Scouts Qld - Corner Country Adventure 4WD Trip

09/06/2025

Its on again. Corner Country Adventure 4WD Trip 2025!!!! The epic adventure continues and this year we will camp an extra night in the Simpson Desert. This is the perfect September School Holiday Adventure for Scouts aged 13 years and older. Stay tuned for further updates. Formal registration will commence soon.

04/06/2023

This painting was created by Kawana Venturer Scout Erin Dale who was a participant in the Corner Country tour in 2021. Each image in the painting represents one aspect of the tour including adventures visiting the Cooper Creek, the Rainbow Serpent, Silo Art, huge burgers at Nindigully, the red sand dunes of the Simpson Desert among others. Get on board the next adventure this September

12/04/2023

After a very successful Corner Country 4WD Adventure in 2021, we are offering it again this year in 2023! This time we are going deeper in the Simpson Desert - all the way to Poeppel Corner - and we will visit all three south west corner posts of the state of Queensland! On top of that, we will visit Thargomindah, Cameron Corner, Innamincka, the Burke and Wills Dig Tree, Birdsville, Windorah, the Eromanga Dinosaur Museum, and so much more. This is a unique experience that you will remember for a lifetime. Our experienced Scouts Qld 4WD Guides will lead the way and ensure you get to see a truly awe inspiring part of this amazing country of ours.

PLEASE SHARE THE WORD!

The trip will on Saturday the 23th of September in Brisbane, and finish on Monday the 2nd of October back in Brisbane. This is the second week of the Public School Holidays and includes the Queens Birthday public holiday on the Monday. We leave after Agooneree finishes on the Friday for those people who want to do both activities back to back!

For more details check out the flyer:

Shared with Dropbox

21/09/2021

Good evening everyone... Just four sleeps to go now... The Participant Guide will be in your email inboxes now! Take a read of that for an in depth look at the Adventure we are about to go on...

13/09/2021

Good evening everyone! We have less than two weeks to go now.

One of the days I am looking most forward to on this trip (actually, who am I kidding, I am looking forward to ALL of the days) is the Windorah Day! We'll drive from Birdsville back to Windorah on Day 7 and it's a big drive with some incredible things to see along the way. You'll visit one of Australia's smallest towns - Betoota! It's just one building - The Pub - and it's been there a really long time. They are going to serve up lunch for us. You'll also see a truly amazing traditional owners sculpture - The Dreamtime Serpent. It's HUGE! We will continue on to Windorah where we will be camping on the banks of Cooper Creek for a second time (Innamincka will be the first time). You'll see Pelicans there - in the Outback! I'll let you do your own research on why the heck there are pelicans in the outback.

Approvals and Documentation: As of today, we have received all of our Documentation Approvals from Branch HQ. The official GO/NO GO decision with Branch will be made this Thursday the 16th of September. I'll send you ALL a confirmation email on Thursday in regards to this. We will still be bound by Queensland Health Directives and Scouts Queensland Branch Policies, so I will be monitoring those every day right up to when we leave.

Questions: I have received many awesome questions from you over the last week. Please DO keep reaching out if you have any questions. We're absolutely here to help.

Eating on the Road: Well, not "ON" the road... ;-) As I said in last week's email, do bring a lunch box, and we will keep those and your food utensils handy (in or near your day pack) as we'll be doing food on the road from the very first day.

On-Trip Updates: As parents of youth members ourselves, we know first hand how nice it is to get updates regularly from these major events. So, Lexie will be posting updates in the secure "Participants" group for the Corner Country Trip on Facebook. If you use Facebook, request to join this Group for updates:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/469713097696978/?ref=share

Laundry: We have had a couple of people ask about Laundry Facilities. We did select a couple of the campsites to ensure that we had access to Laundry facilities if they were required. Here are the details: Night 2, Thargomindah, $4 for a wash, takes $1 and $2 coins. Nights 5 and 6, Birdsville, $4 for a wash, takes $1 coins and the reception can give change. Night 8, Charleville, and we're just waiting for their pricing information.

Stanthorpe Participants: For those of you coming from Stanthorpe, your driver will meet you in Stanthorpe on the morning of the first day. They will then take you through to Goondiwindi where you'll join up with the rest of the group in the early afternoon.

Badges: We have had lots of questions on badges, and there are some great ideas coming through. It's the Special Interest Areas you can do on this trip, and take a look at last week's email for details. Just remember to submit your ideas to your Unit Council before you leave. Kaa (Andre) is helping to Assess the Sport and Adventure SIA, and he will ask that you do a short show-and-tell to your own unit about your trip when you return as part of the Review element for that badge. Do reach out to us if you have questions about badges.

Logistics: Behind the scenes, the Leaders have been working on equipment, vehicles, and catering plans and it is all coming together nicely. Quite a few of you are going to be doing things in the first week of the holidays, including Cuboree and Agoonoree, so we're wrapping up a lot of the activities this week. A couple of us will wrap up the final pack of the trailers this weekend, and handle all the food ordering after the go/no go decision on Thursday. We're all very excited and loving that all the final pieces are coming together.

06/09/2021

Good evening everyone. We're really close now...

Here's a drone video I shot of Eyre Creek in the Simpson Desert back in 2019. There was water in Eyre Creek that year - it'll be interesting to see what it looks like this year!

https://youtu.be/XQAHfeB2474

In addition to climb Big Red on our way into the Simpson Desert, and many other sand dunes, we'll be having lunch at Eyre Creek on day 6, Thursday the 30th of September, followed by dinner at the famous Birdsville Hotel!

Covid Safe Event Planning is an important part of the trip for us. We're putting a lot of effort into reducing transmission risk, both amongst us, and within the communities we are travelling into. We have a detailed Covid Safe Event Plan that we'll be following that covers off social distancing, food preparation, sanitisation, and public areas. We'll brief everyone on the details when you arrive for the trip!

Spotify and phone reception. Bring your phone if you have one. We know it's a great photography device, and it'll keep you entertained on the driving portions of the trip. BUT once we get WEST WEST, there will only be mobile phone coverage in the towns. So, if you want to listen to your music offline, then you'll need to download it before you go. Also, bring a charging cable to keep your phone charged. We'll be bringing a couple of satellite phones and satellite trackers with us so that we have phone communications at all times during the trip.

First Aid and Medical. We've got many fully trained first aiders on the trip with us, and we're well equiped with first aid equipment including remote first aid kits and a Defib. We've got the phone numbers for every hospital and health service along the trip, and these are held in every separate vehicle. Additionally, we're carrying multiple satellite phones, gps tracking devices, and emergency location devices. We're always within five hours of a township. While we plan on having an event free trip, we also want you to know that we have thought through our emergency procedures and we'll be ready to act if needed.

If you have ANY questions about getting ready for the trip, or the trip itself, please reply and ask away...

Yours in Scouting,
Bandicoot
Brett Ho**er

There is water in Eyre Creek in the Simpson Desert this year. This is a drone flyover of the area near the QAA Line. Raw drone footage at 4k. No titles or...

23/08/2021

Burke and Wills Dig Tree - We will be camping here on Monday the 27th of September!

"The Burke and Wills Dig Tree on the banks of Cooper's Creek is associated with explorers Robert O'Hara Burke and William John Wills. The tree was one of two trees blazed on 21 April 1861 by William Brahe and party who had remained at Cooper's Creek while Burke, Wills, Charles Gray and John King forged ahead to the northern coast of Australia. Brahe's party was finally forced to abandon the depot and trek homewards, leaving a message pointing to a cache of buried stores.

On 6 December 1860 Burke and his seven men established Camp LXV (65) at Cooper's Creek, having halted at several other spots along the Creek during the preceding three-and-a-half weeks while searching for the best location for a longer-term depot.

Here Burke split his party once again, and on 16 December pressed on to the Gulf accompanied only by Wills, King and Gray. Brahe, Thomas McDonough, William Patten and Dost Mahomet were instructed by Burke to wait for at least three months (the more cautious Wills preferred four months), before retracing their steps homewards via the Darling River.

Four months later on the morning of 21 April 1861, William Brahe and his party of three others including the seriously-injured Patten, left for Menindee. Before embarking on this four-hundred-mile return journey, Brahe carved three messages on two separate Coolibah trees at Depot Camp LXV. One of the inscriptions contained the word 'DIG' and the location of the cache of buried stores. Two other blazes were carved on an adjacent tree; one displaying the letter 'B' for Burke and the camp number 'LXV', the other contained the dates of the arrival of the party (6 December 1860) and the date of Brahe's departure.

Brahe noted in his journal that the party left the depot at 10 o'clock a.m., leaving 50 pounds (23 kg) of flour, 50 pounds (23 kg) of oatmeal, 50 pounds (23 kg) of sugar, and 30 pounds (14 kg) of rice buried near the stockade, at the foot of a large tree, and marked the word "Dig" on the tree.

Burke's party, by now reduced to three with the death of Gray on 17 April 1861, reached Camp LXV on the evening of 21 April 1861. Only two exhausted camels survived and the men were perilously low on stores. They discovered that Brahe had departed that same day, leaving the messages carved into the Dig Tree pointing to the cache of supplies. Subsequent events would prove to be a litany of missed opportunities and failure to communicate."
Reference: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burke_and_Wills_Dig_Tree

You will see these "LXV" markings, 160 years after they were made. You'll also learn a LOT more about the great journey Burke and Wills undertook...

Perhaps you'd like to do more research on this before the trip. You might even be able to use this towards your Award Scheme.

If you have ANY questions about getting ready for the trip, or the trip itself, please ask away...

Burke and Wills Dig Tree is a heritage-listed, blazed, eucalyptus tree at Nappa Merrie Station, Durham, Shire of Bulloo, Queensland, Australia. It was blazed on 21 April 1861. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 28 February 2003.[1]

07/08/2021

Seriously... There is only seven weeks from today until we head off. In these current times, that might even seem a bit crazy. Here's an update on how the planning is going, how we are managing risks, and some information on what we are going to see!

The Trip: Saturday the 25th of September to Monday the 4th of October 2021

Scouts Qld trained 4WD leaders will be providing their vehicles to take up to 25 youth members on an Outback Trip to remember. The trip takes participants to historically and geographically significant locations in the Queensland Outback. Locations include Goondiwindi, Thallon Grain Silos, Nindigully Pub, Cunnamulla, Bourke and Wills Dig Tree, Bourke's Grave, Wills' Grave, Cullyamurra Waterhole on the Cooper Creek, Innamincka, Walkers Crossing, Sturt Stony Desert, Birdsville Track, Birdsville and the Birdsville Pub and Bakery, Big Red Sand Dune, Simpson Desert, Eyre Creek, Betoota Pub, Dreamtime Serpent, Cooper Creek in Windorah, Eromanga Dinosaur Experience, Charleville including the Cosmos Centre and the Bilby Experience, Roma and the Roma Big Rig.

Take a look at this drone footage I took at Eyre Creek in the Simpson Desert back in September 2019:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQAHfeB2474&t=267s

We will be having lunch on Eyre Creek as part of this trip!

Youth Program
As each person’s journey is unique, you should definitely review your Pathways to see what items you can complete while on this trip.

Camping and Equipment
Participants will bring their own tents (small single person tents recommended), sleeping roll, sleeping bag, towel, clothes, any personal health and hygiene needs, a compact camping chair, and personal eating equipment. We are asking you to keep your individual gear lightweight and small as it will get dusty out there and we will need to carry that gear inside our vehicles and trailers. We have planned the camping locations to ensure that there are showers available almost every night; and for the two nights that don’t, we will have a gas shower available for those who need it. The temperatures out west in September will vary between 15 degrees at night and 30 degrees during the day. Sun safe practices will be important, so bring appropriate clothing for that.

We know flys will be a thing out there. We’ll provide a fly head net for every participant! We will also provide communications equipment, cooking equipment, first aid gear, shade, tables, recovery equipment, vehicles, fridges, esky’s, gas, etc. We will also be carrying hundreds of litres of drinking water on our vehicles and trailers to ensure everyone has access to plenty of water.

If you have ANY questions about equipment, please just ask here.

Food
Food is provided as part of your activity fee, including some epic Historical Pub meals we will have along the way. We will cater for everyone’s dietary needs as well. For the times we’re eating at camp, we will use a patrol system, and have the youth members prepare the meals on a rotating basis. We will be adhering to Covid-Safe food preparation techniques.

Attendee Numbers
We are all good to go on numbers!
We have a full contingent of drivers now, and we have one place left for a non-driving leader.
We have 20 youth member attendees signed up, and we have room for five (5) more youth members. Do share this email around to see if you can help us fill these last five spots - we may as well get as many people out there that we can.

Payments
Drift (Chris) has been following up on payments. You can pay in installments as outlined in the Scouts Registration system, or you can just pay the whole amount if you want. Please do get those payments in as it assures us that we have the right numbers locked in, and we’re doing the rest of our logistics planning based on this.

Spending Money
The only things that participants will need money for is souvenirs that they might way to buy, and any snacks or extras they would like above and beyond the planned trip menu.

Updates
We will send out an email each week now to keep you up to date. Feel feel to reply with your questions. We'll also post update here on this page.

Covid-19 Plan
We’ve been building contingencies for Covid-19 into our trip plan since last year. Short of being locked down at the last minute, we should have this covered! We have received some questions about refunds if the trip has to be cancelled due to Covid-19. The trip has been designed to limit any activities that would require us to make payment early before the trip. We only need to begin spending money 10 days before the trip, and that is to buy food. Accomodation, Pub Meals, Activities and Fuel will all be paid for on the trip itself. We have set the go/no go date at Thursday the 16th of September. At that point we need to buy food. Prior to that date, we can issue full refunds if the trip is forced to cancel due to Covid-10. After that date, then we only have to deal with food costs - and perhaps we’ll be able to share the food around. We also have plans if for some reason the South Australia Border is closed and we can’t get to Innamincka; we’ll just drive up the Arabury Road to get to Birdsville. If you have questions about our Covid-19 plans, do feel free to ask!

Pre-Trip Bookings are done
Lexie (Coojah) has been busy talking to business owners and information centre experts over the last month. She has locked in all the places we needed to have locked in. They are all looking forward to welcoming us to their towns and facilities. This includes famous historical Pubs such as the Nindigully Pub, Innamincka Pub, Birdsville Pub, Betoota Pub (literally the only building in the town to Betoota), and wonderful exhibits such as the Burke and Wills Dig Tree, Charleville Cosmos Centre and Bilby Experience and the Roma Big Rig Experience. We’ll share more information about these in the coming weeks.

Track News
We had some great news today, with the Walkers Crossing track between Innamincka and the Birdsville Track being opened TODAY for the first time in 18 months. This is our preferred track for the trip. We have 3 backup plans for the trip between Innamincka and Birdsville to ensure we have wet weather and Covid Border closure scenarios covered! Learn more about Walkers Crossing Track at the following public blog site:

https://blog.campermate.com.au/getaway-guides/sa/walkers-crossing-track-south-australia/



If you have any questions at all, just post them here!

We’re VERY excited about this trip, and can’t wait to get back out there and show you this AMAZING part of Australia!

Yours in Scouting,
Bandicoot
Brett Ho**er

There is water in Eyre Creek in the Simpson Desert this year. This is a drone flyover of the area near the QAA Line. Raw drone footage at 4k. No titles or...

20/07/2021

Numbers are looking great for the Corner Country Adventure 4WD Trip 2021.

We've got a full compliment of drivers now.

We are looking for up to 10 more youth members to attend, so please put the word out to your Groups. We've got a great cross section of Scouts and Venturers already, but we can fit some more in.

We're also looking for two more "Drivers Assistants". These positions are open to any Leader, Rover or (formal) Adult Helper. They don't need 4WD qualifications, and we'll ask them to help us with trip activites so that drivers can focus on driving. Drivers Assistants get a $150 discount, and their Trip Fee will be $850.

Remember that this is an opportunity to provide Venturers and near Venturer age Scouts (13+ years) in Queensland to explore the true Outback of Queensland and visit significant historical and geographical locations that would normally be out of reach of regular programming.

When: 25 September – 4 October 2021 (second week of Public-School holidays including Queensland Queens Birthday Public Holiday on Monday the 4th of October)
Where: The trip will start and finish in Brisbane, and will cover over 3500 km’s of travel

The trip takes participants to historically and geographically significant locations in the Queensland Outback. Locations include Goondiwindi, Thallon Grain Silos, Nindigully Pub, Cunnamulla, Bourke and Wills Dig Tree, Bourke's Grave, Wills' Grave, Cullyamurra Waterhole on the Cooper Creek, Innamincka, Walkers Crossing, Sturt Stony Desert, Birdsville Track, Birdsville and the Birdsville Pub and Bakery, Big Red Sand Dune, Simpson Desert, Eyre Creek, Betoota Pub, Dreamtime Serpent, Cooper Creek in Windorah, Eromanga Dinosaur Experience, Charleville, Roma and the Roma Big Rig.

You can register online via the Scouts Qld Activity Management System:
https://register.scoutsqld.com.au/login.asp?IEID=108&EIEID=IKHQ10WDPB7RHPRTIG73F2JJ4XAH86764EGC335GA7R7IIHWBTOSQSV6M1

See here for the event flyer:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/l65jtihn8m1q5yq/CornerCountry4WDAdventureFlyer.pdf