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the Degree Confluence Project
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Australia : South Australia

136.0 km (84.5 miles) W of Birdsville (QLD), SA, Australia
Approx. altitude: 22 m (72 ft)
([?] maps: Google MapQuest OpenStreetMap ConfluenceNavigator)
Antipode: 26°N 42°W

Accuracy: 5 m (16 ft)
Quality: good

Click on any of the images for the full-sized picture.

#2: Six weary (and now dry) travellers at the confluence point #3: Looking south from the confluence point #4: Looking east from the confluence point #5: Looking west from the confluence point #6: X marks the spot (we dusted it away) #7: The general confluence area on the eastern edge of Lake Poeppel #8: The coordinates

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  26°S 138°E (visit #8)  

#1:  Looking north from the confluence point

(visited by Ashley Watson, Rosemary Korda, Des Clear, Sally Clear, Peter English and Wendy English)

03-Jun-2022 -- We were a convoy of three vehicles and six occupants making a wet and cold six-day W-E crossing of the Simpson Desert. The dunes were a breeze compared to the real dangers hidden in the greasy, thick claypans. With a detour or two added into the common strategy of just plowing ahead (literally) at high speed, we got through the clay unscathed and with vehicles intact. By the time we got to Poeppel Corner (where the three states/territory of South Australia, Queensland and Northern Territory meet - and NOT the true confluence) the weather had improved and blue sky emerged. Yay! After a few pics, and escaping a gathering crowd, we departed the popular Poeppel in search of the true confluence further south. We followed the track a few hundred metres, pulled up safely on to the side, then wandered on to the dry (thankfully) nearby Lake Poeppel. Several GPS gadgets were quickly drawn and poised in search of the navigational prize, everyone bracing for the usual fight to the death as to who was going to be closest! After darting and duelling in decreasingly concentric circles, we agreed on an X to mark the spot in the dirt. Mission accomplished.

Postscript: It was perhaps surprising - and a little pleasing - to observe how none of the other travellers gathered just yonder at Poeppel Corner seemed to have any idea of (or interest in) the presence of the true confluence point just a little to the south. We were clearly alone for that moment in confluence-bagging history.


 All pictures
#1: Looking north from the confluence point
#2: Six weary (and now dry) travellers at the confluence point
#3: Looking south from the confluence point
#4: Looking east from the confluence point
#5: Looking west from the confluence point
#6: X marks the spot (we dusted it away)
#7: The general confluence area on the eastern edge of Lake Poeppel
#8: The coordinates
ALL: All pictures on one page
  Notes
Poeppel Corner, the triple boundary point between the Northern Territory, Queensland, and South Australia is located about 350 m NNW of the Confluence.