We tore ourselves away from Coongie Lake as we know only too well what happens to us when we settle in, so back down that track to Innamincka for fuel....again....and off to Birdsville where we will turn our heads North towards the gulf.

To get to Birdsville from Innamincka you have a choice of 2 tracks. In 2006 we came to Innamincka from Birdsville down the notoriously ROUGH Cordillo Downs property road.....we were keen to see the sights on the Walkers Crossing track which is the second route to Birdsville and the shorter in distance. We are always mindful of fuel and distances between fuel stops in these remote areas. Towing 3 Tonne of caravan with a V8 Petrol Auto Landcruiser means that you don't expect the mileage of a "green" micro car....however, that little green pleaser would be dead out here not to mention it would have trouble towing a skate board let alone an off road caravan.

It was early afternoon by the time we were fuelled and ready to leave Innamincka, and Birdsville is 450 k's of very rough track, so we knew we would be camping somewhere in between the 2 towns that evening. We remembered a camp that we had on the Rough as Guts Cordillo Downs Road in '06 and it was by only one of 2  waterholes on that 450 k stretch. This waterhole was very special to us as we had found it just before sunset and as we pulled in off the track we noticed a pair of Brolgas standing side by side, knee deep in the waterhole at one end. We initially thought they were feeding, but as we set up camp (in our Kimberley Kamper in 2006) we noticed that they walked out of the water hole to the other side and checked us out. After we got set up.....takes a lot longer in a camper trailer than nowadays in our Bushtracker, we got some fire wood together and poured a drink. By this time the evening was upon us and our thoughts went to the Brolgas. We noticed that they had walked back into the waterhole and again side by side. After dinner, it was quite dark by now and I got out the handheld spot light and shone it over the end of the waterhole and sure enough, those Brolgas were still side by side, knee deep in the water and their head on their back fast asleep. We could ony wonder at this and reasoned it must be for security while they sleep as we had noticed some dingoes as we pulled in.

So, we felt we could probably make it to that water hole to camp for the night and it would be nice to see if the Brolgas had managed to survive since we were there 2 years ago.

The road out of Innamincka is vastly different now (May'08) to what it was 2 years prior and this is due to the energy exploration in the now Innamincka field.....where we drove a sandy track through yards and windmills close to town, we know found ourselves on graded road wide enough to play football on. After we passed the last exploration side track, the road became what we remembered and you can see that in the pics above.

The sun was getting really low now and was reflecting off the bonnet of the vehicle making it very difficult going and as we were heading West at this time, it wasn't going to get any better. We pressed on when ordinarily we would have stopped as we really wanted to see if those Brolgas were still living there. The sun made it difficult to read the track conditions and we had slowed accordingly in order not to have a mishap. Our GPS told us that we were only 4 kilometres from our water hole so we kept going.

We rolled in and startled a pair of adult dingoes near the waterhole and they ran off and met up with what appeared to be 3 juveniles, so it seems that the dingoes we saw a couple of years ago had flourished enough to produce offspring............ We hoped that it wasn't at the expense of the Brolgas that we had come to see. Our fears grew as we approached the waterhole (Now signposted as Marianna Creek) for the water level was so much lower than when we were here last. We wondered if the water was deep enough to protect the Brolgas from the nocturnal hunting dingo family. With all this on our minds we set about getting a fire going and a drink to toast the setting sun....takes no time at all with the van.

The sun was getting lower and the toasting done, our thoughts turned to the Brolgas and what may have happened to them.....when our hearts were a little low, the silence and serenity of this remote place was shattered by a deafening "BROOOOONKKKKK" right above us and as we crane our necks skywards, we saw those massive outstretched wings of the brolgas just above us and narrowly clearing the tree tops. Our hearts lifted out of our chests and it seemed that the Brolgas had buzzed us to say "Hello, remember us"??? Well we like to dream......

Cordillo Corrugations....GASP	Marianna Creek Camp -Cordillo Downs
Just pouring the drinks...........	Cordillo Brolgas revisited

It was so rewarding to see the Brolgas again and we were so pleased that they hadn't fallen prey to the dingo family that also lived there, and yes the Brolgas took up their position knee deep in the waterhole for the evening, albeit at the other end this time.....the water was probably deeper there. The dingoes were very vocal that night and now there was 5 instead of 2.

This is a very pretty place for those who enjoy desert scenery as there are a couple of beautiful red dunes as well as an old set of stock yards that give the area some perspective of a pioneering age.

Dune overlooking stockyards

Marianna Ck Waterhole.