Tibooburra to Noccundra - 23 July 2014

We had a little rain last night. Apparently if it rains in Tibooburra, there is a chance you will find gold in the main street as has happened to a couple of people!

Before heading on to Noccundra this morning, I went to check out the replica of the boat used by Charles Sturt on his expedition to look for the inland sea. In 1844-45 he hauled a 27 foot whaleboat as far as Lake Pinaroo, not far from Cameron’s Corner. We passed Lake Pinaroo yesterday on our trip. The boat was abandoned on his return trip not far from the Lake.

On walking back through town I chatted to a lady who was walking her kids to school. I asked her about the school being School of the Air. She said there was actually a meeting about it last night, and it is looking like it will cease to be School of the Air. There are 11 kids attending the school at the moment, the furthest travelling 30kms. She said it had its pros and cons, the main one being support for those further away. She said a friend of her daughters who lives 50kms away will now be doing her schooling through Broken Hill School of the Air and as a result, will miss out on the interaction with the other kids.

It would have been good to have another day in Tibooburra, but rain is forecast for tomorrow. We don’t want to get stuck in town and miss out on other parts of our trip. But we have enjoyed what we have seen of the area. To see Cameron’s Corner and the Dingo Fence was great. I didn’t expect to get there, but it was a matter of just talking to people about the roads and the conditions.

 The countryside is quite scenic and, as always, ever changing. It just seems to go on forever. We passed some more hills/mountains, or mesas, with their flat tops. You can understand why they call them jump ups as they just spring up out of nowhere.

Up towards Warri Gate is part of the Coopers Creek Catchment area for Lake Eyre. It certainly stretches a long way.

It was a 55km trip north as far as Warri Gate on the Queensland border. We had to stop and open the Gate to enable us to drive through, closing it behind us. This let us through the Dingo Fence, something else I have learnt on this trip. I knew there was a Dingo Fence but it hadn’t occurred to me that there would need to be gates. A bit silly of me, as the Fence would be useless without them!

The road was not too bad, although our speed was fairly slow. We drove anywhere from 20kph to 60kph, but mainly somewhere in between. There were lots of patches of bull dust. I actually got out to feel it and was surprised, as to look at, it looked just like it was dried mud where someone had driven through. It was very soft and I can understand how people get caught in it.

We saw a father emu with 6 chicks and managed to get a good photo.

Bullo Downs is the first station after you get through Warri Gate. A fellow called Reid married one of Sidney Kidman’s daughters and they owned this property.

All along this road are oil and gas drilling sites and pipelines – Santos, AGL, Orientos, etc. While we were stopped for lunch a B Double gas tanker went past, throwing up a cloud of dust.

 

We arrived at the Noccundra Pub (built in 1882) about 3.30, having travelled 225 kms. It took about 6.5 hours, so a very slow trip. We will stay here tonight and head out to Burke and Wills Dig Tree tomorrow. Noccundra has a population of 4. The only thing here is the Pub and the Wilson River.

There is an English girl from Manchester working in the Pub. We chatted to her when we arrived. She has been here in Australia for 10 months, heading home in September. She worked in Cunnamulla before coming here. As she has done at least 3 months in a remote area, she gets a further 12 months visa. She can do that extra 12 months at any time and would like to get sponsorship to come back. She had only just finished university before coming out, so she said she will go home and work for a bit to get some experience before coming back.

We went for a walk over to the Wilson River, which is about ¾ km from the Pub, which is where you can free camp. Bruce wasn’t sure if our fridge was working on gas properly so we paid for a powered site behind the Pub. As it turns out, it is working okay. The Wilson River has quite a bit of water in it and it is a lovely spot to be camped. It is also carp free and it is illegal to use carp for bait. We talked to a couple of people camped there, one in a van and another in a bus. 

Parked next to us behind the Pub were 2 vans. When we got back from the walk to the river, the 2 couples arrived. It turned out they are the people who were parked next to us at White Cliffs. Small world. They had been out to Innamincka for the day – about 440 kms return trip.

There is no mobile phone or internet reception here.

There are showers to use behind the Pub. Unfortunately, it is river water , and a dirty colour as it has all dust and dirt through it, but at least we had a wash. My hair doesn’t feel really clean though, but who am I to complain. Look where I am and what I am doing. I am so lucky to be able to be here.