Well we made it to Birdsville woo hoo. This is the first time we have had internet access for a week so the updates have been a bit slow. The night before we left Rawnsley Park we had a camper park next to us completly covered in mud, he had just come from Arkaroola and that was the way we were headed the next day so we were a bit unsure what sort of roads we were going to hit. We got up early and hit the road, 70 odd ks up the road we hit our first bit of gravel road and thats where the roads got interesting. We aired down our tyres and had 100 plus ks of slippery greasy mud with only a couple of minor slips and slides :-). We finally reached our campground at Weetootla Gorge (30ks south of arkaroola) and had a beatuful spot for 3 nights. We had heard that the area had a mice plague and here we were invaded as soon as the sun went down, we heard them all night crawling all over the camper. The next day we headed out to Arkaroola to do a couple of the smaller drives, we arrived just before 12 and decided to do 1 drive and come back for lunch, we arrived back just after 2pm to find out we just missed lunch so it was a packet of chips each for lunch. The next day we headed for a 1 hr drive to Leigh Creek to get some more supplies, again we arrived just before lunch and decided to eat before shopping. After eating we walked into the supermarket only to be told by a grumpy lady that "we close in 5 min so be quick" (mental note check closing times). After a quick shop we headed out to the Leigh Creek coal mine for a look at the lookout, then headed back to camp again. The following day we packed up the campers and someone suggested it was a race to pack up, just as the Warrens neared bragging rights it all turn a bit sour, we broke the zipper that holds the dust cover on the top of the camper. After a bit of a patch up using the water crossing bra we finally hit the road.

Just before we hit the Strezlicki Track we stopped for lunch only to find one of the airbags on the trailer deflated and water dribbling out from under the camper, i put a new valve in the airbag but one of the taps on the rear tank was smashed, i guess it just wasnt our day. We made it to Camerons cnr after a stop at the yellow bus and Fiona got growled at for throwing a stick for the dog (apparently she should have read a sign all the way from the other end of the carpark), We setup camp and had a great night watching the stars. Up early after a night of listening to the generator, i worked out how to fix the zipper on the camper and we hit the rd for Innamincka, we took the back rd as it was shorter but a bit rougher (we had our first dissagreement as i declared i knew where i was going, but then had to ask for help). we eventually rocked up to Innamincka and setup camp at Ski beach campground on the Cooper creek.

We had a magical place to camp with masses of birds just flying by all day like it was a Hwy and the kids enjoyed playing in the sand. The next day was a well earnt camp day just spent lazing around and relaxing. Vince setup a swing and it was a hit with the kids and a resedent Kookaburra although yabbying and fishing was a bit of a failure. After a relaxing night we headed off to visit bourke's grave and the dig tree. We were told to expect to be camping with rat's but we only had a few to play with. Then today we hit the rd early for the long trip to get to Birdsville. We stopped at Cordillo Downs station for a look at australia's largest shearing shed, it was a long day but we made it to Birdsville.