To the west is the ancient rocks of the Barrier Ranges.
To the north a seemingly endless flat landscape of the Mundi Mundi Plain.
I'm in western New South Wales, north of Broken Hill, in an area that is often referred to
as Sturt Steps.
It's not hard to imagine the amount of water that has flowed through this area in the past.
This lump of concrete was once part of the road, which was washed away in a flood.
The sealed road soon gives way to a dirt track, a coastal landscape that hasn't changed very much
since Charles Sturt explored this area in 1844.
Scattered along the track we pass a number of properties running cattle.
The grits in the track often mark their boundaries.
Melange Station chose a more elaborate way to mark its boundaries.
The rocks in the ranges to the east had their beginnings when the earth was still very young.
Over 700 million years ago, the rocks on these low hills were deposited in a shallow ocean
off the coast of a supercontinent called Rodinia.
On this cadela, also known locally as a jump-up, lies sandstone and shale with quartz scattered
amongst the gravel.
Further up the ridge, iron-stained gritecious sandstone breaks the surface.
In the plains below, gibber stones are slowly being eroded away.
I was once again travelling on my own, and with the first closed gate I arrived at, I
soon realised the benefit of having a passenger.
When travelling through outback properties, it's always important to leave gates as you
find them.
During the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods, a supercontinent took up most of the southern
hemisphere.
Geologists call this landmass Gondwana.
When that supercontinent started to break up 180 million years ago, the outline of what
we now call Australia started to take shape.
Large areas of ancient Australia were submerged by a deep ocean, which in time became shallow.
As I drove along the track, I realised much of the landscape I was passing would have
dated back to the Tertiary period when rocks were deposited on the seafloor.
Sturt believed that an inland sea still existed in the centre of Australia.
Unfortunately for the explorers, it had dried up millions of years ago.
Seeing a line of trees in the distance is often an indication that a creek runs across
the track.
Thankfully, no water was in any of them.
For the most part, this track comprises of a gravel surface, but every now and again
it becomes rocky as you drive through giver plains.
Campbell's Creek was one of the few creeks in the area that actually had water as Sturt's
Party pushed northward on their outward journey.
Where water has flowed in the past, hardy plants flourish.
The banks of most of these larger creeks have well established trees dominating the landscape.
There's been a lot of rain in this area for the last two days and I've been lucky to get
out here.
96 kilometres I've done so far.
The formation of this ridge took millions of years when water seeped through Cretaceous
rocks dissolving silicon, which in turn formed siliquid, the most common rock found in central
Australia.
Since this formation, it is being constantly eroded and over time will become flat like
the surrounding landscape.
You can expect to come across numerous gates along the way.
On the 29th of November 1844, Sturt's expedition reached Moffitt's Creek, with a camp for two
days to renew their water supply.
A few kilometres further on, the track deteriorated and I found it necessary to check it out by
foot.
The sun had dried the mud, but I was still concerned about getting bogged in the deep
water.
Twenty minutes later, I came across another section of the track that had deep well runs.
This time they were flooded with water and mud.
The risk of getting bogged was far too great to continue, so I retraced my journey back
to Silverton.
