Mootwinji National Park (Any thoughts?)

great place - well worth the detour. If available take the guided tour.

G'day TL,

The Bride and I were out there recently (May). It remains one of our favourite places. There are some stunning unguided walks that show off the semi-arid scenery, landscape and geology and you can see aboriginal rock art and paintings. I found the Homestead Creek walk quite special.

If you can arrange a guided tour then you can visit the Mootwinji Historical Site. We were disappointed with the organisational aspects of this. The guides (private business, not NPWS) come out from Broken Hill, but only if there are twelve or more people interested. We like to travel in off-peak times and Mootwintji, being remote, is pretty quiet in off-peak periods so you most likely won't find 12 interested people in the campground on the spur of the moment. We could find only 10 and it was a no-go. If you can arrange a booking before you get there you might join up with other people and get the numbers. I don't have contact details at hand, but if you contact Broken Hill NPWS they will have the numbers.

It's disappointing to encounter this difficulty because the park is run jointly by NPWS and local indegenous land owners, some of whom live on site, who I'm sure would have among them someone qualified in their own terms to act as a guide. Last time I was there (2005) that's exactly what happened, but sadly no more.

Facilities are great - solar showers (be early in winter or you might miss out!), flushing loos if that floats your boat, excellent, potable bore water with taps scattered around the grounds. The campground has large sites, most shaded to a degree, some not at all so you can choose for your solar if needed.

Fires are ok - bring your own wood from outside the park. Gas BBQ and shelters are provided for those not so inclined.

We travelled Broken Hill - Mootwintji - White Cliffs. As with most outback roads, all 2wd when dry, closed when wet. Internal roads in the Park were being rebuilt when we were there, having suffered extensive flood damage in the preceding 12 months, but I don't think your Defender will care about any of this :-)

The visitors centre is about a km from the campground but under the joint management regime nothing much is going on there. Self registration, and fees are low. There's a payphone there if you need it (can't recall if it takes coins or is card only).

If you do the Gorge walk right up to the waterhole at the end you'll see a lot of damage from feral goats, particularly pollution of the waterhole with droppings. The ground is like the underneath of a woolshed. There was a successful control program running in the Park but under the joint management arrangements it has slipped and you will see the results.

We stayed a week. Could easily have stayed two, just to enjoy the peace, quiet and serenity of a special place.

Cheers

Frank