4 day NSW / QLD Corner Country 4WD Tour via
Broken Hill, Tibooburra,
Milparinka, Cameron Corner, Moomba, Innamincka
New NSW dates - March 26-29, April 1-4 (meets
Indian Pacific), May 11-14, May 14-17, 2012
- Ask about other dates or ....
Join this tour from SYDNEY - May 8
Explore in the footsteps of Burke & Wills
(visit the famous Dig Tree & historic reserve) this remote and fascinating area around the
junction of the NSW, QLD & SA borders, known as Cameron
Corner. Travel through giant sheep
stations from 100 years ago, witness the Moomba oil fields & mighty
Cooper Creek at Innamincka.
Travelling in our luxury 4WD Landcruisers, you can stand at the famous
Cameron Corner, and
stay overnight at the "corner store". Discover ancient Aboriginal
rock art sites and hear the tales of the great Cattle drives as we
travel the Strzelecki Track - pioneered by
Captain Starlight as he stole
1000 cattle from Queensland QLD in 1870. Later, Sidney Kidman & Co and many others
made their fortunes on the track pioneered by Starlight.
Broken Hill Desert Sculptures Tour
Burke & Wills Carving at Dig Tree
Pelicans Cooper Creek Innamincka
Day 1 - Depart Broken Hill
through the Barrier range on the Silver City Highway via Packsaddle
for Milparinka and the Albert Hotel. Appreciate this once thriving
gold mining town at the restored Milparinka Heritage Precinct. We
check out the Tibooburra pub and considerable town before heading
into the Sturt Desert & crossing the Grey
Range with a stop at Fort Grey. The park protects an
enormous arid landscape of space and solitude. The rolling red-sand
dunes of the Strzelecki desert ripple through the western section,
graduating past surprising wetlands surrounded by white sands. After
some great opportunities for photos, and to explore we arrive at
Cameron Corner on the 3 states corner (NSW, SA & QLD) for a tasty
meal and overnight at the "Corner Store" and hotel.
Day 2 - Travel via Bollards Lagoon, the
Yellow Bus and Merty Merty station, crossing the sand hills
of the Strzelecki Desert, and Creek as we head for the
Strzelecki Track and the uncanny Moomba oil & gas
fields. We pass the geothermal power plant / hot rocks
project of Geodynamics where Australia has the
hottest rocks on Earth, outside of volcanic areas.
Geologists think that 10 million years ago, the
granites in the Cooper Basin, South Australia, were exposed at the
surface. Since that time they have been covered by a sedimentary
layer, four kilometres thick, that acts as an overlying blanket;
trapping the heat and preventing it from escaping to the atmosphere.
The heat is created by naturally occurring radiogenic decay that
heats the granite to more than 250 degrees Celsius. The granite
temperatures in Europe are only 180 degrees Celsius.
The granite belt in the Cooper Basin is fractured in horizontal
layers and these fractures naturally contain water at very high
pressures – up to 5, 000 pounds per square inch. Check out the
birdlife at sunset on the flooding Cooper Creek before a delicious
meal at the Innamincka Hotel, adjacent the famous old Mission
station, restored as National Parks offices.
Day 3 - A chance for an early walks and look at
creek side birdlife - and quirky Innamincka - before we head for the
S/ QLD border and Nappa Merrie Station (still owned
by S Kidman & Co) to the Burke & Wills Dig Tree.
Here Burke & Wills their support team waited 3 months and provisions
were buried for the northern explorers. The support left 1 day
before Burke & Wills return, and the supplies were not found leading
to their demise. Lots of history, and birdlife here on the infamous
Cooper Creek. Heading south we travel through
picturesque desert then sand hill country via Orientos, Santos and
sullivans Tank before crossing the border into NSW at the Warri Gate
on the Dingo fence, and once again into the Sturt Desert. Taking in
vast stony plains, the towering red-sand hills of the great
Strzelecki Desert and the unusual flat-topped mesas around the
Olive Downs, this park covers 340,000 hectares of
classic outback terrain. Thanks to the protection of the dingo-proof
fence, there are large populations of western grey and red
kangaroos. e arrive Tibooburra for dinner & overnight at the local
hotel in this most remote NSW desert town.
Day 4 - Time to explore Tibooburra,
and the Outdoor Pastoral Museum. Flat-topped mesas and
fantastic views characterise the central Jump-Up country. Remnant
gidgee woodland, the catchment system of the ephemeral Twelve-Mile
Creek and gibber and grass-covered plains dominate the east, while
450 million year old granite tors surrounding Tibooburra form part
of the southern boundary of the park. We leave town and head
for Pooles Grave & Depot Glen where in 1845
Charles Sturts men were stranded and lay camp. Travelling
south via salt lakes and vast plains we arrive Broken Hill
late afternoon wth manay a tale to share.
Fully inclusive luxury 4WD tour includes
luxury small group 4WD travel, 4 days with 3 nights
accommodation, all meals, professional guide - $2550 per person
Named after Polish Count Paul Edmund de
Strzelecki, the 'highway' from Lyndhurst in the south to Innamincka
and beyond in the north used to be one of the driest and loneliest
tracks to transport mobs of fat cattle to the Adelaide market.
Today the southern point of the track is Lyndhurst, surveyed in
1896. Here Dutch born, self-taught Talc artist, poet, bush
philosopher and supporter of the new flag for Australia, Cornelius
Alferink has carved himself a place in outback art and modern
history.
More than hundred years ago it was Captain Starlight,
of Robbery under Arms fame, who gave the track notoriety. In 1870
Henry Arthur Readford, better known as Harry Redford, or Startlight,
drove a thousand head of stolen cattle from Queensland, down the
Barcoo and Cooper past Mount Hopeless, to Blanchewater where he sold
them for $10,000. When finally apprehended in 1872, the now folk
hero and his two accomplices were found not guilty.
In earlier days the track terminated at Farina and cattle from
Avondale, Blanchewater, Cadelgo, Coongie, Cordillo Downs,
Cullamurra, Haddon Downs, Innamincka, Merty Merty, Monte Collina,
Mount Hopeless, Mount Lyndhurst, Murnpeowie, Nappa Merrie, Tinga
Tingana, Titcha, and Wallelderdine were walked to its railhead to be
transported to the southern markets.
Land at the southern end of the track was first taken up by John
Baker at Blanchwater in 1857. At the northern end it were settlers
from Warrnambool, Victoria, who gained pastoral leases in 1872. One
of the first mobs of cattle to be walked down was in 1877, taking
about ten weeks. The Strzelecki Track was last used by drovers
during the 1930s.
Lake
Eyre Tours & Flights
- 3 days/2 nights
-
Includes flights over Lake Eyre, lake shore by 4WD, wetlands
birds walk, Old Ghan Railway, Tom Kruse Outback
Mailman from “Back of Beyond” truck & history, Oodnadatta
Track, Birdsville Track, Marree, Leigh Creek, Lake Eyre National Park, Flinders Ranges.Adelaide to Adelaide -
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