Pastoralists take to the skies to track livestock lost in floods

Closed roads and flooded plains are making livestock inaccessible for some pastoralists.

Cattle need to be checked on by choppers, while thermal imaging drones are being deployed to track down sheep.

Pastoralists have to wait for waters to recede and roads to open before they can start mustering.

Thousands of cattle stranded for four months by floodwater are "living the dream" on their very own island in outback South Australia.

At Cowarie Station, 250 kilometres north of Marree, around 4,000 of Sharon Oldfield's cattle have been isolated since February by record-breaking rain and flooding.

"The main channel is still full [of water] and the flood plain still has a lot of water on it, so we can't actually get around," Ms Oldfield said.

"It's not surrounded [by water], but it's the main channel, so we can't cross [it]… then when you get to the other side there's water as well and it's soft and boggy."

Cowarie Station has been largely underwater since February, and Sharon Oldfield expects it to remain relatively inaccessible until September. (Supplied: Sharon Oldfield)

Roughly half the property is cut off, with no change expected until around September.

This is not the first time Cowarie cattle have only been accessible by chopper, but this time around it has been "prolonged".

"The channel has been up and down several times," Ms Oldfield said.

"It filled from local rain, and then … from the floodwaters in Queensland through the Diamantina and the Georgina, then the Georgina had another rise, and then the Diamantina had another two rises, and then we had more rain. So it's just kept it full."

It means the cattle cannot be transported, but they do not seem to mind.

While some outback roads have reopened, many pastoralists are unable to muster and transport their cattle. (ABC Rural: Isabella Kelly)

"We've been checking on them by air, and they're all fine," Ms Oldfield said.

Meanwhile, the neighbouring station has had to take their stock the long way around.

"They've been walking cattle over 100km to try and get them to a spot where they can actually put them on a transport," Ms Oldfield said.

In South Australia's far east, Quondong Station is home to thousands of sheep – allegedly.

With 147,710 hectares of land, much of which remains underwater, a ground search was not going to cut it.

Replacing fences is one of the top things on Quandong Station's to-do list as water recedes. (Supplied: Facebook/Quandong Station)

With an employment history stretching from dentistry to the military, couple Tony Eldridge and Colleen O'Callaghan now run a tr