Wednesday the 11th May
This is it. Today’s the day. CAMERON CORNER or bust.
We were all packed and ready to go by 9.00. We drove up to the NOCCUNDRA Pub and used their showers and toilets, before fuelling up. The price for diesel was $2.12 per litre. Dearest we’ve paid so far, but no complaints. They’ve got to get the stuff carted out here. Then we were on the road by 9.30.
13 km out of town the sealed road finished and then we were in for about 230 km of metals roads and dirt tracks. Most of the time the road was about 50 m wide, and of course, flat and straight. Once we got used to the corrugations and travelling on the metal surface, we were able to get along at an average speed of 75 to 80 kph.
Poor old ‘Know All Nancy’. Boy, did she fly into a panic. We had turned her on just to see if she would know where we were. We soon found out. “Perform a U-turn and return to the nearest Road” she repeatedly told us. When we continued to ignore her she went into a sulk, and left us to our own devices. We just used her for a compass and to show our speed from there on.
For the first 120 odd km we were on a metal surface. This part of the road was used by Oil Rig Traffic, and in the first 50km we met three Road Trains, all loaded with oil rig equipment.
We pulled well off the road and waited until they had passed and their dust had blown away, before moving on again. After about the first 50 km we saw no other traffic. We had the road to ourselves.
After that it was dirt road, and surprisingly this was smoother than the metal, and we were able to continue at the same speed. What showed on the map as a light dotted line, suggesting a fairly rough track, was in reality almost a superhighway. We slowed occasionally for patches of Bull Dust, but soon found it was better to maintain the same speed, and charge across the top of them not giving ourselves time enough to sink in.
There would be several kilometres of good surface and then a kilometre or so of ruts and soft sand, then a few low sand hills, and long dead flat areas that had obviously recently been underwater. In places a new road had been graded around some of these areas, obviously they had become very soft and unsafe to travel over after all the flooding.
There was no sign of any kind of animal life until about 50kms from CAMERON CORNER when we started to see a few Brahman Cattle, and then evidence of cattle having been driven along the road. We soon came to a bunch of cattle standing at the side of the road, with a few drovers and their horses nearby, having a cup of tea.
We finally got to the CAMERON CORNER Store at about 1.30pm. It had taken us 4 hours to do the 250km trip, far quicker than we had imagined. Cameron had been given the honour of sitting in the front passenger’s seat for the entire trip, and as we pulled up in front of the store I looked over at him to see what his reaction would be. His face was lit up like a kid seeing all the presents under a Christmas tree for the first time, and he had a grin from ear to ear.
Needless to say he was first in the door, and before very long the four customers at the bar, and the owners of the store were fully acquainted with the reason for our visit. From then on whenever a new customer came into the pub the owners would introduce Cameron by saying, “And this is Cameron, the guy that the Store was named after’. Cameron was lapping it up, and before long everybody was referring to him as ‘Cameron the guy the store was named after’. I should point out that although it is called the Cameron Corner Store, it would be more accurate to describe it as a pub that sells a few groceries.
We had a few beers, and asked where we could put our tent up for the night. They told us there were a couple of areas over the sound hills about half a kilometre away, available for camping, and we could pitch our tent anywhere we liked. Just follow the Dingo fence and you will be right. We were also told there were toilets and showers available by the pub. $3.00 for a shower. We arranged to come back for dinner later, then went off to pitch camp.
Before going to the camp area we went and had a look at the survey marker which is actually the point the Store is named after. The Survey Marker is a round concrete post which marks the intersections of the boundaries of the three states of New South Wales, Queensland, and South Australia.
This point was established in the early 1800’s by the Surveyor John CAMERON. Hence the name of CAMERON CORNER. The boundary marker itself is about 150m away from the pub. The dingo Fence, which is the longest fence in the world, follows the state boundaries, and runs close by the marker.
After checking out the boundary marker, we drove down alongside the Dingo Fence
and over the first sand dune to find a huge wide flat valley, probably about 100 acres in size that was to be our camp ground for the night. We followed the track for a bit and found a nice flat sandy area and pitched the tent.
Cameron had occasionally asked if he could drive the car when we had been on dirt tracks, and as a special treat we decided he could drive us from our tent site back to the pub for tea.
Well, talk about being confident, we hardly had to say anything. Seat belt on, start the car, hand brake off, into gear and away we go. He could hardly see over the dash board, but could obviously see enough. Along the track, up over the sand dune, across the carpark and up to the front door of the pub. No problems. Another huge smile on his face, and of course: “Can I drive us back to our tent after tea?” At long last, our dream come true, a sober driver for us.
A few more beers, and another lot of customers being introduced to, ‘the guy who the store was named after’. Then it was into the dining room for tea. A lot of the talk at the bar was about the current mice plague the whole of the south west corner of Queensland was experiencing. And there was plenty of evidence. They were everywhere. While waiting for our dinner to arrive we were entertained by their antics, scurrying around where ever you looked.
Never the less the food was great, and very reasonably priced. After dinner our chauffeur very ably drove us back to camp in the dark. Before going to bed, we took time out to stare in wonder at the huge night sky sparkling above us. Absolutely breathtaking stuff. Money just can’t buy this sort of thing.
We had no sooner settled in to bed when the mice started exploring our tent. Scratching and slithering up and over it as well as trying to chew their way in. We finally gave up and went to sleep wondering how much damage we would find in the morning.
We all woke with a start when the pub generator fired up with a hiss and a roar at 6.30am. Even though we were nearly a kilometre away and hidden by a sand dune, it sounded as though it was just outside the tent. They hadn’t warned us about that. We lay in bed watching the silhouettes of the last of the mice scurrying over the tent, then crawled out to a brilliantly crisp, clear, outback early morning, and watched in awe as the sun rose over the sand dunes. Again the sort of thing that money just can’t buy.
While we were cooking breakfast two emus came over the sand dunes alongside the Dingo Fence. When they saw our car and tent they flew into a panic and started dashing backwards and forwards along the fence trying to find a way through. We were all in hysterics watching them. Our estimations of their intelligence going to an even greater low. Cameron wandered down towards them to try and get some photos, and they finally took off back in the direction they had come.
Cameron came back some time later greatly excited. He had been standing down beside the Dingo Fence when a kangaroo came bounding up towards him from the other side. It finally stopped just on the other side of the fence, and he was able to get some great photos of it. He said he got a hell of a fright when he first saw it, because he thought it was a dingo coming for him. Luckily he had the presence of mind to stand still and as a result got these photos.
After breakfast we packed up the tent and went back to the pub, Cameron driving of course. We signed their visitors book and bought a few souvenirs, including two hat pins this time. Then it was time to start the return journey. Cameron wanted to drive again, and seeing as this was a special treat, we decided he could drive for the first kilometre or two. We felt it was pretty safe as there was of course absolutely no other traffic about, and the track literally ran through a huge flat paddock with no fences ditches or anything else that could be a hazard. So we piled a couple of towels on the seat to give him better vision, and set off.
Had we made an error of judgement? Will we meet an unexpected fate? Will we all die at the hands of a maniac 9 year old power crazy racing driver? Will a huge Road Train roar around the corner on the wrong side of the road and wipe us out? Will ‘Know All Nancy’ finally get her revenge and send us all off into the desert to be lost forever? Only time will tell. Be sure to tune in for the next episode.
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