Day 13 & 14, Tibooburra to Montecollina Bore, and Farina

Headed off this morning to the free camp "Montecollina Bore" on the Strezlecki track.
The first stop along the way being Cameron Corner, its an easy 140 kilometers to the corner and the road was good all the way except for a few small patches of gravel.
There is not much to see along the way really, so we made good time with minimal stops.

Cameron Corner

Pulling into Cameron Corner  just before lunch it looked pretty quiet, we had a look in the bar but decided not to have a drink, a bit early in the day even for us.

Apart from the corner post, and the pub there is not much there, if you were looking for a pub meal and a drink in a very remote place you would stay the night I guess, we had other plans so we had our obligatory photo at the corner post and headed off up the road were we could stop for lunch.

Cameron  Corner and the famous Post

A nice collection of traveler's hats and money pined to the ceiling.














Day 13, "Montecollina Bore"
After our visit to Cameron Corner we headed off to the Strezlecki track, the road from the corner was also good, a bit like a roller  coaster as we got closer to the Strezlecki, once we reached the Strezlecki we turned South, the road remained good and we made great time getting to our intended stop at Montecollina Bore just before 1500 hrs.

Our Camp At Montecollina Bore

Our campsite at the bore was nice, it was on sand and quite a change from the gravel we have seen previously.
Its a free camp and has no amenities, there is a water tank but I dont think its suitable for drinking, camp fires are allowed but bring your own wood, there is not a stick to be found on the ground.

The bore itself is really nice, it's next to a natural wetland and the bird-life is great.
Where the water comes out of the ground the water is very clear but the water is bloody hot, too hot to put a foot into, unfortunately the water in the pool is so cold that even the boiling water pouring into it did not warm it enough to go into.

By The campfire

A one night stopover here tonight and in the morning we head for Farina

Day 14 "Farina"

We headed off this morning aiming to get to Farina, the Strezlecki was in good condition all the way to Lyndhurst, except for a bit of road works which slowed us down a little.
Lyndhurst consisted of a pub and a servo, which I noticed was selling diesel for $1.70, which I should have got, the next stop at Marree was $1.90.
We stopped at the pub cause we were a little low on grog, they had a special on white wine, normally $25.00 a bottle, now $15.00 a bottle and at Dan Murphy's at home $7.00, WOW.

Gateway into Farina

Farina was only 25 kilometers up the road so we were there in no time at all, turning off the road into the historic ruins you could see the old buildings scattered all around, it looked pretty good so far.
Farina was last inhabited in 1967 when it was abandoned, in its hey day it had a population of 300.
Of recent time the Farina Restoration Society has made it there mission to restore it as best they can,
They spend the winter months there restoring the buildings and running the bakery.

The camp ground is nice, its large and open with areas of shade if you like being under big trees, we prefer the smaller stuff, no widow makers !
The amenities are good with flushing toilets and showers.
The cost to camp is $5.00 PP into an honesty box.

One of the many ruins

 The ruins are spread out a bit and would take a while to walk around but there are roads between all of them so you can drive if you like, we chose to drive mainly because it was threatening to rain and it was bitterly cold.
Each of the buildings has an information board telling of its history.

The underground bakery

Inside the bakery

On of the attractions of Farina is the bakery, it is a working underground bakery that dates back to the 1880's, and now produces delicious Bread, and other pastries for travelers.

We had a nice feed there before we left, they have the biggest pies i have seen for $6.00, not bad at all.

Farina Anzac Memorial

Just above the campground there is a wonderful memorial to the diggers from the area, its well worth looking at.

We thoroughly enjoyed out visit to Farina and would recommend it to anyone traveling in the area, we only stayed one night because of bad weather but in better weather could have easily stayed 3 nights exploring the ruins.

Tommorrow we head towards Birdsville stopping at Marree along the way.