Jim returned early Tuesday evening. I had done a big shop and filled the tanks with water so we were ready to head off first thing on Wednesday. Our destination was Boulia.
The road was single lane, the first of many we were to encounter in the area. It did make for slow going as every time something came the other way you had to slow down and pull over. For big trucks we opted to come to a complete stop. It kept them on the little bit of bitumen and saved being sprayed with stones. Apart from slowing the travel time we think it also added to fuel consumption. On the way we were amazed at the number of wedge tail eagles we saw, mainly feasting on road kill. And did we see a lot of that! The roads in Central Queensland are just littered with them. Sometimes it seemed like a continuous line of them up the side of the road. It certainly made you think twice about driving at night.
Once we arrived at Boulia we headed to the free camp on the King River. The river at the moment is just a large waterhole, and we found a great spot overlooking this. Our fire pit came out and it was a lovely evening by the waterhole. We were hoping to see the famous Min Min lights, but as we found out at the Discovery Centre the next day, they come looking for you, not you looking for them.
Waterhole at King River
The Min Min Centre was a huge surprise in this tiny little town. What an excellent animated show. You walked from room to room and were introduced to all the stories and myths of the Min Min. We had bought the package ticket that also gave us entry to the museum that was just around the corner. It was good to see that so many everyday items from over the years had been kept and displayed here.
One of the outside museum displays
Waddi tree
We also drove out about 20 kilometres to the stand of Waddi trees. They grow in only three places in Australia, and we have now seen two of them.
Boulia is famous for its camel races, and they were on the following weekend. We weren't too worried about missing them as we imagine a lot of people coming for that. But as we were camped behind the racetrack we did see quite a lot of camels. While at Boulia we discovered that some Rotarians from Wodonga were heading to Longreach with the club's movie trailer to be lent to the club at Longreach. We contacted them and worked out we could easily drive right through Longreach and circle back there at the time they were arriving.
Leaving Boulia, it was another single lane road, again littered with road kill. Along the way we stopped at two of the old Cobb and Co stops, ruins of the Hamilton Hotel and the Min Min Hotel (where they light was first reported). Very little remains of this, just a chimney at Hamilton and all you can really see at Min Min was the old bottle dump and a grave.
Chimney - all that is left of the Hamilton Hotel
Remains of Min Min Hotel, a grave and bottle dump
We stopped for lunch at Cawnpore Lookout, climbing up to the top. The views were fantastic and the terrain features are supposed to be found in only one other place, in a part of South America
Views from the lookout
Looking down at our caravan
Our stop for the night was the only remaining hotel on this stretch of road. The Middleton Hotel is the most isolated hotel in Queensland. There is a large open area on the opposite of the road where campers are welcome. There were probably about half a dozen there for the night. The land is so flat the horizons are a long way off, which makes for beautiful sunsets and sunrises.
Middleton Hotel
Sunset
Sunrise
Leaving Middleton we made it to Winton late morning. After a quick look around and purchase of fresh bread for lunch, we drove out to the free camp at the Long Waterhole just out of town. We have stopped at quite a lot of free camps, but this was probably the most dismal. The choice was either camping in a barren open area with nothing but dust around you, or closer to the waterhole that with the severe drought this area has been in, looked like camping on the surface of the moon. Unfortunately after we had setup and unhooked and gone for a drive, we found what was a much better area at Mistake Creek. By this stage it wasn't worth setting up again to move, and we opted to just stay the one night.
Camping on the moon, or at least it felt like it
We still fitted quite a bit in. We walked right around the town, visited the relocated info centre and spent some time in the interesting open air theatre museum. It was sad that Winton's main tourist attraction, the Waltzing Matilda centre had burned down only a couple of weeks before.
It was about mid afternoon, so we decided we could still fit in a trip to the Bladensburg National Park. The Park headquarters are in the old homestead which was fairly interesting with displays and a number of out buildings. We then drove the tracks to the old racecourse, a child's grave from early settlement times and on to Scrammy Gorge.
Scrammy Gorge
We weren't sorry to be packing the next morning, the camp area really is rather desolate. As planned, we drove through Longreach and on to Isisford. This is a very tiny town, but it has $3 a night or $15 a week camping on the river there. We were absolutely amazed at the number of caravans that were there. We found out many of them come for 3 - 4 months at a time. I guess it makes for a very cheap place to stop for those that want to escape the southern cold. There is a toilet, dump point, fresh water and even free hot showers in the town, so everything they need to get by.
To get a spot we did have to drive quite a bit further on the other side of the river. We weren't right on the river, but still had a great view and were glad to be in full sun as the weather had cooled. South Eastern Australia had an arctic freeze and it affected even Queensland. Where we had 29 degrees in Winton on the Saturday, Sunday's top temperature was only 19.
After lunch we walked into the interesting little town and explored the area. Most buildings had signage out the front which explained the history. However, being a Sunday nothing was open.
Driving out the next morning, we did stop for a little while to catch up on what was closed the day before. There was an inexpensive interpretive centre that we went through. One of the town's claim to fame was the discovery of fossils belonging to the oldest crocodile in the world, the forebear of all modern day crocodiles. A lot of the display was devoted to this.
By now it was mid morning, but it wasn't too far to our next destination of Blackall. This is another RV friendly town, and they have a really great cheap camp on the river a short walk from the town centre. We stopped here for two nights, visiting the historic Wool Scour, the last one existing in Australia and still in working order, and an afternoon trip to the swimming pool which is heated by the arterial water. The pool was 32 degrees and the spa was 35. Very relaxing.
Blackall Wool Scour. The hill is one of the piles of ash from the wood fired steam engines
So having enjoyed the warm waters, we couldn't go past Lara Wetlands. This camping area only opened last year. Sadly the day they took their first bookings, the husband was killed in a helicopter accident. Jo continued on with their dream and with the help of caretaker Bill, who came for five days and is still there a year later, the place has really taken shape. As word is getting around it is getting very popular and next year she plans to put a number limit on campers.
But what can't you like about having beautiful green grass under your feet after the dust from drought, water right at your door, fire places at all the sites with unlimited wood, hot showers and flushing toilets, and to top it off, a beautiful warm thermal pool. Like so many others before us we came for one night and stayed for two.
Artesian pool
Sunset colours
Friday morning we reluctantly packed and drove the 40 kilometers to Barcaldine. I hadn't done any washing since Mt Isa, so the pile was getting a bit big. Time for some luxury also of hooking up to power and water, not to mention the chance to run a heater as the temperature drops.
After quite a few loads were on the clothesline, we walked into the town. We had been here about fourteen years ago and remembered seeing the Tree of Knowledge, famous for the formation of the Labor Party under its branches. However in 2006 someone poisoned the tree. It was subsequently preserved and a very impressive structure built over it.
It hadn't take us long to decide to enjoy the power luxuries for another night. We drove out Saturday morning to have a look at Lloyd Jones Weir, a pretty picnic spot and another very popular free camp about 14 kilometres from town. We ended up talking a while to another happy Aussie Wide owner from Queenscliff. We got back in time for lunch, and straight after this we went to the Workers Heritage Centre. There was far more here than we were expecting and it was after four when we got back, just in time for the free tea and damper the caravan park puts on.
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