Day 7

Well we got up and it was a beautiful morning, even the pelicans seemed to have more zing in their paddle stroke. So we packed up after breakfast and hooked up the Jayco because we could feel "Road Open". We shot up to the CBD of Innamincka and found the Road Closed signs still in place. It seems everyone who had been camped in and around Innamincka was here and all were in a state of preparedness to travel. The people in the pub and the trading post were, I'm sure, sick to death of everyone going in and asking the same questions. We were all sitting around like formula 1 racers waiting for a Le Mans start and some one suggested we should do something take our minds off the mass revolt being planned. "Well, if someone's got a cricket bat, they sell tennis balls in the trading post." Vicki, a traveller from Victoria, disappeared into the said trading post and one of the alleged revolt leaders produced a bait board that looked nothing like Sir Donald Bradmans carved willow, but we all agreed it was to be pressed into service.(We now carry a cricket bat in the new Jayco). Well did we have a great game of cricket and of course no one wanted to field in the slips as that was the mud on this field.

The innings was declared over when we all had a bat and proved how fit we were, so when is this road going to be open? A few minutes later and the signs were coming off and we could go, but not to where we wanted to go. We had planned to reach Cameron Corner where Queensland, New South Wales and South Australia all meet. This wasn't to be as the rain had filled in the gullies between the sand dunes that were the Strzlecki Desert. This was to be our route to Tibooburra, but now what. The revolt leader had a mud map, if you'll excuse the pun, from the guy at the pub, the one with the dreadlocks. If you think this all sounds dodgy here, you should have been there.

This alternative route took us through a desert track that wasn't even on our map, but local knowledge is always good to pay heed to so off we all went in convoy. 4 vehicles including 2 Pajeros, a '77 Holden ute belonging to Dave & Vicki and us in our 100 series Landcruiser with the Jayco in tow. Safety in numbers we felt...if someone fell by the wayside, there would be enough of us to "put them out of their misery". This new route took us through the Dulingari Gas Field and down through Orientos and across the New South Wales border at Warri Gate.Well, the local knowledge paid dividends and we were finding it smooth sailing, (another pun). The red sands of this desert track were in good shape and we were soon enjoying all the wildlife on the way with kangaroos and emus everywhere. A few wet patches and a bit of slip and slide and we were at Warri Gate and this was our third state in one day. There were a few creeks that were over the road near Tibooburra that made one of the Pajero's alter course for parts unknown until they managed to get it back on the track. After crossing into New South Wales, we couldn't get over the large number of big Red Kangaroos we saw. That dingo proof fence seems to work in favour of the wildlife as well as stock.

Notice the colour of the sky now!

Dingo Fence & welcome to NSW

Warri Gate into New South Wales

We got into Tibooburra and when we passed the road sign out of town it said the road we had just come over from Innamincka was closed???? Moreover, we were asked by a couple walking along the main street, "Where did you come from?" When we told them Innamincka, they were so disappointed as that's where they wanted to go that day as they, like us, had been delayed by the rain.

We had dinner at the pub that night and could not eat all the food they served, wow, what a feast and what a lovely old dining room it was. Off to bed for tomorrow we're turning our head East and working our way home via another route.