Week Twelve: Way Out West

Another sunset but isn't it gorgeous.

West Queensland that is. We are in Outback Queensland where the vast distances and huge spaces have shaped the stories and forged the pioneering spirit of its people from Captain Starlight to Banjo Paterson.  It is a truly a unique part of Australia and we have enjoyed exploring a large section of it this week, travelling over 1800 kms along the Overlander Way through iconic Outback towns like Cloncurry, Julia Creek and down the Matilda Highway to Winton where we are at the moment.

A bit exaggerated but you can see what we mean

It has been an amazing adventure despite the dreadful Queensland roads. We have been spoilt with the mostly straight, wide and well maintained highways of WA and the Northern Territory. Because we have been travelling over floodplains the roads are undulating and it is like riding a roller coaster. It is always a worry when we open the caravan door to see what awaits us. We have come out mostly unscathed except for two broken glasses and some jammed door handles. A squirt of WD40 has fixed the latter and we now batten down the hatches and ensure everything is stored securely before we take off. 

Camooweal was our first stop in Queensland and we stayed in town at the caravan park to catch up on our washing etc.  We wondered why the couple next door didn’t have a vehicle parked outside their van and we later found out that their Jeep Cherokee had an electrical fault and burnt to the ground! They were waiting for their friend to come from Wagga in NSW to tow their van home. Luckily the caravan wasn’t hooked up at the time and it is all covered by insurance. It was a cruel end to their long planned holiday.

Mt Isa - a mining town

Mt Isa has had a crime wave recently with people breaking into caravans while the occupants are asleep. One lady had her handbag taken with over a thousand dollars in it and worst of all, all her credit cards, license, Medicare card etc. The streets are very grubby and there are a lot of vacant shops, which is always a bad sign. We have been to Isa before and weren’t impressed then so we did a grocery shop and pushed on to safer pastures without a backward glance. 

Fantastic free camp at Clem Walton Park

It has been fun free camping along the way and an absolute highlight was Clem Walton Park and Corella Dam Rest Area. There were over a hundred vans of all shapes and sizes dotted around the edges of the dam when we arrived. We found our spot and settled in for two days of relaxing and yarning with our neighbours. GK scraped together some twigs and dead branches and made a campfire. It was a pretty good effort considering we had no newspaper, firelighters or decent hunks of wood. He is a true caveman!

GK mesmerized by his fire. Ugg.

We haven’t come across a lot of people we know this trip but when we were in Cloncurry we met up with some Moora connections. By coincidence there were three WA vans in a row parked on a side street. A couple that used to live in Muckinbudin owned the van at the back of us and they know Frank McGrath and the late Mick Bates. The van in front had Katanning plates and they know Marg and Geoff Gill and the lady was Wendy McKinley’s bridesmaid! We all had a good yack and marveled at Western Australia’s two degrees of separation - not six like everywhere else. It’s a small world.

Loving the free entertainment

Julia Creek was a very pleasant surprise as it is the cleanest country town we have ever seen and that is saying something. The buildings have been freshly painted and the footpaths are spotless without gobs of chewing gum and dirty marks. It is an absolute credit to the Shire and townspeople and we complimented them when we were in the newsagency and the Visitors' Centre. They were really chuffed. The caravan park was another bonus with modern spotless ablutions and live entertainment every night. We listened to the one-man band singing all the old hits by Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson et al before toddling off to bed where we thought we were going to freeze to death.

The days are glorious but the early mornings and evenings are icy cold so we have packed away our lighter clothes and dragged out our trackies and winter PJs.  We have also put the electric blanket on the bed and when we free camp and have no electricity we invert a terracotta pot on one of the gas jets and that takes the chill out of the air. It is a hint we heard in our travels and one we use all the time now as we hate being cold. Whoever is up first puts the kettle and the pot on to warm up the van and then we are happy campers once again. 

CK with another old fossil

GK and Hughie

The towns of Richmond, Hughenden and Winton make up the Dinosaur Trail because the area was once a huge inland sea. Thousands of fossilized bones have been found scattered throughout the area including the world’s only recorded dinosaur stampede near Winton. The three towns have capitalized on the tourism attraction of the ancient creatures and they feature in the streets, at the local museums and as works of art throughout the district. Dinosaur feet cover even the rubbish bins. The kids love it and were clambering over all the statues around the place. Even us old fossils were impressed and posed alongside Hughie, the 7m life-size skeletal replica of a Muttaburrasaurus at the Flinders Discovery Centre in Hughenden

Apart from dinosaurs, Winton is also famous for being the home of Waltzing Matilda. Banjo Paterson wrote the song while staying at a nearby station in 1895 and the first public performance was at Winton’s North Gregory Hotel. The town is really proud of this claim to fame and have built the iconic Waltzing Matilda Centre featuring state of the art technology to celebrate the story of Waltzing Matilda and how the ballad shaped Winton and the surrounding district. We thought it was fantastic especially knowing that it had been rebuilt after a devastating fire razed it to the ground in 2015. It is typical of the tenacity of the people who live way out west. It is a very hard life and not for the faint-hearted.

GK perched outside the fabulous Waltzing Matilda Centre

We are looking forward to heading to Longreach tomorrow as we have heard so much about it. There are so many famous attractions the lady at the Visitor Centre called it ‘The Gold Coast of the Outback”. It will be interesting to see if she is right. These small outback towns have to diversify into tourism as they have dwindling populations and most are drought affected. They are doing a fabulous job with mostly volunteers doing the brunt of the work. We are doing our bit to prop up the economy by shopping locally and supporting all the attractions. The bank balance is looking crook as we booked our tickets for the Gympie Muster today. Yeay! Can’t wait. We have a lot more of central Queensland to do before then so will let you know how we get on. Lots of love to everyone and keep safe.

For Kelly and Grace - Cubby de Squeal's funky cousin holidaying at outback Banka Banka Station

 

Beautiful restored Winton Hotel