Strzelecki Desert Trip - Part 9. Fort Grey to Tibooburra.
This 310 km (193 mile) dirt road section passes a couple of interesting places. The old gold mining town of Milparinka, the Salt Lake, Green Lake and Cobham Lake group, the opal town of White Cliffs and a changing landscape gradually becoming more timbered.
Day 14, Saturday 12th July. Tibooburra to Pine Creek (White Cliffs) Camp.
310 kms (193 miles)
Tibooburra and surrounds from Sunset Lookout.
Tibooburra, at times, the hottest town in New South Wales.
The Jump Ups and granite boulders from Sunset Lookout.
Balancing granite boulder, Tibooburra.
Sturt's Desert Pea, just in case you missed it in the last post or you wanted to see it again.
This 'rib-like' sculpture is on the road to the cemetery, in background. Appropriate??
"Sorry, did you want something?"
Wedge-tailed Eagle.
Now you know why people who handle these birds have thick leather protection on their arms.
Turn off to Milparinka.
Geoff De Main's sculptural representation of Sturt's Cairn and tribute to early settlers of Milparinka.
Milparinka can be seen in the right background.
I was taking this photo of Miparinka when.............
.......... I noticed that I was parked on the runway of the airfield, I wondered why it was so flat.
Ruins of the Commercial Bank building, Milparinka, built 1881.
Next please.
Past skills.
Milparinka Post Office.
The Milparinka Courthouse was constructed in 1886.
The court was finally closed in 1929 and was used later as the Post Office.
The have added a hall to the side of the hotel since I was last here.
The Milparinka Hotel Oasis.
Fuel no more.
A local dedicated lady is putting signs up as to who use to live in the houses that are now just piles of stones.
A local dedicated lady is putting signs up as to who use to live in the houses that are now just piles of stones.
In the gold-rush days Chinese farmers kept the town alive growing vegetables with water taken from this creek.
Shadows from the past.
Tibooburra's memorial wall.
'Peak Hill' shearing sheds and homestead. That is a huge windmill behind the shed.
They call it home.
Salt Lake, 110 km's south of Tibooburra NSW.
'Classical' version........
Salt Lake, 110 km's south of Tibooburra NSW.
........or the original 'Pop' version.
Salt Lake. It looks like water in the distance but I think it was just dry grass..
The Grave of Eliza Kannedy at Cobham Lake.
There was water here.
There are 2 stories on how Eliza died. 1....She lived and worked at Granny Blore's Tavern, on the edge of the lake, after her husband, a sailor, had left her in Adelaide. He said she was prone to fits and may have drowned during a seizure.
2..... She may have worked as a prostitute at the tavern. She told me that Eliza drowned while trying to save the tavern keeper’s two young daughters who got into difficulties while swimming in the lake.
More information on this and other outback graves and info, go to 'outback-secrets' .
Plenty of water in Cobham Lake.
Cobham/Green Lake.
They were on strike, they were after better conditions.
Pulgamurtie Homestead.
You can grow trees out here, if you have good water supply.
Part of Pulgamurtie Homestead.
They had a great backdrop to the property.
Cattle, horses, dry creek crossing and yes, people do live out here.
On one side of the road was this red-trunked gum tree..........
.........and on the other side, one with a white trunk.
The fence is to keep the sheep in, not the feral goats.
I often saw this tree growing beside the roads out this way, usually just in 1's and 2's.
At first I thought they were a wattle as I could get glimpses of yellowish flowers.
These were growing very close to the road and were flowering so I took the opportunity
to have a good look and get a photo. ENVIRONMENTAL WEED!! Tree Tobacco - Nicotiana glauca. Poisonous to cattle, also humans who have eaten it by mistake.
flowers of Tree Tobacco - Nicotiana glauca.
Coming into White Cliffs the sky started to cloud over.
And behind me it looked worse.
White Cliffs lived up to its name.
It seemed like a good idea at the time. They were to concentrate sunlight onto water to create steam that would turn generators to produce electricity.
Like rabbits, a lot of people at White Cliffs live underground because of the heat.
One of the larger warrens.
The lady in the shop said there was no rain predicted, so, hoping she was right, headed on to where I was gong to camp, where-ever that might be.
I was camping at Pipeline Track MW 463 via Pine Creek.
As I was fairly close to a main (for out here) road I was in bed at 6:30 pm as not to have any lights on and let anyone know I was here.
I still don't like the look of those clouds.
The road I was next to, and had to drive down the next day, had been closed for 12 months because of rain and I only had enough emergency food to do me for an extra week.
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