A bit of a transit day today as we headed away from Innaminka to Cameron Corner and then on to Tibooburra which sits on the Silver City Highway. There are a number of routes from Innaminka to Cameron Corner (all unsurfaced) and we opted to use the Old Strzelecki Track after checking it’s condition at the Innaminka Trading Post.

When I went to fill up at the Trading Post I couldn’t help but notice the remains of a Bristol Hercules engine at the end of the pumps. Until last year it wouldn’t have meant much but as Patrick at Maddison 4×4 has two that he’s preparing for a running display I know a fair bit about this particular engine and how it works. It’s got some clever design features including the fact that the cylinder sleeve itself moves to open and close the inlet and exhaust ports, all timed and controlled by an intricate set of gears like a clock – the remains of some of the gears can be seen in the picture. If you want to see what a complete engine looks like, visit Patrick’s blog…

We followed the Old Strzelecki south to Merty Merty where we split from it where it meets the Strzelecki Track (the new one !). We then followed an unnamed track south and then east into Cameron Corner. Cameron Corner marks the corner where three states join – South Australia, New South Wales and Queensland. To add to the confusion of which road is in which state the Dingo fence also runs through the border here. We took the mandatory picture of the official marker plate, drove through SA into Queensland for a coffee and scones at the Corner Store then headed out of Queensland into SA, through the Dingo fence (while, through a gateway, to be precise) and then into New South Wales onto the Fort Grey Road.

By way of the Waka Road and then the Toona Gate Road we eventually arrived at the intersection with the Silver City Highway. Tibooburra is only 1km north of that intersection. In all we covered 360km today, all on unsurfaced roads. We very nearly had a close encounter with a young bullock at one point when he decided to run across the road in front of us, fortunately the Land Rover brakes still work OK !

The Silver City Highway brings back a lot of good memories from the Outback Challenge competition as it is the main route into Broken Hill from where most of the competition areas were. It also has the main fuel stop that we used outside Broken Hill – the Packsaddle Roadhouse which, as well as providing fuel, was a good chance for competitors to grab a bite to eat.

So, tomorrow we’ll head towards Broken Hill, stopping along the way at some of our favourite Outback Challenge landmarks along the way. It’s also our wedding anniversary tomorrow and in 2008 on the 23rd May we were competing in the Outback Challenge at Denian and Pam spent part of the day running up and down sand dunes with a ground anchor and winch rope – who says romance is dead !