
After leaving the office on the Queensland coast wetravelled the Cunningham Highwaystopping overnight at Coolmunda Dam near Inglewood before continuing on the next day along the Barwon Highway to camp at Nindigully Pub on the Moonie River. The pub was established in 1864 and from the late 1800’s to the early 1900’s was a Cobb & Co changing station. It is believed to hold one of the longest continual licences in Queensland and after a refreshing drink whilst the kids entertained themselves on the playground we enjoyed a sunset over the picturesque setting.
Just up the road at St George, we discovered the Kapunda Fishing Park on the banks of the Balonne River and as we explored the area, the rain continued to fall however we enjoyed lunch at the Beardmore Dam, fishing at the Jack Taylor Weir and a visit to the St George Heritage Centre during some sunny breaks.After a few days we moved on but did not get very far as we soon discovered a free camp on the Wallam Creek at Bollon. We enjoyed a meal at Debs Cafe and a local tour guide of the Bollon Heritage Centre. After enjoying a few days of the first real sunshine for weeks, we decided to head off along the Balonne Highway.
After enjoying lunch at Cunnamulla,which stands above the world’s largest underground river, we learnt more about at the Artesian Time Tunnel & Museum Heritage Exhibition at the Cunnamulla Fella Centre Art Gallery and Museum. Once we had taken an obligatory photo with the Cunnamulla Fella himself, we made our camp further down the road at Eulo, home of the World Champion Lizard Races, on the banks of the Paroo River. We admired the history at the Eulo Queen pub, sampled the local dates at the date farm and winery and the honey obtained from the local native Yapunyah tree.

Travelling the next day we crossed the Cooper Creek channels and found it hard to believe that this was under flood earlier in the year, although the growth of the two metre high vegetation on the sides of the crossing gave an idea of just how much water they had gained.

The desert landscape had transformed with the rain and the wildflowers were in full bloom, the normally red rocky hills and sand dunes were now hidden by green, purple, yellow and whitewildflowers. We were privileged to see the area four years ago at the height of the drought and now in its changed state after the floods.
Innamincka is a favourite place of ours and we enjoyed camping on the Cooper Creek and revisiting places like Policeman’s and Minkie waterholes, and Burkesmemorial plaque, where his body was originally found, however alot of roads were still closed due to the rain. Stopping for a cold one at the Innamincka hotel, we shared an afternoon of drinks and yabbies with friends of ours who also own an OKA and live in the area, before watching a magical sunset.

We enjoyed lunch at Deons Lookout and admired the expanse of outback Queensland. Birdsville is located on the Diamantina River and is one of those iconic outback towns that every Australian should experience. After making Birdsville Caravan Park on the banks of the Birdsville Billabong our base weenjoyed a meal and a few drinks at the Birdsville Hotel. We tried our best to get a flight over Lake Eyre, unfortunately we could not get one and decided that we would have to miss out on that experience this year, but made the best of being in the area.

After admiring the artworkat Birdsville Bakery and enjoy a hearty pie from their selection with names like Curry Camel and Kangaroo and Claret we set off back along the Birdsville Development Road as roads to the north and south were still closed.
After arriving at Windorah late in the afternoon, the sun blazing off the red sand dunes it was still too early in the day for a drink at the Western Star so we stopped in to have a chat with Merv at the servo. Anyone who has ever fuelled up in Windorah would have met Merv and although he cannot see, he changed a tyre on our OKA four years ago with ease. It was nice to see that he was still kicking around and with thatwe decided to drive through the Nature Reserve to camp at Cooper Creek for a few days. The kids enjoyed playing in the water and we enjoyed relaxing on the banks however we had to leave our camp spot earlier than planned as flood water was once again on its way down the creek.

The following day we headed to Hungerford where we stopped and had a snack at the Hungerford Hotel. A few hours and one flat tyre later we hit Bourke where we found a nice little camp spot at Mays Bend on the Darling River which was rising due to more rain. We visited the Back O’ Bourke Gallery, the working commercial gallery of resident Jenny Greentree and where other Bourke artists are also represented giving visitors an opportunity to see Bourke through the visual arts, truly inspiring.
We were on the home stretch now and although this journey did not take us to our planned destination of Lake Eyre it had taken us to some amazing places we didnot plan on and had shown us the many changing faces of outback Australia.