LONELY TRAILS TO THE COOPER

WHEN RAIN AND FLOODS IMPACT A TRIP TO THE OUTBACK, IT'S TIME TO TAKE THE LESSER-KNOWN ROUTES TO NEW DISCOVERIES

- RON MOON

THE plan was easy enough, to follow the Darling River from its junction with the Murray. That didn’t happen and somehow we found our way to Cooper Creek by a little-known route, which was a new one for us.

We changed plans again as the ranger told us the park was closed and the track was cut with floodwaters just a short distance farther ahead. Our plan to stay in the newly proclaimed national park that takes in the Caryapundy Swamp and the original Narriearra Station in the far north-west of NSW was thwarted. While much of the surrounding country was damp from recent rain, the real issue here was that slow-moving waters coming down from Queensland had sent the Bulloo River Overflow into flood mood and the swamp that park takes its name from was damn near full. That was great news for the bird and animal life, but not good news for us.

We turned around and stopped at the old Whittabrinnah Hotel site – which Parks NSW has called an ‘historic precinct’ and put up an info sign, but there’s not much left here, just a scattering of chips of glass and rusty nails. The pub that once stood here burnt down in the 1890s, having been built in the early 1870s just 10 years after Burke and Wills had passed through on their disastrous journey to the Gulf and back.