Day 3  Birdsville -  White Cliffs

Day 3 saw us heading southeast from Birdsville to our first stop at the famous Bourke and Wills "Dig Tree" on Nappa Merrie Station. Initially the track took us out over the Strzlecki Desert.  This desert was in places very much like some other deserts we had travelled through (or over!).  Rows and rows of long sand dunes.  In this case it was just after the floods had been through so there were lots of lakes. Some were obviously only very short-lived and many of these looked like they were salt.  Interspersed with them were the occasional permanent looking lakes with trees around the edges.

The Dig Tree is the site of the ill fated exploration of  Burke and WIlls who crossed the continent from south to north. On their return they tried to reach the supply camp on Cooper's Creek  (Camp 65) They staggered in at 7:30 at night only to find the rest of the party had left that morning after nearly four months of waiting.  A "blaze" on the tree indicated they should dig nearby for buried provisions. They did this and then struck out for a station to the south west. However they died in the attempt.

In the 1890's in a tribute to the explorers another bloke carved a face in a nearby tree . The site at Cooper's creek now boasts a "Dig Tree" and a "Face Tree".

After The Dig Tree we turned south and made for Cameron Corner which is the junction of Queensland, New South Wales and South Australia.  There is no servicable airstrip at the corner so only the helicopters stopped.  This stop actually served to emphasise that when making plans for these little outback places it is very important to get information from the "right source."  I originally spoke with one person by phone who assured us there was a great strip and we'd be able to all land there and even taxi right up to the corner.  A coincidental talk with another person on a later date revealed that the airstrip hadn't had an aircraft on it for many years.  The phone number of the actual owner was procurred and in speaking with him it turned out the airstrip had not been maintained, was unsafe and although he didn't refuse permission for us to land, it was at our own risk. But we didn't intend to push the risk. The fix wings would not be landing!  Just goes to show how our practice of confirming our intentions several times in the planning can reveal different information each time.

From Cameron's Corner we moved down into New South Wales and the tiny town of Tibooburra.  Again we just did a refuel and had lunch arranged by the local roadhouse.

From Tibooburra it was only a short run down to White Cliffs.  Whites, near Broken Hill, is nEw South Wales's answer to Coober Pedy.  Opal mining town with many of the homes underground to escape the searing summer temperatures. We stayed at the Underground Motel so that we could say we've slept in a cave!

The local bus operator took us on a tour of the local mining operations and showed us how they did for opal. When we got back from the tour we found a AS 350 Squirrel helicopter parked in the carpark.  It turned out the gas company used it to inspect the pipelines and they land there every night!