Winton to Mt. Isa

Packed up, and hit the road. Dez hoping for some water crossings on this trip, but this isn't one of them! Dry dry dry...driving on rock out of the Bladensberg National Park across Surprise Creek.

Don't think he'll get bogged!

Easy ha ha!

First stop The Blue Heeler Pub at Kynuna, just up the road about 100klm. Not much happens there on a Sunday I can tell you! These outback pubs are great. This one's claim to fame is all the names all over the walls. You make a donation to the Flying Doctor Service of $3 and you can add your monica! So..of course..we did!

Right on the front of the bar, in bright white...yeah!

Of course, you have to have a beer!

Cheers! Well....lemon, lime and bitters ha ha!

Out of order....no kidding? Just as well there was a roadhouse around the corner!

Quite common really... A brolga walking down the middle of the highway?

Next stop the Walkabout Creek Hotel at McKinlay. That's right folks, the very one where they filmed Crocodile Dundee. So, it would be unAustralian not to stop for a beer!

No, that's not Paul Hogan n the verandah!

Pulled up on a roadside stop for the night. Well it's cheap..as in free. But, man, the trucks just kept on coming all night. Either rumbling down the highway or parked beside us with their aircon motors running. Needles to say, not much sleep!

They just keep rolling....

.... and rolling ....

...and rolling!!!

Next morning short 60 klm into Cloncurry.  Dropped the camper at Wal's Caravan Park, and headed to the thriving metropolis for breakfast :) Not much going on in Cloncurry. The best thing about it was Woollies ha ha!  So stocked up on fresh groceries, and did some domestic chores at the park.  Noisy there too all night with trucks and the rail right behind us, so early pack up and hit the road.

The other good find just on the outskirts of Cloncurry was Chinamans Creek Dam. Had a lovely relaxing brekky there. Dez tried his luck again at yabbies, but alas, still illusive  :(

Nothing!!!!

The birdlife here was fantastic.

Pelicans even !!!

Just us there. Was great after a noisy night.

Just an hour and a bit up the road to Mt. Isa, and after hundreds of miles of endless, dry, flat, flat country, we are driving through a spectacular range. Couldn't take many photos, as there wasn't many places to pull over. But is was beautiful, and such a change.

These photos don't do justice to the range, but anyhoo.....

Next install - Mt. Isa.

Bladensberg National Park - Winton

FINALLY! some 'real' camping. Headed out to Bladensberg National Park. 25 klm out of Winton on the banks of Surprise Creek. Well, Surprise dried up creek bed. Aahh! Feeling the serenity. 

All set up, and just relaxing.

Surprise Creek river bed. Solid rock!

The bush is absolutely beautiful.

Dezzi looking sharp?!?

Relaxing every night around the fire...love it.

There were a a couple of interesting spots in the park.  First one was Skull Hole. The story goes that this was the site of a massacre of aborigines in retaliation for the murder of a teamster. Oooooohhhhh!

This is Skull Hole where the massacre supposedly took place.

Also,had a look at Bladensberg Homestead. One of the first in the area, established back in the late 1800's. It is abandoned now. Just the buildings are maintained by the National Parks. The land is spectacular. So huge and flat. Just stretches on for miles.

The main house.

Staff quarters, and office.

View from the front verandah. You can just see Dez in the background.

Lunch in the old shearing sheds.

So many kangaroos and wallabies. These ones just in front of camp.  Also quite a lot of emus.

Just relaxing!

Winton

WOW! Make a cuppa or grab a drink to read this post. We didn't realise just how much there was to see in this area. So much, that we stayed an extra day. Four and a half in all. 

Easy short drive from Longreach. You can drive for miles out here and not see another vehicle. So flat and big. Amazing country.

So, lunch, set up camp, and catch up with our buddies Lyn and Tony. We got to visit a beef cattle farm just out of town. Friends of Lyn - Jodie, Gary and their 3 littlies. A real eye opener to how tough it is in the outback on a farm. It is just one big dust bowl. They haven't had rain for months, and even that was minor. But, true to the outback spirit, they just keep on going and love the land (most of the time!) Gary to me was the epitome of a real life cowboy - slow talking, slow walking, bull riding, easy going. 

Gary watching his 8 year old daughter Sophie ride her pony. So proud!

Gary and Sophie

Feeding time!

The original windmill on the property, which is about 90 years old.

WINTON TOWNSHIP

Winton was settled in 1876, and was first called Pelican Ponds. That's right...there are pelicans out here! It is famous for the place that Banjo Paterson wrote Waltzing Matilda in 1895, and for the discovery of dinosaurs!!!!

There is so much history here. We spent one full day going through everything in town, starting with the museum. Man! What isn't in there isn't worth bothering with! Just a few things.....

The first automated cordial bottling machine Circa 1900.

Straight jacket!

Bone drill...aaarrrggghhh!

Very stylish shoes. People were so little a hundred years ago. The shoes are so tiny. This is for an adult lady!!!

Foot pedal of a dental drill!

...and for the working man, a pair of hob nailed boots !

This isn't the best shot ('cos the museum in My opinion had the light shining in the wrong spot!) but I found this incredible...the hand of the outback working man.

Also on the agenda.... The Outdoor Theatre..which we went to and watched old black and white cartoons and the Three Stoodges (?) under a full moon! Great night.

The Theatre also doubles as a roller skating rinks in the front there!

Old Truck Museum....

The old cemetery.... I have a weird love of old cemeteries ? We found one headstone of a pioneer who seemed to be quite amorous, judging by the number of children!

The Musical Fence.... Grab a stick or two and bash away on all the bizarre paraphernalia put together!

Drums!

ummmmm? Not sure?

And then visited the three pubs in the one and only main street...

The North Gregory, where you can lounge outside (and use the free Wi Fi ).....

The Australian. Only one drink there...bit dodgy!

And our favourite .. The Tattersalls. Great food and atmosphere!

Cheers!

That's Dez hiding behind the post!

So that's town. Now to the DINOSAURS!

Pretty much a full day out to the Lark Quarry to see the footprints of the Dinosaur stampede. 220 klm round trip, and about half of that on dirt!

Over 3,300 tracks mark the site of the only known dinosaur stampede on the planet. The excavation site has had the building erected around it for protection from the weather. Discovered back in the 1960's.

These are tracks of small, chicken like dinosaurs.

The country out here is spectacular!

...and nothing but blue, blue sky !!!

The things you see!

Another dinosaur must do. The Australian Age of Dinosaurs. This is where you can see the actual dinosaur bones, and do a tour of the actual laboratory where they are working on the bones. Fascinating!

The building where the bones are on display, which has just been nominated for a world architectural award!

Real dinosaur bones!

Working on the bones.

They are massive!

Great display of fossils too. 

Replica of Banjo, one of the first dinosaurs discovered in the area.

He got me!

More spectacular country.

Bevy happy to be on holidays!

And of course it wouldn't be a camping 4WD trip without a bit of car fun in the dirt!

And I ended up with that cloud all over me...yeah!

Replacement vehicle?

Dez hoping to catch some yabbies in one of the town's water ponds! No luck. The water here is artesian, and it STINKS! But they never run out.

Home in Winton.

Masses of galahs here.

Sadly had to say goodbye to our travelling buddies. Time for them to head back home to work (ha ha!)

It has been fantastic fun.....toodles guys.

 

Ok, so I have gone on enough. Time to pack up and head bush. We are going just out of town to the Bladensberg National Park for a couple of days. Time for some "real" camping!