Outback Queensland road trip Day 16 Barcaldine here we come

 

 

By the numbers

286 kms driving

3 hours driving

8.09 kms walking

 

The day started with a visit to the bakery and finding they have toasted sandwiches and I grabbed that and a sausage roll. I found the sandwich was bacon and egg cut into quarters. A worthy breakfast before leaving Winton. It has been a nice journey so far, but it is now time to head towards home as there are other commitments awaiting us both. Today the drive will take us to the town of Barcaldine.

 

The road towards Longreach as we found was pretty guys with caravans heading towards Winton or further on, although there is an opal festival on later in the week. That is kinda funny as last week the town had a film festival so it seems to be a busy time in the area. It wasn’t just one or two caravans that we were being passed by it was groups in a conga line. It was interesting watching as there had been few vehicles when we were coming in, although that could be due to the roads we were travelling on. Maybe people had better ideas than us? By the time we went past Ilfracombe, I was on roads that we had not been on before and it wasn’t that long before we arrived at Barcaldine. I had hit phone service and there had been no message about where we were staying in the town so it was leaning either way.

 

We had to stop anyway in town to use the loo and then get some lunch. For something to do and fill in time before going to check in, both mum and I went for a wander through a museum by the name of the Australian Workers Heritage centre. This place was interesting as it had the clone of the Tree of Knowledge that died after being poisoned in the early 2000s. This tree is known as the Young ‘un. The museum starts with the story of the 1891 shearers strike and the 15 people who were arrested in the aftermath of the strike. Near all of them were sent to St Helena Island for around 2 years. That is located in Moreton Bay. The group also inspired a Henry Lawson song. I found it interesting that Brisbane was where the lotto balls were once made and had some of the machines on display. The big tend seemed to also have tourist information about some of the towns like Winton, Rockhampton and Longreach. While it was interesting that there was plenty about the Labor politicians as it focused mainly on Queensland since it was the state we were in. There were even a little about the voting boxes that were used in the past. The time was slowly ticking away and the museum closes around 3pm and we wandered out before that time even though we hadn’t seen everything, but it was interesting especially when there were different mailboxes with Australia Post.

 

We arrived at our accommodation and the doors were shut. We were staying in a pub and it wasn’t open. I was getting worried that the booking hadn’t gone through. I basically looked around and then rang the number that I got from Google as the number outside the building wasn’t connected. We were let into the building once the owner came out to see us. We were asked if we had booked with Booking or direct and I said direct with them. I much prefer booking direct as the business gets 100% of the money. We were given the key and we had shared bathroom and toilets, which was suitable for tonight. We had basic rooms without a fridge so it could have been worse and no booking. We were upstairs and the hotel was a heritage type one with a little bit of history.

 

Once I had settled in I went for a walk around town. I would be back by the time it was ready for food to be ordered, though that seemed to be between 6pm and 730pm so it could either become busy like in Winton or be quiet. I followed some of the heritage signs and came across the old court house that was still being used as a court house, a Queensland government building now being used by the SES, a radio station that is now the movie theatre, although there were a few buildings that had burnt down several times and replaced. The Tree of Knowledge location in front of the train station was fenced off as they are apparently doing some work there and there is also some info panels about the Labor party movement, the shearers strike and the aftermath. Further along the street there was a Barcaldine mural that had been painted and a monument of a working windmill to a bore. The windmill works when the wind blows it moves and you can hear the creaking as it does.

 

I went back for a meal and I was early for once as I was going to visit the cemetery and decided against doing that. I should relax and not go rushing off. Tomorrow our next destination is the town of Springsure. That is something like a 4 hour drive and we might have quick stops in towns like Emerald.

Outback Queensland road trip Day 15 Winton dinosaurs

 

 

By the numbers

7.75kms walking

9,671 steps

Dinosaur Triangle complete – Trifecta

 

During the night we had heard it rain and I was hoping that it would not stop us from getting into the Australian Age of Dinosaurs outside of Winton. I had read a while ago that the road was unsealed and I thought that would make everything soft and we would get stuck on our way there. The rain had mostly gone when we went to leave, but it felt a little chilly. I was wearing a long sleeve shirt so thought I would be alright. We had jumpers in the car where we had put them.

 

The drive out to the museum did seem to be really long even though it was around 20kms from Winton. To my surprise the road was sealed the entire way and the views from the actual museum were spectacular as you could see the bush from on top of the hill and into the distance. The whole complex I realised was well spaced out as you need a vehicle to get to the other parts especially the Dinosaur canyon. We had specific times where we are meant to be for the next part. We started off at the laboratory where they prepared and uncovered the pieces of the bone they had gotten in the field and a few were waiting in their jackets, which is what covers them until they are worked on. We are told we could walk or drive there. Mum and I chose to walk and it was some good bush walking and being a cold day it felt good. At least the flies were not bothersome yet.

 

The tour around the lab was a group tour and there were a few others including kids along for the ride. We got to see some of the specimens they had found including a crocodile that even had a piece of dinosaur so it was labelled as a dino killer. There were other examples of animals that were found and how much they know about them. We got to see the fossils being worked on, which was interesting as one of the ladies explained that she works for long hours while chipping away. The tour guide was actually a kiwi who is a palaeontologist and came here to do some work. They still have heaps of work to do. The next part of our tour is back at the reception area and they are going over some of the fossils they had found like Banjo, Matilda and Sue. From little bits they can tell if the animal is something new or similar to one of the other dinosaurs in the world. Depending on where the dinosaurs have died that are times when only the legs and little parts like ribs remain as they had been eaten by scavengers, which was a theory. It was incredible what they had in the room to show the people who had come along.

 

The last part was on the other side of the complex and they take you there in a regular bus service to Dinosaur canyon. Its something like a 5 min ride and we thought it was at 1130, but we had to get the bus at 1115, which we were confused about at first until we pulled out the itinerary and it was written on there. Luckily the bus hadn’t left or else we would have been stuck. We had coffee too that we were drinking along the way. What I wasn’t expecting when we were guided to Dinosaur Canyon was that there would be a guided tour of the March of the Titanosaurs where there was dinosaur tracks. Turns out this had been relocated from a farm around 50 kms away as it was on a creek and slowly eroding over time. It had been removed and put back together to be preserved from the elements. Footprints of sauropods that is long neck dinosaurs, prints from smaller dinosaurs, crocodile prints, turtle prints and even a lungfish. The other type of footprints like that is in Broome and in a tidal area. The story goes that the farmer sees palaeontologists on another property and lures one with the promise of something pretty cool. The rest is history. The next part is unguided and at our own pace is a walk along the canyon along a boardwalk. I find this to be impressive as it had views of the whole area with a scattering of dinosaurs and information about them. The crowds had dispersed by the time I had gotten to the end and the next tour group hadn’t come through yet. By the time I wandered back to the beginning they were starting to drift to the walkway. I did see that they are looking at making additions in the future to house more, although that is apparently along time away.

 

I only had a little bit of a wait before I could catch the next bus back to the main reception area and I ended up going through the gift shop and ended up with a few things that will hold my interest. By that time it was time to head back to town and see the views from the top of the hill. There were still a few cars making their way to the museum. On the way back we stopped at the Willie Mars historic fruit and vege market to see what it was about. I knew as I had been there, but mum hadn’t. We then ended up at the open air picture theatre where we had a little tour of that. It was showing the different projectors that were used through time and what they were currently using to play films. They are still playing films throughout the week. We ended up back at the room to relax and were second in line for ordering food as we knew how long the lines got the day before and slow. This was our last day in Winton before we start heading back towards the coast and home.

Outback Queensland road trip Day 14 Mystery WIFI in Winton

 

 

By the numbers

9.17kms walking

11,274 steps

1 museum

3 Mystery WIFI

 

I have found mystery WIFI in Winton, although there is several with a Telstra signal hitting Winton, but keeps dropping out so its somewhere close, but unsure the origin. There is one called Taipan that you can sign up for 2 hours for free or $4 for 24 hours and that is just as deadly as a snake. Then the one that is free, but called the Bush Telegraph or something similar that I think could be a council thing. It seems to connect automatically so could be lonely. They all happily appear in my list, but the ones with padlocks are not so friendly.

 

We had to checkout of the cabin in the caravan park and the bed was really nice and comfy except from my bed the mystery Telstra wifi is nowhere to be found. If I move to the table three steps away it picks up, but not if another device is connected. We are already packed by the time the park manager comes around and tells us to leave the key in the door when we leave, which we do. We consider where we are going to go and the answer is the Waltzing Matilda Place. It was about Banjo Patterson and his writing of Waltzing Matilda apparently while he was visiting a family in Winton. Before we went there I wanted to see the Winton sign just outside of town. I thought it best not to walk there as I know there are road trains in the area. The topic looks into the culture of the song as it spawns many versions of the song over the years for various reasons including for advertisement and is considered to be the unofficial national anthem. Also the whole culture behind the words as well with additional words that were taken out in other versions and their meaning within a multicultural society. The rest of the museum tells the history of Winton and I had read the reviews for the centre and people were upset over the local history as it doesn’t tell enough about Banjo.

 

Something no one has picked up on is that the centre was badly damaged by fire in 2015, which I didn’t realise had happened as there was a video in the theatre about the fire, so they would have lost quite a bit. I didn’t know there was a whole filming theme that went on in Winton with a few movies that had been made hence the film festival every June. One cowboy type movie was made by the singer Nick Cave. There is plenty of local history in the museum with many objects from vehicles that included an old bed that was made out of cow hide well before we had proper beds in some locations. There were several different types of iceboxes that were used to keep food fresh and many different types of electric shears for shearing sheep. I learnt that when people were in an iron lung they were in there for weeks so they were helped to breath when they had Polio. It was interesting browsing along with the many displays throughout the museum including a train carriage that was dedicated to those who served during World War 1. Once we ended up at the exit I found the reading room was mainly about the family history side of things.

 

By the time we had a bite to eat and a coffee, we headed over to our hotel in the pub and were able to get into our room. There was someone with a similar name and hope they don’t know who we are. The hotel has a lift and we got stuck part way up and had to hit the up button several times before the lift would go all the way up. We sorted everything out and I went for one of my wanders around town. I found Arno’s Wall as he was an eccentric artist who made a wall out of anything he could find from motorbikes to cash registers and sewing machines. It was interesting. I wandered to where the sunset Winton sign was and decided the one we took a pic of earlier in the day was better. I did find the Crack up Sisters, but that was not running today and I would miss the other shows as we are elsewhere. Nearby was the Willy Mar heritage site for an old Chinese vegetable and fruit market garden, where he was well known for selling produce to the locals. There was a father and son who later took Senior Willie Mar’s name so he was Junior. He ended up going out of business in 1954 I think it was due to either drought or flood.

 

I made my way back into the main street of town and had a look around. One of the hotels really was closed as it was shuttered. There were some street art works that I came across and various statues to do with Waltzing Matilda or the Swagman. I entered the  hotel we are staying at and knew that the Bush poet I had seen the day before was playing. I thought he was finished, but he wasn’t and I ended up getting a book. He signed both copies, which was nice of him. Then we faced the dreaded line to order out food and the line was long enough, but wait we did and the food ordered. I have to say the size of the meals are incredible especially when I cant pick up a plate one handed. After we had eaten, we went to try the artesian pool that was warm water from the artesian basin bought up by a bore. We had sorted out accommodation for our trip back home, so that’s at least something done as we now have the route. Tomorrow we visit the Age of the Dinosaurs that is nearby. It looks like it is on a pretty big site when looking at the map.