Corner Country stretches toward the famous Corner Post where Queensland, South Australia and New South Wales meet. It's a place of wide-open spaces and big blue skies, a landscape that remains much the same as when the first explorers arrived more than 150 years ago. From the wild dog fence, remnants of remote homesteads and historic mining towns to the remarkable plants and wildlife, Corner Country is a place like no other.
Day 1 Toowoomba to Moree
Westward Ho we go to Goondiwindi on the Macintyre, home of 'Gunsynd' and the heart of the Border Rivers region. Then its over the border and down the Newell Highway into the Gwydir Valley. Moree, known for its Hot Mineral Baths is todays final stop. (LD)
Day 2 Moree to Bourke
We head off, the morning sun at our backs, making tracks for Bourke. Once a major inland port on the mighty Darling River, it’s known as the gateway to the outback. The editor of ‘The Bulletin’ sent a young writer by the name of Henry Lawson out this way in 1892, to give him a taste of outback life. As Lawson later wrote, ‘if you know Bourke, you know Australia’. It’s where the REAL outback begins. (BLD)
Day 3 Bourke to Tibooburra
Tonight we lodge in the capital of the Corner Country - Tibooburra. They say you haven’t really understood the outback until you visit Tibooburra. Gold was first found in these parts in 1880 and the area used to be known as ‘The Granites’. The town’s name is believed to come from an aboriginal word for ‘heap of boulders’. This part of the world seems so isolated but you’ll be surprised just how full of friendliness it is. (BLD)
Day 4 Tibooburra
Charles Sturt visited out here back in 1844 and Pioneer Park is where you’ll find a replica of his 27ft long whale boat. He carted it by wagon north-west to Lake Pinaroo as he searched for the fabled ‘inland sea’. The Tibooburra ‘Keeping Place’ museum houses an interesting collection of the remains of Aboriginal tools and artefacts found around the district. The Outback School of the Air is the most geographically isolated school in the state and the only dual mode school in the country. The 450 million year old granite tors that surround the town are part of the southern boundary to Sturt National Park. Its north-west boundary is the iconic Cameron Corner, where the NSW-QLD border intersects with the NSW-SA border. (BLD)
Day 5 Tibooburra to Innamincka
Today we’ll head on up the track a way to a former ghost town - Innamincka - which has seen an increase in travellers to the area since oil and gas were discovered in the 60’s. It’s a tiny settlement on the banks of the Cooper Creek and is surrounded on all sides by the Strzelecki, Tirari and Sturts Stony deserts. (BLD)
Day 6 Innamincka
A few kilometres to the east of town you’ll find a monument marking the site where Robert O’Hara Burke, leader of the ill fated Burke & Wills expedition, died. Further east is Nappa Merrie station, where the famous ‘Dig Tree’ can be found. (BLD)
Day 7 Innamincka to Marree
We follow the Strzelecki Track and then the Oodnadatta Track, wending our way south and west, heading for Marree. There’s Lyndhurst, with its red ochre cliffs and the red dust coloured stone ruins of ghostly Farina on the way. Marree is an old settlement on the edge of the vast desert inland, it’s where the Oodnadatta and Birdsville tracks meet. (BLD)
Day 8 Marree
Marree started life as a camp near Hergott Springs, built to support the Overland Telegraph Line workers back in the 1870s, and was called Hergott Springs until about 1916. The oldest stone building in town is The Great Northern Hotel, built around 1883. The railway station’s huge concrete platform looks out of place in such a small town and you’ll find old locomotives and railway carriages spread about the town. Marree’s population dwindled when diesel engines replaced the 'romance' of steam, and the railway line was rerouted to a waterless area to the west. (BLD)
Day 9 Marree to Birdsville
We take the Birdsville Track north, out of Marree, across the Tirari Desert and Sturts Stony Desert, to Birdsville in far south-western Queensland. The track started life in the 1860s when it was used to bring cattle from northern Queensland and the Northern Territory, to the railheads at Port Augusta and Maree. It crosses the driest part of the country, a very barren and isolated area. It’s now a popular route for tourists and stock trucks carrying livestock. (BLD)
Day 10 Birdsville
The town was originally called ‘Diamantina Crossing’, but the name was changed to Birdsville in 1885. Some say that a local identity named it as a compliment to the abundant birdlife in the area. It’s best known for its famous pub and the annual race meeting, the Birdsville Races. (BLD)
Day 11 Birdsville to Windorah
We wander our way across far western Queensland, to a place in the heart of ‘Channel Country’ - Windorah - set amongst giant red sand hills beside the multi-channeled Cooper Creek. It gets it name from the local Aboriginal word meaning ‘place of large fish’. (BLD)
Day 12 Windorah to Thargomindah
We head further east across South Western Queensland bound for Thargomindah. This town's one claim to fame is it's artesian bore. They used the water pressure from the bore to drive a generator to supply the town with electricity. This hydro-electric scheme operated successfully until 1951, when it was replaced with a diesel powered generator. (BLD)
Day 13 Thargomindah to Cunnamulla
Eastward Ho as we continue our trek across South Western Queensland. On the way we'll pass through the small town of Eulo, on the banks of the Paroo River. The it's on through to Cunnamulla, the home of the 'Cunnamulla Fella'. (BLD)
Day 14 Cunnamulla to Toowoomba
We head ‘back east’ today, leaving the ‘Big South West’ and wending our way back to the Darling Downs, finishing up in Toowoomba. (BL)
Stonestreet's 14 day 4x4 adventure tour features mostly 2 night stops in key locations: Tibooburra, Innamincka, Marree and Birdsville. This gives our travellers more of a feeling for life in the Outback.
AN EVENING AT VELVET WATERS
