Written by Rowena Paterson

On the 26th June I left the wet weather in Victoria and headed up to Coonamble NSW to stay with the Parsons. A few days after leaving home I arrived in Coonamble and was only in town for 5 minutes filling up with fuel when a familiar face appeared from behind my OKA. I was happy to see Lloyd and followed him back to their property 20 kms out of Coonamble.
I enjoyed a couple of days with the Parsons. I even had a grand tour of their property. The Hessions (Michael, Virginia and Virginias sister Pam) arrived in Coonamble on the 30 June and the next morning 1st July we were off heading across the Macquarie Marshes towards Bourke. The first night we spent in Wanaaring, camped on a small creek on the edge of town.
The next day we headed to Tibooburra, unfortunately I discovered a little problem with my OKA. I had blown a seal on my steering box and had a small amount of power steering fluid dripping & spraying underneath, making a little mess. I made a quick phone call to Paul Nott, who assured me it was quite safe to keep driving until I reached Mt Isa, were I could get it fixed.
In Tibooburra we met Ron & Lyn Quigley & their friend John and his Son travelling in a Land cruiser. During the afternoon we left Tibooburra and headed towards Cameron Corner, where the 3 states, SA, NSW & QLD meet. That was really interesting. Michael Hession knew a spot nearby where we could camp for the night, so we headed off a few km's from Cameron Corner and set up camp. I really enjoyed that part of the day when a camp fire was lit and I could relax after a full day of driving and concentrating.

The next day we headed up to Innamincka travelling along the old Strezelecki track. When we arrived in Innamincka we all parked up near the pub and store. Not long after another couple of OKAs joined us including: Jack Green & Noeline Charlton & Geoff Mathews (a local who runs the Innamincka homestay). Later that day John & Dianne Smithard arrived along with their daughter Rebecca. Jack & Noeline found a nice spot on the edge of town on the Cooper Creek so we all joined them and set up camp.
The next day a group of us jumped into the Quigleys OKA and we headed east 40 kms to check out the Burke & Wills Dig tree. That was very interesting, a little bit of Australian history. The countryside east of Innamincka was beautiful, I enjoyed the scenery as we drove through it. When we arrived back to camp, we noticed the police had arrived and were searching a couple of guys camped beside us. When the police were leaving they told us it's probably best if we move camp as these guys couldn?t be trusted. As most of us had set up and didn?t want to move, we decided to shuffle a couple of OKAs around. We ended up camped close together incase these guys decided to try something. Every Sunday night the local pub puts on a roast dinner, so we all headed off for dinner leaving Jack & Noeline behind to look after camp. A little while later the Quigleys headed back to camp so Jack & Noeline could come up for dinner. There wasn't much else we could do with suspected criminals camped beside us!

The Parsons met a couple of friends at the pub who had flown into Innamincka and were heading off the next day. So the next morning we all headed off to the airport to watch the plane take off (except for Jack & Noeline who were staying an extra day in Innamincka before heading back to Brisbane & the Quigleys friend John who was heading back to Sydney). Geoff Matthews dropped the plane passengers off in his OKA and we managed to take some really good photos of our OKAs lined up with the plane before it took off. The plane was heading towards Birdsville, arriving in a few hours. We had a few days of driving before we would arrive in Birdsville.
We said goodbye to the Hessions (who were heading back towards the Flinders Rangers) & Geoff Mathews then headed off towards Haddon?s Corner. We now had 4 OKAs in convoy. We arrived at Haddon's Corner after lunch (where QLD & SA meet). It was 15 kms in from the main road. We had to drive over a number of sand dunes on the way in. It took me 3 goes to get over one dune as it was a new experience for me. Thanks to John & Marj for giving me the encouragement and teaching me how to tackle sand dunes. It took the Quigleys and the Smithards a few goes also. The Parsons managed it in one go!
That night we found a nice camp site nearby the main road towards Birdsville. Next day we headed into Birdsville, I checked out the pub and museum. We also met another OKA in Birdsville, a new member to our group, John & Dot Clarke from Northern NSW travelling across to Innamincka.
Later that day we left Birdsville and headed up Bedourie finding a camp site just north of the town.
Next morning we were up early and headed to Boulia. This was where I was leaving the group and heading up to Mt Isa by myself. After taking a few group photos at Boulia we parted ways with the Parsons, Quigleys & Smithards heading across the Plenty Hwy towards Alice Springs on their way up to the Kimberleys.
I decided to head to Mt Isa to catch up with Andrew Kovacs and spend a few days at Lawn Hill National Park. Later that day (travelling on a good sealed) road I arrived in Mt Isa. The sealed road was really enjoyable after travelling on the dirt for so long. I must admit that the outback roads were much better than what I had anticipated. The only really rough part I found was the road north of Innamincka where it was quite sandy and corrugated until we reached the QLD border.
When I arrived in Mt Isa I booked a 3 day tour to Lawn Hill National park and contacted Andrew Kovacs. Andrew checked out my leaking seal and recommended a few places in town on where I could get it fixed.
After my seal was fixed I was off to Lawn Hill for 3 days with Harry (a local Aboriginal tour guide). I found the tour excellent and the amount of knowledge Harry had of the area was unbelievable. I was very impressed with Lawn Hill, I think it?s one of the most beautiful areas in Australia. Accommodation was at Adels Grove 4 kms from the Gorge area. We also visited the Riversleigh World Heritage Fossil Fields nearby. This place was fascinating with the ancient bones of animals on display.


When I arrived back in Mt Isa I spent a few days with Andrew & checked out his OKA. Andrew took me for a day trip around the area to check out some of the ghost mining towns. It was absolutely fascinating to see where steam trains once ran through the hills and tunnels. It was great to have a local person show me the Mt Isa area, I enjoyed it very much. I also met up with Ian Ransom and his tour OKA from Adelaide while I was in Mt Isa. He was on his way up to Lawn Hill.
After leaving Mt Isa I travelled through Winton, Longreach, Emerald, Carnarvon & Cania Gorges, Bundaberg, Gympie then I headed down towards Toowoomba, Warwick, Tenterfield, Grafton & Coffs Harbour. I spent quite a bit of time in the Northern NSW area, checking out all the National Parks including: Washpool, Dorrigo and Oxley Wild Rivers National Parks etc. I really enjoyed the waterfalls & scenery in this area and took many photos. A week after I had been in the Northern NSW area I met up with John & Maree Hendriks in Coffs Harbour. They had travelled down from Hervey Bay. We spent an extra day in Coffs Harbour (meeting up with Larry & Colleen Howse) before heading across country towards Armidale camping in Wollomombi for the night. After leaving Wollomombi we headed across to Tamworth, Coonabarabran, the Warrumbungle's, Mudgee then back to the Blue Mountains. I stayed with John & Maree for a few days at their home in the Blue Mountains before heading back home to Victoria.
By the time I arrived home I had travelled 10,000 km. I had a chance to meet alot of nice people along the way and had a very enjoyable time.
I have placed all the photos from the rally at Innamincka and of my trip on the website.