Cameron Corner, where you can be in 3 States at once (and pay $2 a litre for petrol)

The buildings consist of a pub, motel-like accommodation and a few out buildings. The pub has a small public frontage and a side dining room. Outside across a dusty paddock is a lone white plinth (favourite word) of about a metre high. This marks the geographical point where the corners of Queensland and New South Wales meet South Australia. At the moment we could hardly see it, because of the dust swirling around it. Decided to go and do the photo thing tomorrow.

We hoped to get a room for the night rather than put up the caravan in the howling wind, but the landlord – a strangely quiet man of few words – said a bus tour had booked them all, but it was possible that they wouldn’t make it, and if not then we could have a room. Darren and I retired to a corner of the pub to wait.

Darren promptly fell asleep with his mouth open, so I wrote for a while, then amused myself by taking pictures of him sleeping – which I thought hilarious. We were the only people mad enough to be there, so the publican came and sat nearby and put his audio book on the sound system and we companionably listened to it together. As I watched the dust and tumbleweed blow past the window I heard a Wild West Adventure which seemed completely appropriate.

Eventually other intrepid travellers blew through the door, some also looking for rooms. Every time the phone rang I hoped it woud be to say the bus would not be coming, but we didn’t hear anything from the landlord. Eventually other travellers looking for a room were given keys for aome, and I realised the bus party had been cancelled. How weird that the publican never came to tell us we could get a room, especially as Darren was ½ asleep in the pub corner. The publican the ntold us there was no Eftpos because of the wind, so we couldn’t pay by card. We had $55 and the room was $60. Tense moment while Darren scrabbled amongst the seats in the car for the other $5, the publican did not look like he was going to let that $5 go. We managed it, but had nothing to spare for a pub dinner. We had some mushroom risotto left from yesterday so happily ate that cold in our rooms.

The rooms are in a series of portacabins "out the back". This really was the outback! There were also camp spots beyond them in a dust bowl. In my view the wind would have taken our caravan away, so we kept it firmly clamped to our very slow car (hope Darren doesn’t read this…). The shower and toilets are in another block of porta cabins, with separate washrooms for those staying in the ‘hotel’ accommodation. So excited to have a wonderful hot shower in a room! –with a real toilet, and a mirror!. This is the Hilton of the Sands. Wonderful.

And so…to bed, with the wind rattling the walls and windows, I half expected to see the Wicked Witch of the West to go cackling past.
"Toto, I don’t think we’re in Kansas any more".