Gary Wright and friend Andrew Nairn arrived at Mambray Creek National Park on Sunday and the rest of the crew - George and Herma and Gary and Jack Hallam- arrived on Monday afternoon.
Confession was received from Spot re backing the caravan onto a site marker post. Said post positioning itself under the van making it impossible to drive forward. With the help of his trusty co-pilot the post was extracted from the ground with much difficulty and later replaced OK (to the casual eye). Absolution was granted.
Gary was stricken with a mighty thirst after setting up camp; opened the car door and cans fell out, one getting a small hole on the side. Very little was wasted, worthy of a member of the Ancient Order of Froth Blowers Assoc.
Tuesday the 16th. Hit the road at 8:00am after Spot and crew repaired a campsite marker that Andrew let Spot back over the night before. Spent some time visiting the Kanyaka homestead ruins and cemetery (1860 ERA) noting the young ages on the tombstones.
Fuel stop at Hawker plus refreshments and off again. Well that was the plan but Andrew had gone missing. He eventually turned up, looking totally innocent (claimed he was looking for Spot), and we left at 10:45.
We
had lunch on the rocky creek bed at 10 Mile Creek and sampled everybody’s
homemade goodies (except Andrew who is on a strict diet). We arrived at
Natawarrina Reserve near Barcanoola at 2:50 for the night. The road surface was
reasonably good but very dusty.
A casual glance at Spot's van from his customary, near horizontal position, near the camp fire caused Andrew to draw attention to a tyre that was nearly flat. This was hastily changed accompanied with the usual smart comments and dumb advice.
Wednesday 17th. Up at 7:00 for 8:00am start. Gary discovered the fridge was not working and an investigation found the fuse holder had melted due to a bad connection. Fortunately the fault was found and fixed before there was any loss of food as well as preserving medical essentials (beer).
After the obligatory Herma morning tea stop we came upon a Santos oil pump close to the road so we stopped to check out the workings. As we headed into Innamincka Spot spotted a jerry can on the side of the road and radioed back to us to pick it up for him, bloody cheek.
We arrived at the Burkes’ Grave camp site (Innamincka) at 4:30 after a 460km trip. Setting up camp was difficult with flies in your eyes and up the nose. Then when it was time for lights the moths came around.
Thursday 18th. Up before the
flies – had breakfast and then improved conditions by adding the annex
to Gary’s camper-trailer and setting up a fly proof gazebo which will be great
at meal time and relaxing during the evening refreshments.
Everybody spent the morning in town for showers, phone calls and shopping and driving back and forth over the causeway. In the afternoon Gary and I went for a paddle in the canoe with Spot and Andrew struggling on behind. Spot kept telling Andrew (loudly) that his diet is not working as their canoe was running out of freeboard. Coopers creek was flowing well but the water was very dirty. You will note from the photograph that I am in the steerage again.
Friday 19th. The crew, with George leading, went for a drive, and a long walk (too long for me) to the Choke where the Creek comes through some narrows in a rush creating a deep hole. It was not as spectacular as we had hoped because the high water had not arrived as yet.
Lamb roast tonight but too much advice from the onlookers resulted in the meat and veg underdone. The meal went off very well with a white table cloth, candlelight and great company (and some red cordial).
Andrew is on a strict diet; Gary saw him sneaking a sliver of forbidden lamb, yelled “ANDREW” and he dropped the knife like a hot spud.
Thank heaven for the gazebo because the moths at night are as thick as the flies during the day.
Saturday
20th. Gary and
Spot went for a run downstream to check out future camp sites and find any
points of historical interest. Saw Will’s approximate burial site and King’s
monument tree. Spot found a watch in the dirt; still going and set for daylight
saving time so it had been there a
while. We dropped in to Innamincka on
the way back for phone calls, fuel and an icecream.
Sunday 25th. Spot’s 65th birthday. Cooler conditions with a blustery wind: at least it kept the flies at bay. Everybody went to the pub for a birthday dinner and Andrew, in true accountant fashion, “forgot” his wallet and suffered friendly, but pointed, banter for the rest of the night. Gary bought Spot an enormous baked cheese cake which was shared with everybody at the pub. And Andrew, still on a strict diet, watched as all ate, drank and were merry. We all felt sorry for Poor Andrew until Spot spotted him sneaking a second helping.
Spot decided that we should move on as the weather conditions worsened, the wind making canoeing very difficult.
Monday 22nd. In the process
of getting breakfast the presence of a stowaway in the form of a
mouse was discovered in Gary’s trailer. The
mouse had a good feed on a loaf of bread
and snacked from numerous other goods. The offender was located and
exiled to the elements.
We headed for Cameron’s Corner via the Bore Track. The track had been reworked by the mining and drilling companies so it was a bit hard to follow but there were sign posts at the new intersections. After paying our dues at the Bollards Lagoon homestead we continued on to Camerons Corner for a short stop while Andrew pranced around the boundary post.
We stopped at Tibooburra and visited the Sturt’s boat replica and a large fossilized tree and then continued on to Milparinka where we camped the night. We had a nice meal at the Milparinka hotel with a pleasant evening’s refreshments. It was interesting to talk to the guests at the hotel who had hired prospecting equipment from the pub and had spent all of their time looking for gold.
Tuesday 23rd. Had breakfast at the pub and then we took Spot and Andrew out to Poole’s grave and Sturt’s cairn. Another bloody long walk and up a steep hill.
Spot filled up with fuel, or thought he was, before leaving for Broken Hill. He got about 20Lts and the tank ran out causing a Pissed Spot worrying how much of the 20Lts was sludge.
We
all refueled and had lunch at Pack Saddle arriving at the Lake View Caravan
Park, Broken Hill, at 3:15. Partaking of refreshments by 3:30.
A very cold evening saw Andrew sitting in chair with a lap blanket and fan heater. We retreated to the camp kitchen, with the heater, and watched Spot and Gary destroy a very large bottle of scotch, laugh a lot, and talk gibberish most of the night.
It felt warmer in the kitchen until Herma discovered the there was no glass in the windows.
I think my chair was getting to the scotch as well as it kept moving when I went to sit down and was even more violent in its movements when I tried to get up.
Wednesday 24th. Freezing cold, so I warmed the nearest tree with friendly fire and started breakfast. We traveled down the Silver City highway towards Wentworth but turned off onto Springwood road to go to Chowilla via Pine Camp. George took the lead as we approached Chowilla as he knew a good camp site. We arrived at George’s camp at 3:00 after threading Spots van through a corkscrew track around large trees. He took a different track on the way out.
Thursday 25th. Freezing again. Everything was covered with ice. We left Chowilla for Berri to restock supplies, get fuel and lunch. After leaving Berri we visited a lock and had a small feed of mandarines courtesy of Andrew. At the fruit juice factory, while everybody stocked up Andrew was found across the road at the Nissan dealer checking on the price etc. The bug must have really bitten him. Gary and Spot went halves in an enormous bag of butternuts, so heavy that Gary could hardly lift it. We arrived at Paruna around midday.
Andrew bought a 2kg bolar roast in Berri. Spot and Gary, carefully ignoring all advice, cooked a roast producing the perfect meal enjoyed by all.
Jack Hallam.
