Briefly continued across the Sturt Stony Desert, flattish with gibber plains, then across the Strzelecki Desert with dunes and swales..

We climbed one just to have a look.

Looking north west, whence we came.

And lots of private tracks for oil and gas wells.

Well sign posted!

The bridge is "road closed".

Looks capable of carrying some heavy loads.

A hinge in the middle.

The north west branch of Cooper Creek is fed from Coongie Lake.

The main branch is fed from further north east. The Barcoo and Thomson Rivers join to form Cooper Creek at Windorah in the heart of the Channel Country.

At times the creek is wide, with many channels. This crossing is at one of the narrow spots.

When it rains far away it can be a couple of months while the water makes its tortuous ways downstream, often with associated flood warnings well in advance of its arrival.

This trip will put a new complexion on weather reports we hear in Brisbane.

We are guessing the gas or oil emerges under pressure and the solar panels are simply for control and telemetry.

The tracks have water sprayed on them.

This looks like a filling point.

But we are mostly in 4th gear.

One of many billabongs on Cooper Creek.

Part of the Innamincka town common.

Welcomed by a couple of Pelicans.

Later identified at park HQ as white plumed honey eater ....

They are northern river red gums.

Lots of evidence on the trees of branches broken off.

Scavenged for campfires or washed away by floods, we can find none on the ground.

Though that doesn't mean it doesn't happen!

There's a sign on a tree, a bit above the top of the truck, to show the 2010 flood level.

We were a bit tired last night so had to backtrack a bit.

Wills is one half of Burke and Wills. Of expedition fame.

Instructions to not get too friendly with the natives and a misinterpretation of Aboriginal protocols contributed to an untimely death in June 1861.

King (another member of the expedition) survived with Aboriginal help.

The expedition was successful in traversing the continent south to north but return was elusive.

Only 27 years later Lindsay crossed the Simpson with Aboriginal help.

Innamincka was gazetted in 1890 having begun as a police camp in 1882..

Cooper Creek flows into Lake Eyre when it rains enough.

We were fortunate enough to see it flowing (from the air) in 2010.

My Telstra modem failed to connect to anything attached to the Telstra tower.

We buy some flour, butter, and biscuits.