Merty Merty Cameron Corner & Montecollina Bore

We left Cameron Corner and headed off on the road to Merty Merty and then got on to the Strzelecki Track. The road to Merty Merty is one of the coolest things we have done so far. You literally drive up and over a couple of hundred red sand dunes.

Cameron Corner To Merty Merty Road Conditions

There are bulldust holes all over the place primarily at the top of the road as it goes over a dune. And there are loads of corrugations. You also have some sections of very sandy stuff that are a bit deep. If you give it a bit and try to pick the line where you can see wheel tracks it’s a little bit firmer.

We drove past a few stations, these people must be hard bastards as they literally live in the middle of nowhere. Go back 50 years and the isolation would have been heaps worse. You can do nothing but admire these people. Either that or think they are stark raving bonkers mad.

Between Cameron Corner And Merty Merty

Strzelecki Track Road Conditions To Montecollina Bore

Once we got to the end of this road and we got on to the Strzelecki Track proper the road improved quite a bit. In fact the part of the Strzelecki we travelled to Montecollina Bore was excellent. It’s like it’s really hard clay that’s been rolled in to an almost concrete life surface. It breaks up in to sandy bits with a few bulldust holes in places and is corrugated in others but overall it’s just like a highway really. About 20ks from Montecollina Bore they were doing roadworks. They had a grader removing the top surface, a water truck spraying it down then a big roller going over the top compacting it.

We had to drive through a very damp section about a kilometre long going uphill and it was heavy going. The front of the van and the ute got covered in thick clay type mud. It was a hell of a mess but it was great fun. Driving through this bit we now understand fully why the road gets closed after a bit of rain. There’s no way you could drive through it when wet.

Supreme Getaway Covered In Mud Camping At Montecollina Bore On The Strzelecki Track

Montecollina Bore – An Amazing Oasis

Montecollina Bore itself was interesting. It’s a huge pond with water running in to it out of the bore. Then it overflows in to a wetland area. There were heaps of birds and signs of wildlife about that you didn’t see much of in other parts along the track. It’s kind of like an oasis in the desert. Along the road there were quite a few signposts pointing to other bores, I’d imagine they would be similar. Montecollina Bore is signposted as a rest area so we camped for the night. There were a few other camper trailers there for the night. An AAPT bus full of tourists pulled up and unpacked swags and camped there too. Great to see so many people enjoying the outback.

Montecollina Bore On The Strzelecki Track

Swimming In Montecollina Bore

On the tv I had seen a couple of 4×4 shows where they featured Montecollina Bore and every time they went swimming in the bore. So me being an idiot I figured that it’s a bore so the water was going to be nice and warm. Like the bore baths at Lightning Ridge. The weather on the day we were there was windy, probably a solid 40kph and the temperature would have been about 18 degrees so add the windchill in and yeah it was pretty bloody cool. I was determined to go for a swim so I put my swimmers on and waded in. I got in near the bore outlet and it was lovely and warm. Not so a bit further out! It was freezing, so cold it could have iced over I reckon.

I splashed about a bit for appearances sake then lay down near the outlet for a minute to warm up. Jaysus I was cold when I got out and the wind hit me. Amanda couldn’t stop laughing and even the dog seemed embarrassed to be walking back to camp with me. I figure that when they made the tv shows it must have been summer. Either that or I am just a massive big soft twat of a bloke!

Swimming In Montecollina Bore

Where Are Cameron Corner – Merty Merty & Montecollina Bore

Cameron Corner is at the intersection of three states, NSW, QLD at SA. Merty Merty and Montecollina Bore are in Outback SA. Approximate travel distances and times are listed below. Keep in mind that road conditions can vary greatly so travel times can do so as well. Always check road conditions before heading off. SA outback roads check here and NSW outback roads check here.

Conclusion

It was another great day. We had heaps of fun, plenty of laughs and quite a bit of adventure. We saw stuff we had never seen before and learned a few things as well. I’d definitely love to repeat this day in the future.