As the title of this post suggests today would be about Burke and Wills though we did not know that at the start of the day. A little after getting started today we came to the oil settlement of Moomba. Aussies of my age might remember when "the Moomba oil discovery" was a major news story. One never hears of it now but the town of Moomba and the surrounding area is alive with activity and as a result we would encounter many work vehicles and heavy trucks from this point until after Innamincka.

For some reason that we do not understand Moomba also signalled the arrival of much more visible water, the continuation of the red-sand dunes and an explosion of vegetation. We tried hard to capture the interaction of the green plans, and yellow flowers on a background of red-sand.

As we approached Innamincka the land returned to braod plains and rock desert. The first sighting of Innamincka is almost sureal. A single building complex in the middle of an endless red plain. It is only as one gets closer does the reality become visible. A small settlement of buildings on the banks of Cooper Creek.

For us this is the only fuel stop for nearly 900km between Lyndhurst and Thargomindah.

Not far outside Innamincka there is a rough side track leading to the grave of Robert O'Hara Burke on the banks of Coopers Creek. This site is one of the most beautiful riverside spots we have seen anywhere in the outback with wonderful stands of gum and other trees.

Farther along the road to Thargomindah is another side track (this one a bit longer) to the famous Dig Tree where Burkes party waited while he and Wills made their famous "dash" to the Gulf of Carpentaria.

Thanks to the local land owners this site now has its own air strip.

On the long and lonely road from Innamincka to Thargomindah, which is called Adventure Way, there are few official campgrounds so tonight was another wild camp.