Southbound - last legs, Griffith to Melbourne

We are now able to take the last stages of our journey in a leisurely fashion. In Griffith we explore the delights of Griffith Central, shopping for a bowl to replace one that broke when it fell out of the cupboard. We lunch in Jerilderie, walk the main street and read about the Kelly gang's famous bank robbery. On to Tocumwal for a cuppa with Peter's sister, then the pretty way along the north side of the Murray to Mulwala, crossing into Victoria at Yarrawonga. We reach friend Pam's place just north of Wangaratta as scheduled just after 5pm.
We spend a very pleasant evening with her and her friend Joan. In the morning we re-organise the 4WD, swapping the spare for the repaired original tyre, and packing up everything we can before driving to Wangaratta for a look at the current exhibition in the gallery where Pam works. After a coffee we head to Shepparton via very pretty backroads round Lake Mokoan. At Goodfellows, we unload everything back into our little Renault and then drive back to Melbourne, stopping for lunch at Nagambie. The Renault feels very strange after the big 4WD, and I keep reaching for the gear lever and clutch. We get home before peak hour, and we just have time to get the first load of washing on before we hear about the breaking political news. From then on we open mail and continue the washing while more or less glued to the television. Quite an evening.

Southbound - Gundabooka to Griffith

Gilgunnia

Our last starry, starry night. We wake a little later than usual in the bush - too many trees shielding the sunrise? We enjoy alfresco breakfast at the campsite table, admiring the wildflowers and birds, then pack up and we're on our way shortly after 9am.  Back to the Kidman Way and down through very pleasant surroundings to Cobar (coffee and a walk), Gilgunnia Rest Area (roadside lunch), Hillston (icecreams and a walk), to Griffith.
The Kidman Way has less traffic than the highways we've used so far, and as we go south there are more and larger trees, the grass becomes green, there is water in the creeks. In our many excursions we haven't travelled this road through Bourke and Cobar, and we enjoy seeing new territory.
As we approach Griffith, we come into crop-growing country, with large grain silos, then into the fruit-growing area - oranges and mandarins everywhere. We settle on the Kidman Wayside Motel as our place to stay, and go for dinner at Il Corso, a traditional Italian restaurant where we enjoy a good meal while observing the locals out on Saturday night.

Australia's longest hotel veranda, Cobar

Southbound – north of Charleville to Gundabooka National Park

Woken by carolling magpies and kookaburras, up with the sun, and decamped by about 8am. We drive through Charleville, stop for an excellent coffee at Boulders Café in Cunnamulla, cross into NSW where we stop for a roadside lunch.

We stop again in Bourke for ice creams and a few provisions, then sidetrack into the Gundabooka National Park, where we find three other camping groups established, but there is plenty of room for us to be almost out of sight of them. Our last bush camp? Maybe one more tomorrow night, before we cross into Victoria. It is getting colder at night – this morning was chilly for us to need jumpers.

Southbound – Longreach to approaching Charleville

I am hoping for a swim in the pool at the Albert Park Motor Lodge, but there is a southwesterly blowing both when we arrive in the evening and in the morning, and it just isn’t warm enough. We enjoy the space in our room until just after 9am, when we head to the Australian Stockman’s Hall of Fame to sort out an invoice for an earlier delivery of books by Mike D. We get that solved quite easily (they couldn’t make out the bank details on Mike’s handwritten invoice), but we can’t actually work out where they have their copies – no sign of them in the bookshop. Possibly they’ve sold out already? We leave an order form in case.

On the road we head to Barcaldine, where we refuel, then down to Blackall where we stop for lunch, then on toward Charleville. After driving through endless bare, dry paddocks with no trees the previous day, it is nice to see paddocks apparently being re-aforested, and to get back into country with trees. Past Augathella and we head off the highway on to a side- track, then off-road for another bush camp. Yet another clear night – I will really miss the stars when we get back to the big smoke.

Southbound - Cloncurry to Longreach

Left Wal's Camp early, breakfast in town, then to Cloncurry Unearthed, the Information Centre. Gail is very pleased to relieve us of our last 7 books, so we are now Sold Out. Fill up and head south east to Winton, where we lunch, then on to Longreach, arriving just to late to go to the Australian Stockmans Hall of Fame.
Not a lot of interest in the 500+km drive - lots of road trains, and the roadkill here is grey kangaroos, not red. It is grazing country, dry and mostly featureless, apart from one large sandhill. Winton is a nice town and we enjoyed our lunch there. Their Waltzing Matilda Museum burned down recently, which is sad.
In Longreach we are having a luxury night at the Albert Park Motor Lodge (where else could we stay?). Peter is still selling the book, but when he got the people in the next room interested all we could give them was an order form. Should have brought the ninth box!

Southbound - Karumba to Cloncurry

After a bit of time communication with home while we still have coverage, we leave Karumba and start southward and homeward. It would have been so much harder for the Expedition, turning without actually seeing the sea (although they could smell and taste it), and setting off with only a quarter of the supplies they had left with. We will go home the easy way, via all sealed roads. They had to go back the way they came, over the Selwyn Range, and this time in the wet.

After the relatively short trip back from Karumba to Normanton, we turn on to the Savannah Way and head west until we reached the Bynoe River, which Burke and Wills followed to the Gulf. We drive down to Camp 119 by the river, where King and Gray were left to wait for their return. This was our last bit of "following", finishing off the last chapter in the book.

Back to Normanton for a coffee and a pie and a look at the Bynoe Gallery (local aboriginal artists), then the 372 km drive to Cloncurry. We arrive too late for the Visitor Information Centre, so we find ourselves a spot in Wal's Park for the night, our first night in a park, rather than the bush. Not as good as being alone.

Near Clonagh to Karumba

Early today we cross the Expedition track at the Tom Ticehurst crossing of the Corella Creek, which the Expedition followed out of the Selwyns. They must have been relieved to find it increasing in size and flowing more or less northward, so that they knew that if they kept following they would reach the sea. It is even wider when we meet it again on the Wills Development Road. We follow it for a few kilometres down a side road to its junction with the Cloncurry, where we stop for lunch. There is water in a waterhole here, but not much. However you can see from the flood debris high in trees that the river must be full and powerful in the wet season.

Tom Ticehurst crossing, Corella Creek

On past the Burke and Wills Roadhouse, stopping only to change drivers, then another little detour down a side road. The Cloncurry flows into the Flinders, and we detour to the point where the side road crosses this river and the track. Then it’s a rather boring run on a good sealed road up to Normanton. We deliver another 10 books to the very pleasant and helpful man in the Information Centre, then press on to Karumba, arriving just in time to stand, beer in hand, watching the sunset over the Gulf. Then it’s excellent fish and chips for tea, and a very welcome shower after 7 nights bush camping. The motel is spacious and pleasant, has a washing machine so we have clean clothes as well as clean bodies. Only drawback is the cane toad on the doormat.

China Wall to somewhere on the Granada-Clonagh road (north of Cloncurry)

Barkly Hwy memorial

Chilly morning as it takes a while before the sun peeks over the China Wall, so we are washing and breakfasting in the shade. We drive back toward the Highway, and try the Spring Creek Track from the other end. It’s very stony at the start, making us fear a tyre issue, so we park and walk along the track instead, very close to the Expedition’s path. After an hour and a half of walking we are hot and sticky. Imagining walking all day, without the benefit of the track, and in the heat of January, gives you much greater respect for Burke and his party.

After leaving the Ballara loop road into the Selwyns, we turn off the Barkly Highway again a little later to lunch at Corella Dam, an artificial lake very close to where the Expedition passed as they followed the Corella Creek. Then on to Cloncurry, where we talked to the Visitor Information Centre about books, but the requisite person wasn’t there on a Saturday. Off into the last chapter, heading up the Burke Development Road and then across towards Clonagh Station, where we camp near a creek crossing.

Corella Dam

Little Burke River to China Wall, Selwyn Ranges

After another lovely clear starry night, we get up after sunrise and are ready to head off at 8:30. The road through Duchess is probably the least comfortable so far, corrugations and cattle preventing one from travelling fast enough to skim over the corrugations. When we turn north there is a welcome relief of a stretch of sealed road, and beyond that the gravel road is much better. We are in Mt Isa shortly after 10:30, where we deliver 20 books to Outback at Isa. We would have lingered there except that the café had a sign saying that owing to a delivery failure, they could only serve instant coffee…

We head into the main shopping centre (experiencing our first traffic lights since Broken Hill), find a good coffee, have lunch, stock up with food at the supermarket, check out our emails and generally make contact with the world. We top up fuel and water, then head east on the Barkly Highway toward Cloncurry.

China Wall

We take the detour into the Selwyn Range – much more serious mountains – easy to see why the Expedition had so much trouble finding a way across. We start off down the Spring Creek 4WD track, then decide it’s not really a sensible move when you are in a hired vehicle with only one spare tyre, no winch and only limited tools. We turn back and continue down the Fountain Springs road, then the track down to China Wall, which is a spectacular rocky escarpment. We camp nearby, with plenty of time for G&T, clarinet practice, and a bit of a walk before dinner. Once again we are camped close to the Expedition’s track, although they were a little further east and didn’t see the China Wall.

Camped at China Wall

Burke River to Little Burke River, east of Duchess

Our plan is to arrive in Boulia about 9am, so I have time for clarinet practice after wash, dress and breakfast. We drive a little further south to see the Acacia Peuce sign and some more trees, then return to Boulia. It takes some time to establish that the person we need to talk to is Julie in the Library, by which time we have sold 2 books to other travellers. Julie tells us that she has already given instructions that some should be ordered, and she will follow up to see what’s happened. We return to the Min-Min Information Centre and sell 2 more while we are having a coffee. A bit of shopping, top up the fuel (selling 1 more copy in the servo), then we are off on the next leg.

The plains the Expedition crossed, viewed from Dave's "rocky knoll"

After days of travelling across flat plains (or weeks for Burke and Wills), the terrain starts to change here. The Expedition crossed the De Little Range, then the Standish range. We travel up the Diamantina Development Road, to the west of the Expedition route, detouring briefly to see where the Expedition crossed the Bengeacca Creek and the De Little Range. Although the landscape is more interesting, with much more vegetation, the going would probably have been harder, and water still scarce.

Close to Dajarra we turn off towards the Phosphate mine, crossing the Standish Range and the path of the Expedition. This is a very rough road, which climbs hills and dips deeply across the Wills River. As we enter it we pass a big rig carrying explosives to the Phosphate Hill mine. When we see the state of the road we are reminded of the film “The Wages of Fear”. We stop at Wills River and let the explosives truck get ahead.

Near the mine we turn north up a sealed road and have a much more comfortable journey up toward Duchess. We stop about 5km before the ‘town’ (one pub, half a dozen houses), and camp by the Little Burke River, very close to the Expedition’s Camp 97.

Lake Machattie to Burke River, south of Boulia

Up before sunrise again (is it a record?), but at last we can relax a bit and start to take our time. After a cup of tea we heat water for a proper wash, which we do standing naked on a tarp on the leeward side of the truck (strong winds again). It also happens to be the side nearest the road. Peter thinks we need a strategy if a vehicle goes past. I suggest waving. Washed, dressed, breakfasted, truck swept and tidied, we set off northward at about 9am.
We enjoy following the route as prescribed, detouring to Whitulania Creek for coffee. Burke named this King's Creek. It was a very fortuitous discovery for the Expedition, after they decided to leave the Diamantina River. Although it was dry, there were waterholes from which they topped up their water. It also ran north south, in the direction they wanted to go. At the moment it has a surprising amount of water in it, which the Expedition would have relished.

Whitulania Creek, with water

We follow the Coorabulka Road further north, through the flat plains and clay pans which King described as sterile and gloomy. Trying to imagine walking across this unchanging landscape, day after day, in the heat of January, with limited food and water and with no idea when it would end fills one with respect for the explorers. It also helps you understand Wills' excitement at crossing the Tropic of Capricorn. Not only is it a major milestone for a navigator, but he hoped it would bring some change in the landscape. Which it does - although the plains are still flat, creeks occur more often and there are far more trees, including an area full of the rare Acacia Peuce.

Acacia Peuce by the road

We reach Boulia at about 4:30, find a laundromat, do our washing, have a coffee at the Information Centre and talk about a possible book sale, then head south again as directed by the book to go closer to the Expedition route. We camp beside the Burke River. Another lovely clear night.

Marianna Waterhole to Lake Machattie

Up before sunrise again, and this time we are on the road at 7:30. The Cordillo Road is freshly graded most of the way (we know because we meet the graders) but the last section toward the border is a bit rough. It improves considerably once we are back in Queensland. Once we reach the Developmental Road into Birdsville, there is a procession of traffic, most of which overtakes us, as we are not pushing our luck without a spare. For both these reasons, although we are now travelling a segment of the route in the book (albeit in the opposite direction from the northbound route) we don’t stop at any of the marker points.

Waterhole, off the Cordillo Road

Once in Birdsville, we head straight for a tyre repair place, who replace the inner tube very promptly. Birdsville is absolutely teeming with racegoers – 4WDs, campers, tents, camper trailers everywhere, and all their owners patronising every attraction, both permanent and temporary. As the fuel queue is surprisingly short, we refuel at the same time, then head for the Wirrarri Information Centre to deliver 2 boxes of books, then to the Birdsville Bakery to deliver another box and have lunch (excellent pies). Back to the roadhouse for a bit of shopping (including WD40 and gaffer tape because the back doors of the truck aren’t closing firmly and it fills up with dust). Fuel queues now very long, so we feel smug as we drive away.
We figure that by now there will be even more traffic on the Birdsville Developmental Road and we will be heading into a continuous dust cloud, so we take the Bedourie road north instead, which has less incoming traffic. The Burke and Wills route joins this road after about 80km, so at last we are ‘on track’.

Once we turn off on toward Lake Machattie on the Flood Bypass Road, there are no more vehicles, and we can relax. When we reach Dave’s “sand dune and spinifex” point, we stop. There has been a very strong west-south-westerly blowing all day, so we take shelter off the road behind the sand dune. Cattle in the distance come over in the hope that we are bringing feed, and we eventually have to shoo them off so that we can cook and eat a meal in peace. I try a bit of clarinet practice but they seem to like this, and Peter has to resort to waving and shouting. A cooler night, but not cold: Queensland is jeansland – nice to be out of cords and two jumpers and in jeans and a t-shirt instead today.

Dave's sanddune. We camped off the road behind it.

Olive Downs to Marianna Waterhole (Cordillo Road, east of Cordillo Downs Station)

Up before sunrise, washed, dressed and breakfasted and would have been on the road before 8 if we hadn’t discovered a soft looking rear tyre. Once again total strangers to the rescue with an electric pump. We get the tyre pressure back up, and drive gingerly onward through the Warry Gate towards Innamincka. We keep stopping and checking the tyre, which looks OK, but once we get on the sealed road of the Adventure Highway, the tyre goes completely. We change the wheel, and drive on to Innamincka on the spare (fortunately a good tyre). In Innamincka we discover that none of the people who might be able to fix a tyre are available. We buy a tyre pump, refuel, and  eat a late burger lunch at the pub, where we also deliver a box of books.
Now we have a difficult decision. If we follow the route in the book as planned we will go via the Walkers Crossing Track and the Birdsville track. We don’t know the state of the former, and we’ll be travelling without a spare tyre. And with the Birdsville Races this weekend, the Birdsville Track will be like the Southeastern Freeway on Friday afternoon. We decide to take the Cordillo Road instead, as we hear it is in good condition. And it is, we drive comfortably and without incident to the Marianna Waterhole, where we decide to camp for the night. It is now cloudy and quite muggy, so we are almost too hot and sleep with all the air vents open.

Broken Hill to Olive Downs (Camping Area, Sturt National Park)

We enjoy a lie in and a leisurely self-serve breakfast at the Imperial, where we sell a copy of the book to fellow travellers we meet in the kitchen. We do some shopping (folding spade) before heading to the Visitor Information Centre. After a longish discussion they decide they would like to stock the book, but would rather order direct from CSIRO. We refuel us (coffee) and the truck (diesel) and leave at 11:45.
We stop in Packsaddle for a burger lunch, sell two more copies of the book, one to fellow travellers, one to the lady in the roadhouse. We are there long enough to flatten our battery because we left the lights on, but a nice bloke jump starts us, and we drive on to Tibooburra, where we plan to deliver some new stock the Corner Country Store and stay the night in the tiny motel they run. Sadly, they are closed due to illness, so we can do neither. We refuel, buy jumper leads, and head further north, reaching the Olive Downs camping area in the Sturt National Park just on sunset. Two other campers, but plenty of room for us. It is a clear night, and the stars are wonderful in the couple of hours before moonrise. Even though the clear sky means the night is very chilly, we are snug under our doona in the slide out upper bed of the truck.

Wentworth to Broken Hill

We breakfast alfresco, looking out over the river, away from motel (very clean and comfortable, but typical 60s motel architecture, all dark tapestry brick, indoors and out, somewhat gloomy). Down to the IGA to buy provisions, then we head towards Pooncarie. Fortunately Peter just catches sight of the sign which says which roads are open in his peripheral vision, because when we turn back to read it properly, we find that the unsealed section of the Pooncarie-Menindee road is CLOSED. This is a nuisance as we have books to deliver to Menindee, and we thought it would be nice to revisit Pooncarie on the way. Last time we came to Pooncarie from Balranald, following the Expedition route. This time we would have come from Wentworth, on a road new to us. But it was not to be, we would have to go to Menindee via Broken Hill.
So back through Wentworth, and up the Silver City Highway. Terrain becoming more desert-like, soil redder, trees are mallee, mulga, gidgee, and there are lots of what Wills describes as "salsolaceous" plants. We also see our first feral goats. No live kangaroos, although a fair bit of road kill. Emus looking more natural here than when we saw some yesterday, standing in a field of barley.
We make contact with the Menindee Information Centre on the way to Broken Hill, discover we won't be able to get there before they close. However we get the phone number of the bloke in charge who placed the order for books, and leave him a message. He responds as we are enjoying a very good Sunday roast with all the other pensioners at the Alfresco Cafe in Broken Hill and we make arrangements to meet him at the Information Centre later in the afternoon. After lunch we have time to book in to the Imperial Hotel before we drive to Menindee and deliver the books. After a chat with Bruce we stop for a soft drink at Maiden's Pub where we give them a poster, show them the book and have a chat about the Burke and Wills connection. We then head back, reaching Broken Hill again before sunset, and enjoy the luxury of the Imperial (electric blankets!).

Tocumwal to Wentworth

Peter's sister makes us beautiful scrambled eggs for breakfast, and we spend a bit more time with her before heading off at around 9:45. At midday, we stop for coffee in Hay, and then head west, meeting up with the track in Balranald, arriving about 2:15. Now we feel we've really started our expedition, as did Burke back in 1860. Balranald was a significant jumping off point for the Expedition - they were leaving the "settled districts" of Victoria, Burke left behind some of the excess baggage he was carrying and some which had been damaged in the crossing of the Murrumbidgee. He also dismissed some of his men. Here Wills started taking bearings and began real navigation as they set off across country towards the Darling.

New Discovery Centre at Balranald

Since we last visited Balranald two years ago, they have built a wonderful new Information Centre and Discovery Centre. We talk to Kath in the Information Centre, who remembers us from previous visits and promises that the centre is going to stock the book as soon as she can get the necessary authority to order some. We eat at the Discovery Cafe (very good), investigate the Discovery Centre, go for a walk up and down the main street. 

As we've already driven the Expedition's track from Balranald to Pooncarie two years back, today we take the route Burke should have taken but didn't, continuing through the Riverina to Mildura, then following the Darling north. He chose to head northwest, straight to Pooncarie, which looks shorter, but was then and is still a slower and more taxing journey, albeit more interesting. We continue west along the Sturt Highway, where the sand and mallee scrub eventually gives way to the orchards and vineyards of the Riverina. We finish up in Wentworth, discover it is Wentworth Show Weekend, but still manage to find ourselves a place to stay (too cold to camp). The pub is packed, with a waiting time of over an hour for a meal, so we have a beer, get a takeaway pizza and go back to the motel for Saturday night television.

Crossing Victoria

Have book, will travel

We leave Melbourne, grey, cold and gloomy, about 12:30 on Friday. There is an accident on the Tullamarine Freeway which delays us a little, but once over the hills and on to the Goulburn Valley Highway the sky clears, the sun shines, the fields of rapeseed echoes the gold of the wattles, and we start to feel more relaxed.
We arrive at Goodfellows in Shepparton on schedule, the camper is waiting. We transfer our stuff from the car, sell a copy of the guide to Butch (Graham Goodfellow, the camper's owner), have a strengthening coffee and then drive to Tocumwal to visit Peter's sister, who gives us a delicious dinner and a very pleasant evening.

Background

In 2008, when the Royal Society of Victoria began organising commemoration activities for the sesquicentenary of the Burke and Wills Expedition in 2010, Peter and I met Dave Phoenix, who, in that year, walked from Melbourne to the Gulf following the route of the Expedition. Some time in 2010, I persuaded Dave that we should use the material that he had gathered to produce a guide for people who wanted to drive the route, and that I would do a structure and first cut for him if he would trust me with his material.
He agreed, but when I saw how much there was to deal with, we settled on the idea of producing "Following Burke and Wills Across Victoria".
During 2010, as we went to the various commemoration activities that were held between Melbourne and Swan Hill, Peter and I drove parts of the Victorian Route. Dave finished the first book and we self-published in 2011. We then persuaded CSIRO Publishing to take on the publication of the complete book, "Following Burke and Wills Across Australia". By 2013 we had a draft of most of the book, and in October that year Peter and I drove back and forth in the back blocks of NSW checking out both the draft and the driving route. We started in Swan Hill and went as far as the Dig Tree (near Innamincka) before heading back to Melbourne. Our findings were fed back in as Dave refined the draft in 2014, sorted out the illustrations and drew the maps. We delivered the final version to CSIRO Publishing early in 2015, and the book was officially released 1 June 2015.
Peter and I have been enjoying outback trips for many years, and we've previously travelled from Cloncurry to Normanton, and visited Innamincka, Birdsville and Bedourie. But we haven't travelled the section of the Expedition's route between Birdsville and Cloncurry. So we decided that this year, we would get some red dust on to my author copy of the book by renting a 4WD camper and going bush again.
The story now starts...