A flock of feeding galahs

After spending the morning doing general maintenance on van and car, we decided on a drive. Gemtree Caravan Park provides mud maps for local drives. We were given a choice of two drives but one was a bit long for the time available so we set out on the shorter alternative. Both included part of the Bins Track, a favorite with the hairy chested 4WD set. It starts near the western side of the Simpson Desert, finally joining the Stuart Highway south of Tennant Creek. The folk who helped winch our travelling companion from the bog on our way to Windorah said they intended to use Binns Track to get as far north as possible.

Strange diggings near the fossicking area

This section of Bins Track turns south just 8 km east of Gemtree and, like most gravel roads, was corrugated, but not badly so. The first thing for us to look out for was a fossicking area where garnet and zircon can be found and the bush camping area nearby. There were no obvious diggings, but the ground was littered with sparkling stones, quartz and the like. The camping area is in a lightly treed paddock with no facilities. But people come in significant numbers and stay for long periods, such is the lure of gemstones.

The mountains that were our destination

Back on the Bins Track we passed through several closed gates (that had to be closed agin after our passing through) and some Indigenous land where to leave the road required a permit. The road was basically a single lane track but that didn’t mean we had it to

Typical hill in this area

ourselves. As we climbed a small hill and entered bush, on a very narrow section we met a large shiny black 4WD towing an even larger black and grey off road van. It looked a bit out of place. I pulled off the single lane track to make way and wound down my window to offer a greeting, but these luxuriously equipped adventurers just passed by with barely a glance.

Old mining equipment

Tailings from the copper mine

The hole in the hill was probably the old mine

Collapsed bore head tripod

At the end of our journey we found relics of an early copper mine. The trip had a title of “The Mad German’s Mine” but that was not really the objective. We were out for a drive through sweeping semi desert lands dotted with those rocky topped mountains so typical of this part of Australia.

Back at camp, between four vans we provided enough fire wood for a magnificent camp fire. I don’t know about the stars, though. I was too busy cooking the steak on the Barbie plate over the fire to notice.

Keeping the camp fire warm