Yarrawonga to Thargomindah Qld via Innaminka

Hello all
After a couple of days in Yarrawonga I headed westward towards Mildura, with a diversion to Narrandera and Griffith. I had not been here before so had a bit of a look around.
From Mildura, I turned North to Broken Hill. I have covered this area in past blogs so I won't bore you with the same thing.
Still heading North towards Tibooburra, first stop was Milparinka.

Milparinka Visitors Centre

Milparinka Hotel

After Tibooburra I headed to Cameron Corner, the intersection of Queensland, South Australia and New South Wales.

Chrles Sturt's Replica boat at Tibooburra

 Charles Sturt expedition in 1844 - 1845.

They took a whale boat by wagon as far North West to Lake Pinaroo (Fort Grey) in search for the inland sea.

The full size replica of the whale boat is 27" long.

On return from the desert to Adelaide the boat was abandoned at Depot Glen.

Silhouette sign at entry to Tibooburra

Cameron Gate through the dog fence

 The Dingo Fence or Dog Fence is a pest-exclusion fence that was built in Australia during the 1880s and finished in 1885, to keep dingoes out of the relatively fertile south-east part of the continent (where they had largely been exterminated) and protect the sheep flocks of southern Queensland. It is one of the longest structures in the world and is the world's longest fence. It stretches 5,614 kilometres (3,488 mi) from Jimbour on the Darling Downs near Dalby through thousands of kilometres of arid land ending west of Eyre peninsula on cliffs of the Nullarbor Plain above the Great Australian Bight near Nundroo It has been partly successful, though dingoes can still be found in parts of the southern states.

Corner Post

 Through the drive up the Strezlecki Track I was amazed at the sheer size of the Gas and Oil operations in the area. Stretching from well South of Moomba Gas Plant to the outskirts of Innaminka and a lot of the way through to Thargomindah, where I am now.
The downside of all this is it has turned Innaminka into a giant construction site. Far from the quiet isolated frontier when I was first here in 1982.
Lying in bed beside Cooper Creek listening to the sound of truck exhaust bakes all night..............

camp at Innaminka Common

Cooper Creek Innaminka

the Cooper flowing over the causway

Burke's grave

In 1860–61, Robert O'Hara Burke and William John Wills led an expedition of 19 men with the intention of crossing Australia from Melbourne in the south, to the Gulf of Carpentaria in the north, a distance of around 3,250 kilometres (approximately 2,000 miles). At that time most of the inland of Australia had not been explored by non-indigenous people and was completely unknown to the European settlers.
The expedition left Melbourne in winter. Bad weather, poor roads and broken-down wagons meant they made slow progress at first. After dividing the party at Menindee on the Darling River Burke made good progress, reaching Cooper Creek at the beginning of summer. The expedition established a depot camp at the Cooper and Burke, Wills and two other men pushed on to the north coast (although swampland stopped them from reaching the northern coastline).
The return journey was plagued by delays and monsoon rains, and when they reached the depot Cooper Creek, they found it had been abandoned just hours earlier. Burke and Wills died on or about 30 June 1861. Several relief expeditions were sent out, all contributing new geographical findings. Altogether, seven men lost their lives, and only one man, the Irish soldier John King, crossed the continent with the expedition and returned alive to Melbourne.

 The roads didn't get much better after Innaminka, with all the construction traffic and trucks taking their toll.

Cullyamurra  Waterhole

Cullyamurra Waterhole

I pushed on to the Dig Tree.

The Dig Tree

Now trip trek begins to head over towards the coast.

I plan to make my way towards the coast coming out around Casino area before turning North for the Winter.
Bye for now.