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.