Tibooburra, New South Wales, AustraliaMonday 26 June - near Tibooburra
We were on the road by 9.
30am, shaking up and down over the corrugations on the Strzelecki Track - the new one - until we turned east towards Merty Merty and the Cameron Corner Track. Somewhere along here the top cutlery drawer came to grief on the floor, with the latch finally giving way. It enjoys a comfortable ride in the middle of our bed now, until Mr Fixit finds what is needed to fix it.
At Cameron Corner we checked the marker post and jumped around all three states, SA, NSW and the best of all, QLD. John Cameron was the surveyor for NSW who led the team who pegged the corner in 1880. Rick left a Spinifex cap at the Corner Store, which is in QLD, for the vast display, then we drove through the gate into NSW.
The Cameron Corner Tibooburra Road continued in a similar vein to the rest of the roads we traversed today, with plenty of corrugated and dusty surfaces. The 130 kilometres to Tibooburra was meant to take about two and a half hours as it is a 60 k zone all the way, and by 5.30 pm the wildlife was so plentiful, mainly Grey Kangaroos, that we decided to call it a day and stopped to camp on a rise a little way out of Tibooburra.
Tuesday 27 June - to Broken Hill
The rain clouds had been following us yesterday and during the night some gentle rain fell, just enough to lay the dust. The sun struggled to show through the clouds as we continued into Tibooburra, taking it slowly to again avoid the Grey kangaroos that were out in force still. The town, Tibooburra, emerged during the 1880's to serve the gold miners in the area. Sidney Kidman, the Cattle King, once had vast tracts of land here.
In the chilly damp morning air we filled the fuel tanks with the cheapest diesel for a while, $1.40.5 per litre, which was a big improvement on Cameron Corner Store at $2.00 per litre! Luckily we didn't need fuel there.
Not far out of Tibooburra we turned off the Silver City Highway for a short detour to Milparinka, a tiny historic town with a few of the original buildings still standing, one being the Court House. The Albert Hotel, built in 1882, is still going strong too. I enjoyed wandering around the history pathways and Rick enjoyed visiting the bar! There was an incredibly warming fire going inside which was a magnet to all, including us.
Then on we moved towards Broken Hill, and we were surprised by the particularly pitiful road, at least a third of which is still dirt, though I guess we are well away from civilisation here, as evidenced by the total lack of traffic.
The wild life was far denser than the traffic - kangaroos, emus galore, goats, and plenty of sheep. We arrived in Broken Hill by 5pm and went straight to the Race Course Camping on the north side of town, far better value and less squashed than the two caravan parks in town. We are parked on green grass! Imagine that!
2025-05-22