Not the best night’s sleep, in some respect the swag is more comfortable, and slightly warmer. But it was still a good choice. Anyway, I’m up early and get some more writing done.
8:00, I decide to walk over to the Bakery. Past the pub and airport, then across the sports field. A few bikers ride in as I arrive and I have a chat to one of them. They’re heading to Innamincka too, but due to fuel requirements they’re taking the Cordillo Downs Road all the way. I’ve heard that can be rough, specifically the north section and it would by pass Haddon Corner, so it’s not a route we’ll take.
Into the Bakery. I can’t quite bring myself to the Camel Pie, so I go the Steak and Pepper Pie, I’ve got to say, pretty damn good. I might need to goes as far as a 
(4.5 / 5) on that one. I’m normally not a soft pastry sort of person, but that was pretty good.
George arrives and soon after Greg, and they both partake in sampling a pie.
Done, we walk back to the …cough… “lodge”, George has some packing and stuff to do, so goes directly back. Greg and I take a walk around town. I can see the back end of a town entry sign on the road coming into from the north (Boulia) so we go and take a look. It’s nice enough, but on-route we also see a bore fountain and it’s steaming. Having a closer look, the water is gushing out, and the sign indicates this is the water supply for the town. Apparently, the water is 98° when it exits the fountain (just as well George didn’t come with us….). It’s cooled and they stored in tanks ready for use. Really unusual to see.
Another call home.
Around 11, we fill up a Jerry can, and start heading East, it’s going to be over 550k before fuel at Innamincka, OK on highway mode, but probably out of range of our tanks on these type of roads.
So only one night in Birdsville. I had planned on staying at Haddon corner next, but we’ve agreed well just drive until 5ish and find a place to camp then. The extra time means we should be able to fit in a side trip to Cordillo Down’s Wool Shed.
We drive out of town and over the Diamantina river towards Betoota. Pretty large and looks deep, I wouldn’t be rushing to drink from it.
The road soon turns to dirt, but like the beginning of the Oodnadatta Track is in excellent condition.
We’re heading to a Pub in the “town” of Betoota. On the road we pass a couple of groups of Caravans. We’re able to talk to them on the UHF, so letting them know we’re coming around is helpful and we all slow down a bit to reduce the risk of any stone damage.
We pass the start of the Cordillo Downs Road, we’ll meet up with this further south, but for the moment we’ll keep heading east.
About 15k’s before Betoota the local community had created this artwork on the side of the hill called Dreamtime Serpent. It’s part of the local story of the rivers and mountains. Made out of different coloured local rocks. Looks great.
We take the diversion road into Betoota, and when we arrive, we’re surprised to see so many cars and van’s here!
We ask about lunch, but apparently they only do breakfast and dinner, mostly to cater for overnight campers. You can freecamp down by the nearby waterhole.
They do pies etc, but as we ask, we’re told they’ve had a run on them and have only just put a new batch in and they’ll be 15-20mins. What the hell, we’re not in any rush. Sitting outside with all the old cars, trucks and machinery is interesting. The flies aren’t too bad either.
Anyway pies and sausage rolls consumed (no.. No pie-o-meter here!) we make tracks.
20ks up the road is a place call Deon’s lookout. Named after a young helicopter pilot who died in a flying accident some time ago. Such a great view over the surrounding country side.
Finally, the turnoff to the Arrabury Road, again the road is in pretty good nic.
We reach the turn off to Haddon corner and drive the 15ks to the post. The road is more “dirt” than rock, so is quite slippery in places. There are two small dunes to cross just before the post.
So with Haddon now ticked off, I now have the trifecta.
You can camp around here, but it’s not very inviting. We see a few spots 30-40km up the road so continue on.
We pass a grader and, it seems he has a donga on a trailer. I recall seeing something like this on ABC’s backroads recently. The Grader drivers out here stay on the road for weeks at a time. I guess if you don’t like people it would be a great job!
I won’t say the road turns to shit, but immediately you can see It’s not been graded from here on yet. Before it was wide and smooth with two distinct tyre tracks, now it’s rougher with only one clear line.
- Before and After Sections..
We approach the first likely campsite, but a family in a van seem to have setup camp and the space is not large. The next one along is much better, about 500mtr or so from the road, protected by a few trees. It’s called Arrabury Waterhole, and there is water of sorts, more like a muddy puddle, but it will do for the night.
Setup and we get the fire going. It’s really windy, which is helping to keep the flies at bay. It’s an odd wind, not really gusting much, just a constant 15-20kph (total guestimate) wind. Tell you what though, it great at getting the fire going… beats the hell out of the shop blower…..
We burn through a whole 20kg bag, but it was one of the best fires we’ve had on the trip.
Postscript
The same flood that hit Innamincka, hit here. The pub and bakery are on either side of the sports oval. The Diamantina River is under there somewhere.
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