Before the discovery of gas and oil fields near Moomba in the 60ies, the Strzelecki Track was barely used as it is tougher than the Birdsville Track.
This route was pioneered in 1870 by Harry Redford, a cattle rustler who stole 1000 cattle from the Longreach area and drove them down into South Australia where he sold them. He was eventually caught but not convictred for the offence as the jury was impressed by his feat.
The track first goes thru vast gibber plains, where creek crossings are quite common. The day before we had witnessed a thunderstorm quite a distance away. We had tried to guess where it was taking place and we supposed it was over the northern Flinders Ranges. And as we drove towards the Montecollina bore, we could verify this: all the creeks coming from the South, i.e. the Flinders Rangers were flowing. They were not so numerous and we crossed them without major difficulties.
North from the Montecollina bore (where we stopped for the night, among dozens of lovely birds) the Track passes thru the Cobbler Desert. But the streak of track which has the most magnificent dunes is set after Moomba where the track does not go along them but across them.
Innamincka, which is a real tiny town, seems like a city after 480km of empty desert (without a single house or gas station). It was created as a custom post as prior to the Federation of 1901, the colonies of Queensland and South Australia imposed taxes on all transiting stocks and goods.