Trev's 2012 Cnr Country - Flinders - Birdsville adventure

[Trevc Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Trevc]

Hi All

Myself, Bec and the 2 kids along with a mate and his family are heading outback this June/July.
We'll both be towing (hired) Kimberley Kampers, me with a V6 150VX and he with a Petrol Pajero.

I have done plenty of research courtesy of this site and others and am using this thread as a bit of a pre-trip log and sounding board from others who can share their insights.

We're pretty firm on the itinerary as per below, but have some flexibility. We're aware the first 2-3 days entails fairly long days on the road and are comfortable with that.
I'm not convinced about day 6 we've pencilled in Fort Grey, would much prefer to stay on the Bore Track somewhere but I believe it is closed. Feedback is CC and Merty2 aren't particularly desirable places to camp so if anyone has any ideas of where we can camp at the northern end of the Strz will be welcome.

I will post up questions as I come across them and welcome any feedback you may have on places to see and do along the way.

1 Brisbane
2 Bne - Nindigully
3 Nindigully - Thargomindah
4 Thargo - Innamincka
5 Innaminka
6 Inna - Fort Grey via Camerons' Cnr ??
7 Fort Grey - Monte Bore
8 Monte Bore - Arkaroola
9 Arkaroola
10 Arkaroola
11 Arkaroola - Willow Springs
12 Willow Springs
13 Willow Springs - Farina
14 Farina - Claytons via Maree
15 Claytons - Mungerannie
16 Mungerannie - Birdsville
17 Birdsville
18 Birdsville - Windorah
19 Windorah - C'Ville
20 C'Ville - Roma
21 Roma - Dalby
22 Dalby - Brisbane
23 Spare
24 Spare

Thanks for reading.

Trev

[K & M McF Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close K & M McF]

A nicely paced trip. However, I would not go Innamincka to Fort Grey and then to Monte Collina Bore as you are basically going backwards. As nice as Fort Grey is at the moment after all the rain, and as good is it is to see Cameron Corner, I do not think it is worth it. How about day 4 going to The Dig Tree on Cooper Creek and then the following day to Innamincka and then staying there the following night. Then head to Monte Collina Bore.

[MDS69 Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close MDS69]

When we were out there in July 2010 we were going to camp at CC but weren't too impressed either. We drove out to the big yellow bus but it is very open and was windy. We kept driving and at about the 60km from CC mark we stopped in the valley between 2 sand dunes, turned left and drove for about 200m through the grass and found a spot. Plenty of fire wood around and was probably the best spot in our trip. If you get a chance check out my trip report
http://www.pradopoint.com/showthread...cka-Birsdville

[AJ120 Out of control poster! Find all posts View Profile Close AJ120]

Looks like a good trip Trev, seems to be enough time to do what you have planned!

Probably my only suggestion would be around the visit to Willow Springs, presumably to drive Sky Trek. I am not saying that Willow Springs or Sky Trek is rubbish by any means, however I do think it is the most overated place I have visited, given what you pay to drive Skytrek you don't really get anything more than you can get driving a lot of the public roads in the Flinders. Sky Trek is not a challenging drive at all, really just a pleasant drive with a couple of rough sections.

Personally I would go to Rawnsley Park instead, across from Rawnsley is the Arkapena 4wd track (book at Rawnsley) IMO this is a better track (shorter but cheaper) than Skytrek, then maybe head through Brachina and Bunyeroo Gorges, easy drives but fantastic, the Flinders at its best.
Whilst in that neck of the woods, the Prairie Hotel at Parachilna is my Favourite place for a feed anywhere, the Feral Mixed Grill is my meal of choice. You can free bush Camp in Parachillna Gorge as well if you like.

Cheers Andrew

[Trevc Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Trevc]

Personally I would go to Rawnsley Park instead, across from Rawnsley is the Arkapena 4wd track (book at Rawnsley) IMO this is a better track (shorter but cheaper) than Skytrek, then maybe head through Brachina and Bunyeroo Gorges, easy drives but fantastic, the Flinders at its best.
Whilst in that neck of the woods, the Prairie Hotel at Parachilna is my Favourite place for a feed anywhere, the Feral Mixed Grill is my meal of choice. You can free bush Camp in Parachillna Gorge as well if you like.

Cheers Andrew

Thanks Andrew - I had Rawnsley Park in my plan - not sure why I replaced it with Willow Springs. I might try and add another day there so we have 3 nights at Arkaroola and 3 at Rawnsley Park.

A nicely paced trip. However, I would not go Innamincka to Fort Grey and then to Monte Collina Bore as you are basically going backwards. As nice as Fort Grey is at the moment after all the rain, and as good is it is to see Cameron Corner, I do not think it is worth it. How about day 4 going to The Dig Tree on Cooper Creek and then the following day to Innamincka and then staying there the following night. Then head to Monte Collina Bore.

Great feedback K+M - unfortunately CC is a 'not negotiable' as everyone from young to old wants to check it out. To clarify we'll head from Innamincka to CC via either the Bore Track if open or back through QLD via Epsilon Station - so I understand there would be very little backtracking.
We have 2 nights set for Innamincka with a day trip to Dig Tree, Burke/Wills/Kings graves and markers. After three pretty long days in the saddle we thought it best to have a couple of days straight at the one locale.
Personally I think it would be great to spend a night out at the Dig Tree but can't rustle up consensus on this from the others. The allure of toilets showers and pub is strong amongst our group.

We kept driving and at about the 60km from CC mark we stopped in the valley between 2 sand dunes, turned left and drove for about 200m through the grass and found a spot. Plenty of fire wood around and was probably the best spot in our trip. If you get a chance check out my trip report
http://www.pradopoint.com/showthread...cka-Birsdville

Thanks MDS - that spot or similar is exactly what we are looking for. I remember your trip report, it and others have served as both a template and inspiration for our trip.

Again I appreciate all feedback, tips and advice.

Regards

Trev

[Trevc Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Trevc]

Righto doesn't time fly -The truck is serviced, the KK hire confirmed and the planning complete - we are now 16 days away from the start of our trip.

We haven't changed things too much from the original plan - we'll find a spot to camp (maybe where MDS69 suggested) instead of Fort Grey or Cameron Corner, and we'll stay at Rawnsley Park instead of Willow Springs (as per AJ120's advice).

The major change is after Birdsville, instead of heading east to Windorah we are going to track south onto the Cordillo Downs road and camp somewhere along there, then head back up via the Arrabury Rd to Haddon's Cnr before heading onto Windorah.

We think this will add 2 days to the trip, and as far as I'm concerned the more time out there the better.

Cheers

Trev

[Mark from Brisbane Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Mark from Brisbane]

Aah the memories, did a fair bit of this plus the Simmo last year.

Just loved the 2 nights we had at the Dig Tree (and just used a solar shower)...the birdlife there was amazing.

CC is nothing special but the showers worked.

Flinders and Arkaroola were wonderful, but sadly (for us) wet and cold.

Nothing quite like the outback....off to the Cape in 5 weeks, sure to be different......but planning for the CSR in 2013 so it's be that wide brown land again before not too long!!

Have a great trip!!

[Trevc Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Trevc]

test pic = pls ignore

[outdoorgaz Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close outdoorgaz]

I'm sure I passed you going the other way. It was great weather for those three weeks ... look forward to you pictures.

[Trevc Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Trevc]

testing pics

[Brains Find all posts View Profile Close Brains]

Looking forward to the pics.

[Trevc Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Trevc]

Hey Gaz

There were plenty of Prados out there - I can't recall seeing too many FJ's - there was one in BV that I do remember,

Trev