Day 10 Tibooburra

Camping on the banks of the Cooper Creek @ Innamincka.

Gas or oil operation. There were heaps of these and oil rigs in the area.

Biggest fence in the world. Dingo fence. 

Dingo Fence - travels I think 5000km's or so. 

The is the start of the Calder Hwy. Up here it is called the Silver City Hwy.

Seriously folks. The border of Qld / NSW and the coppers put this sign up.
Middle of no where on a dirt road and they put this sign up. 

Tibooburra hotel

Innamincka to Tibooburra

Sitting here at the Tibooburra hotel, less than 30 degrees in the shade, having my ?? pint of beer... What a life :)  We spoke to a lot of ppl about the trek home, both before the trip and obviously travellers who had just completed certain treks. We had planned on tackling Camerons Coner via Merty Merty and going down the Old Strzlecki track. However the word from everyone was do not do it on a motorbike. Too dangerous.

4-5 bikers rocked up last night at Innamincka. The leader who arrived a few hrs before his mates regaled us of his trip. 2-3 punctures, gave his last rear tube to his mate and then let the group travel one way whilst he doubled back (got some supplies) and went another way (no one knew where or which way he went). He was about to run out of fuel and had run out of water and by pure chance ran into a Gas / Oil workers camp and they helped him out. He had a flat front tyre, no spare tube, no puncture repairs left, so he filled the cavity of the front tyre with clothes and rode it to Innamincka. When the rest arrived they raved about how hard and dangerous their trek was. 110 km's per hr in sand, stones etc and running 20 psi tyre pressure and they all had punctures, offs etc. It would appear they were first time adventure travellers, with no clue and no respect for what they are trying to do. Pete spent some time with them and after quiet reflection the leader realised how stupid and lucky he was. Up here a mistake could mean the end. We ventured onto the same trek they had done that day and it was easy peasy. Future Darwin Awards candidates riding bikes.

So with the advice given, we didn't travel via Camerons Corner but went through the roads cared for by Santos, the big Australian oil / gas mining company. The roads were absolutely spectacular. Some sandy spots which made you concentrate but in the whole, the best road conditions we have had for the whole trip.
I really did cherish my time in Innamincka and the touring we did around the place. Such a spectacular place and the absolute highlight of all my travels on a motorbike. I would go back in a heart beat. We did miss out on seeing Will's grave, so maybe next time.

The trip down was spectacular. The red sand dune colour, mixed with blacks of the recent bush fires and add the abundant rain over the season has this place looking glorious. The pictures do not do this area any justice. Do yourself a favour and come up.

No offs today and the bikes have been going well. I do have massive dent in my front wheel rim. You get that when travelling over 100kms per hr into rocks :) (loved it!!) I did have a tear in my eye as we past the turn off to Cameron Corner and slowling coming home as this trip has far exceeded my expectations. I plan on upgrading my bike to a 1200cc in the next 3-6 months but so far I am soo impressed with how things have gone.

The only downer is the prices for everything in Innacmincka. What ever it is, expect to pay +200% of normal price. Petrol - $2.05.60 per litre. Glad we did not need any emergency repairs or help up there.

Cheers till next time - Richard

PS : Maurice - you really reading this?? :)

Peter's bit

Have managed to prise the keyboard off Richard for a few comments :-)  Today was just a great ride, in slightly cooler conditions as well (if you've read Richard's comments above re the group from yesterday it's interesting to note that our average speed through the same area was 80 kph - safe, secure but still one hell of a lot of fun) and interestingly while we actually saw more traffic than we have before on most days I still felt we were more "remote" than previously - probably because it wasn't quite the main highway !!!

We've definitely turned the corner for home and it's fairly much downhill all the way :-)  Hard to call the rear tyre a knobbly any more because it's starting to get fairly non knobby !!!  Should get us home but will require replacement quite soon afterwards.

Was reflecting how well the bikes have handled the trip (so far at least) - dependable Yamaha reliability and the ability to accommodate everything we've encountered .... including throwing it down the road at at reasonable rate of knots !!!  The fuel consumption on these long outback sections has improved to give us in excess of 20 kms per litre but the bike does need a damn good clean - Oz Outback Red Dust just clings.

Till next time Cheers Peter