkaroola we headed into uncharted territory as far as the Subaru and the Avan were concerned. However, that morning before we'd even started, I thought that I’d

hitched-up the van OK – but I hadn't. On the way out of Arkaroola it came unhitched. Luckily, there were people around to help lift it back on and no damage was done. That is the first time in 45 years that I've done that – and it will be the last.

The Mt Hopeless road was OK but, as the road reports high-lighted, there were some very rocky creek beds, some bulldust and some soft patches – not to mention the corrugations. The beds of stones in some of the creek beds were over 2 feet thick –the bulldozers earned their keep. There were gibber stones along the track and gibber plains for as far as the eye could see (see photo).

Post marking location of the replica of the 550myo fossil Spriggs found

Sturt's desert peas (and shadow of phtographer)

Mt Hopeless road – northern (less rocky) section but with gibber stones

The Strzelecki track was better but was still heavily corrugated from the B-doubles (and occasional Btriples). Our original plan was to stop at MonteCollina Bore. Since there was not much there (except for some sand dunes), and it was only 3:30, we decided to drive to the nearest rest place. Ha ha. We drove past Lindon to the Merty Merty turn-off but didn't see any. We then drove the 50km on bitumen to the Moomba Oil fields – but still no rest place - so we poured 10l of fuel into the tank and, at 6:30 and getting dark, we headed for Innamincka. We arrived at Innamincka at about 8:30 and decided to camp

on the Town Common; however, we couldn't find it in the dark (even with “instructions” from a regular

in the bar). I spotted a large area with a couple of trucks on it and we settled in there.

The next day, while I was getting petrol and supplies, some people were paying their $10pp for camping on the Common. I told the lady that we were camped there (pointing across the road) and we'll pay our $10pp (per night). “That's not the Common” she said, “that's the truck parking bay!”. “You can

stay there for free if you don't mind camping amongst the trucks”. We stayed.

Camped in the Truck parking bay

Next, we headed for the Dig Tree. The road out to the Dig Tree track was bitumen but the 14km track was rough (rocky creek beds, corrugations, gibber stones etc.). Gabrielle (nee O'Hara) had come prepared; she had her shovel and was ready to dig under the Coolabah tree (see picture). Alas, like her namesake Robert O'Hara Burke, she was late – about 160 years too late.

Also, on that day, we crossed the causeway over Cooper Creek. All the roads north (to Coongie Lakes and CordilloDowns/Birdsville) can only be accessed via the causeway. Up until a few days before we arrived, the Cooper was flooding over the causeway and the roads north were closed. By the time we got there the Cooper had subsided to a level just a few inches below the causeway – as can be seen in the photo.

Large 4WD with trailer which held a gyroplane

Later that afternoon, a large 4WD with an even larger trailer ( see photo) pulled into the Innamincka roadhouse. I asked him if he ran 4WD tours with his rig.

“No” he said “I've got a gyroplane in the trailer that I use for rounding-up cattle”.

Gabrielle, with shovel, ready

to dig under the Coolabah tree

After Innamincka, we headed back down the Strzelecki track and, at Merty Merty, turned on to Rieck's track towards Cameron Corner. A 20-30km section of the track was the worst stretch of road we encountered. We had been warned

about this section – and it did not dissapoint. At times I had to

slow down to 5kph to stop the van from bouncing around; I was concerned that it would jump off the ball, again. The rest of the track was OK but still heavily corrugated. Apparently, there was some activity in that area and the big trucks were driving up and down that section.

Following an extremely windy night (60–70 kph), we left the 3-state disk, the wire bilby and the dog fence behind us and headed down the Cameron Corner track to Tibooburra. Of note along the track is the region where the land is covered with masses of white quartz stones (see photo) – like a white gibber plain.

Causeway over the Cooper at Innamincka

Land near Tibooburra covered with masses of white quartz stones

The trip was more of an adventure than a holiday. We were never sure what the weather was going to be like; we were never sure about which roads were going to be open/closed and, if the roads were open, what condition they would be in.

In addition, we had a few concerns about how the car and the van would handle the roads. The car was fine, even though we were the only Subaru between Arkaroola and Packsaddle. It handled the roads admirably. It's just covered in dust – inside and out. The FJ40 would have gobbled up the roads; however, it would also have gobbled us up in the process. Likewise, we were the only Avan between Arkaroola and Packsaddle. It fared a little worse. One drawer broke up and another was “weakened”,

one of the stands worked loose (but we fixed that), the microwave stopped working (we have to fix that ) and the latches holding down the van roof kept coming loose from the jolting. That didn't affect us much except that I had to tighten them every 50km or so on the rough roads. Other minor(?) issues were that our fan heater caused 2 power points to blow – we must have overloaded them - and a couple of internal light globes blew (and we didn't have replacements).

We carried the satellite phone, defibulator and epirb with us but, fortunately, didn't need any of these. I see the $105 spent on a 30-day satellite plan as insurance.

Although we didn't encounter a lot of wildlife, we managed to see quite a variety. As well as the usual emus, wallabies and kangaroos (and goats, nowadays), we saw the rock wallabies at Arkaroola. We also saw a skink on the road – which I didn't manage to photograph but did manage to avoid; likewise a frilled lizard, on the way to the Dig tree. As well as hawks, galahs and kookaburras, there were apostlebirds (but no choughs) and flocks of budgies which shone green in the sunlight.