A Drive on Binns Track

Feeding galahs

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

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

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

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

Old mining equipment

Tailings from the copper mine

Tailings from the copper mine

The hole in the hill was probably the old mine

The hole in the hill was probably the old mine

Collapsed bore head tripod

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

Keeping the camp fire warm

A Changed Itinerary – Part 2

When I walked into the office at Tobermorey, two young people were standing near the counter, but there was no vehicle outside. It turned out that the couple had stayed at Tobermorey the previous night and had left that morning bound for Alice Springs, but 53 km along the way had rolled their car. They were both uninjured but were worried about their belongings that they had been forced to leave beside the road, when they accepted a ride back to Tobermorey in a road train. Except for the lady in the office all station staff were out mustering.

Tobermorey Homestead

Tobermorey Homestead

In remote Australia you expect help and you give help. So we unloaded our car to make as much room as possible and the young German student and I set off to collect their possessions. That’s how I know that the accident took place 53 km along the road. The car, an aging Toyota Prado, had rolled once and landed on its wheels. Their belongings had remained in the back and two surf boards on the roof rack were undamaged.  How does that work?

The wrecked Prado

The wrecked Prado

The young man’s English wasn’t perfect so I had not understood about the surf boards. Surf boards heading for the Red Centre? He told me later that they were going to Cairns via Darwin. Surf boards don’t make much sense in Cairns either, but he didn’t know that.

We were scratching our heads about attaching two long surfboards to my roof rack when three 4WD vehicles pulled up. They were camping road side before Tobermorey, but would be happy to drop the surfboards off the next morning. We spent the evening with the couple, Germans studying in Sydney, trying to keep our selves warm on a rather cold night by a camp fire.

If I ever accuse anyone of speaking bull dust I will now do so with greater authority. We encountered much of it on our way to Jervois Station, our destination for the second day of our off road trip. We left Tobermorey at about 9 am after saying our goodbyes to our young friends and almost immediately met the folk delivering the surfboards.

Plenty Highway Corrugations. There were plenty of them.

Plenty Highway Corrugations. There were plenty of them.

We stopped at the side of the road for morning tea. A station hand, driving a utility with all manner of equipment on the back, stopped to make sure we were OK. He was on for a chat and knew about the accident, as it happened on the station for which he worked. Roads go through and not around out here.

On a deteriorating road we passed the derelict Prado and soon started to come across bull dust patches. They had hardened with the rain so were not too much of a problem. For substantial distances half the road was corrugated gravel and the other half bull dust with heavy tyre marks embedded in it. Driving through it threw us around a bit but with reduced speed the bull dust gave a better ride than the corrugated gravel.

Ruth with ants nest

Ruth with ants nest

A little further on, after passing huge roadside ants’ nests, we reached the point where graders were working on a highway upgrade. Two graders, working in tandem were grading long stretches and

Jervois Station on the banks of the Marshall River

Jervois Station on the banks of the Marshall River

producing long sections of super highway. With the improved road we reached Jervois Station earlier than expected and settled in as the sole tenant in the red dirt camping area. Jervois Station takes its name from the

Our van viewed from the bed of the river

Our van viewed from the bed of the river

Jervois Range to its north. The camping area and homestead are on the banks of a wide, sandy and very dry Marshall River, which flows, when it contains water in sufficient volume, south to the Hay River which in turn flows into the Simpson Desert and disappears. Jervois is best known to Simpson Desertophiles who use it as a refueling point after completing a south to north crossing.

The dry sandy bed of the Plenty River

The dry sandy bed of the Marshall River

The final leg of this first long trip over unsealed roads was 220 km to Gemtree in the Harts Range. The name of our destination suggests gem stones, a commodity for which the area is world famous. Gemtree is a caravan park that specialises as a holidays location for gem hunters. But we will not be gem hunting. After five solid days of driving the time had come for a break.

The leg to Gemtree was a relatively easy drive. The early part of the trip was, like late the previous day, freshly graded, but as we progressed onto previously graded road the more previous it got the rougher it got, to the point where I was not unhappy to reach the sealed road just before Gemtree.

The administration building at Gemtree Caravan Park

The administration building at Gemtree Caravan Park

So tomorrow we may ask for one of the park’s mud maps and do a bit of a tour of the local area. Or perhaps not! But we probably will go out to find some wood to feed the fire place beside our site so that we can spend the last night of the Donohue /Plenty crossing under the incredible array of stars that are visable when there are few lights to interfere with the view.

 

We have produced a video that covers this segment of the trip and the segment that precedes it.

https://www.youtube.com/edit?o=U&video_id=czHbkrloHVc