We left the vans parked at Milparinka to do the short drive out to Depot Glen to have a look at Poole’s Grave and Sturt’s Cairn. Beryl stayed behind with the vans taking it easy….

The drive was over pastoral land through a couple of cattle gates….Klaus doing a great job as gate wench… but we found Depot Glen quite easily and Poole’s grave.

You could see why the party camped for so long there in drought as it was very shady with a creek running through the area….

James Poole, assistant to Charles Sturt, had contracted scurvy on the expedition and was unwell for quite a while until he finally succumbed in 1845. Sturt buried him under the grevillea tree which was still standing today – with the carving still evident in the trunk marking the grave. A tombstone was erected much later. A couple of other early pastoralists were also buried here.

We then drove on to Mt Poole where the cairn was that Sturt had his men build to keep them occupied while they were camped there waiting out the drought….

The area was very stony and arid – we climbed up the mountain to the peak where the cairn was… it was a longer climb up than we realised – steep at times and very rocky so we all had to watch our footholds carefully – no one wanted a Weiss faceplant on stony rocks instead of seaweed…..

The views of the surrounding area were spectacular – it really gave you the perspective of the remoteness and you could see the creeks winding though the desert area marked by vegetation growing along them.

Sturt’s words on the plaque on the cairn were a sombre reminder of the difficulties of early explorers life….

After descending very carefully……

….. we drove back to Milparinka to pick up Beryl and the vans and continued along the Silver City Highway heading for Tibooburra.

The countryside was a mix of arid plains, grassland, stony and sandy desert areas with mountains and mesas visible in the distance.

We arrived at Tibooburra and drove through to Sturt National Park and the Dead Horse Gully campground where we were camping for the next 3 nights. The name originated when 2 dead horses were found by miners in the gully – cause of death was unsure but the thought was that they had eaten something poisonous.

The campground was great with flat areas to park the vans together, some trees for shade and a picnic table near our site that Beryl got to and cleaned and swept…. Was she taking over Rosie’s cleaning mantle???

The toilets were really clean and not smelly at all for a pit toilet – all in all a great place to stay for 3 days to base yourself and explore the area.

Branch decided to inspect the progress of my injured toe….still sore and swollen…and unable to get a shoe on….

We were surrounded by piles of large granite rocks resembling somewhat the Devil’s Marbles on a smaller scale.

After setting up camp and having lunch, we went back to town for a quick look and to get some fuel ready for tomorrow’s journey to Cameron’s Corner.

The guy at the local servo was a wealth of information on the roads and sights to see around Tibooburra so we spent some time talking to him and getting recommendations….

A quick drive around the town looking at the local buildings – the small hospital (the most remote in NSW), pubs, school, and even an old drive in….

A local guy had done multiple metal silhouette cut-outs that told stories of Tibooburra’s history at each entrance to the town.

We had a look at the Pioneer Park which had displays and relics from Tibooburra’s past. A replica of the boat Sturt had taken on his expedition to find the great inland sea was on display.

Back at the campsite there was a display nearby called Golden Gully which contained historical remnants of Tibooburra’s gold mining past…

The flies were pretty bad so the fly nets came out….and before dinner once the heat had abated a bit (it was 35 C) we went for a walk around the Granites. The granite outcrops are called tors and they are a result of cooling of molten rock and resulting erosion. The granite peels off like sheets – called onion skin weathering which produces the rounded boulders.

After our walk, the sun set over the granites, the temperature cooled and the flies left so we sat outside enjoying the cool of the day… and watched the full moon rise….

We then went in to town and had dinner at the Family Hotel where a lot of famous artists had painted pics on different walls – a very unique look!