The corner for South Australia and Queensland was surveyed by Mr Poeppel around 1880, and named after the corner property of the time, Haddon Downs. The photos speak for themselves, except you can't see the 2,175,001 flies that live there. Consequently we stayed only long enough to sign the visitors book.

From the Corner we kept going until the sun was close to setting, before finding a graded area beside the road for the night. No worries about passing traffic - there was none. The fire bug had a beautiful fire going before long, and we enjoyed our Flaxton cooked Osso Bucco by the fire with NO FLIES and just the starry night, all alone. Ahh...the serenity.

Friday 23 June - On to Innamincka 

It was a glorious morning with 7 degrees and clear skies. With still no other traffic, we continued on the Arrabury Road until the turn off to the Cordillo Downs Road which we took, as we were told the graders were working here and had just graded from Innamincka to the intersection. 

Rick unhitched the Mouse House and we left it at the grader drivers' camp, before driving the 36 kilometres north to Cordillo Downs Station. Even though the graders had just graded a lot of the track, it still had some very rocky sections. The Cordillo Downs 1883 built shearing shed made of local sandstone rubble, is the largest in Australia. By 1890 it had 120 stands, enabling 120 shearers  to shear 120 sheep at the same time. Their record was in 1888, when 82,000 head were shorn, all with hand shears!

By 1941 dingoes had become such a menace that they devoured most of the lamb drop, so the decision was made to change to cattle, and now on the 7,800 square kilometre property poll Hereford cattle are run.

Back to the van we went, hitched up and continued down to Innamincka on the freshly graded Cordillo Downs Road, which still had plenty of rocky patches over dry creek beds.

Innamincka was quite a shock to the senses, though at least it has bitumen on the main streets now. We headed straight to the Town Common, camping on Cooper Creek, as it was getting close to sunset and the National Park camps were further out.

With the Oz Pig going and the pizza cooking, we relaxed with our Friday night bubbly, with the song of the dingoes in the distance.

Saturday 24 June - Innamincka 

Today we drove the "Dig Tree Loop Road" from Innamincka out to the Burke and Wills Dig Tree - the tree made famous when back in the boiling heat of December 1860, they set up camp (Depot Camp 65) and left a party here to wait 3 months for them to return from their trek to find the northern coast of Australia. The Depot Party waited 4 months then gave up the wait and headed back towards Melbourne. 

As luck would have it, Burke and Wills arrived about 10 hours later, saw the mark made on the tree by Brahe to DIG, found the camel trunk full of provisions and had a bit of a feast, then started walking, not in the direction that the Depot Party were walking, but towards Mt Hopeless! The worst idea of Burke's life, which lead to their deaths from berri berri and malnutrition to say the least.  

From here we drove back through Nappa  Merrie Station, the 7,680 square kilometre property that the Dig Tree is on, to Burke's Memorial, the site where his body was found and originally buried under a coolibah tree close to a beautiful area of Cooper Creek. Then we had a speedy drive on the sand track to Cullyamurra Waterhole which was formed by massive floods in the Cooper being restricted at a narrow gap, the Choke. It has never been known to dry out, and yes, it is beautiful, from the flyless comfort of the Land Cruiser. I'm glad we didn't camp here as I had first planned, as the road would have been slow going with the van, and there are just as many flies as the Town Common. Incidentally, I originally had visions of a green grassy oasis for somewhere named the "Town Common" -  oh well, another vision shattered.

I've been reading Sarah Murgatroyd's "The Dig Tree" leading up to this trip, which has made things more meaningful for me, and as we drive I tell Rick stories or read him stuff about B and W.   Not sure how much he listens to though.

We called into The Innamincka Hotel before going back to camp and met some locals - the Publican Nichelle and her husband/partner or "wife" as he introduced himself. Jacky, the manager and cook on Nappa Merrie, who was there as well, actually called him " her bitch"! and another young woman (forgotten her name) who is a rounsabout  there. There were three blokes who had just done the Canning and Simpson Desert crossings, leaving their wives at home in Melbourne. We enjoyed a couple of drinks and talking together for a while. 

Tea was a quick affair of nibblies while we warmed up at the fire, as it gets quite cool by 7.30pm. The days have been a nice 25 degrees, quite bearable.

Sunday 25 June - Innamincka 

Bacon and eggs by Cooper Creek this morning. The flies appear around 9am, so we made sure we were finished by then.

We each had a paddle in Mabel, with the pelicans avoiding us by flying back down the creek when we floated too close. The magnificent Red River Gums cast a little shade over the calm brown waters, to help cool us down in the midday sun.

I then used my "Fly Free Enclosure" - see photo - to catch up on this blog and just dream by the creek. Rick had some luck, catching another blue claw to add to the lonely one in the freezer.

Tomorrow we head south, on towards Cameron Corner. Rain is predicted by Thursday, so we'll try to be on the bitumen by then.