LONGREACH - WINTON - CLONCURRY

 

WINTON
Winton is known as the ‘Dinosaur Capital of Australia’ and just out of town we went to the Dinosaur Discovery Park which has guided tours and where the multitude of local fossils go to be cleaned up and reassembled. Winton’s other claim to fame is that Banjo Patterson wrote Waltzing Matilda on a property nearby.

We did a short but interesting walk to the first section of The Discovery Park, where an extremely enthusiastic young guide explained how the local fossils are processed.

This man is one of the many volunteers who spend time here, meticulously removing mud from fossils with fine dentist drills and picks. A lot of people come year after year to do this work and are an invaluable asset to the centre. Fossils have been pieced together and holograms created to show the size and movement of dinosaurs which existed here 200 million years ago. There are two partially reconstructed dinosaurs... Banjo and Matilda. See what a special name you have Tilda!

There are footprints in stone not far away which are evidence of a dinosaur stampede.

Our campsite for the night after our visit to the Dinosaur Discovery Centre.

The beautifully crafted kettle in the foreground came from the old house in Cobbity (NSW) where my brother Peter and wife Carla lived for a while when they were first married. It was on the old fuel stove when a wall was removed. I love it's classic beauty and wonder about the many hands that have grasped its handle and appreciated its perfect proportions and balance.

Another iconic image!!

How exquisite are these gum trees

WINTON was a welcoming little town with a lot of travellers about. The campground was treed and shady and our neighbour in the paddock behind greeted us each morning with a soft whinney. He knew we were a soft touch and had apples to share.

We arrived for the opening night of the inaugural Vision Splendid Outback Film Festival which was running for ten days. The films were shown in the open-air, deck chair theatre.The opening night had a 'welcome to country' from the traditional owners and an interview with Slim Dusty's wife, Joy McKean...who attended with her daughter Anne Kirkpatrick. She talked about her life on the road, travelling around Australia with Slim and their entourage and introduced the opening night film which was 'The Slim Dusty Movie'. We chatted with her after the film at the reception hosted by the beautifully restored Royal Hotel.

Chatting to Joy McKean at the opening night.

The old projector played 35mm film!

On the second night we saw ' The Proposition', a bloodthirsty and gory tale. All the movies were Australian, many filmed locally.

This park runs along a stone wall which is the boundary to Arno's house. In the wall Arno has assembled an astonishing variety of 'junk', including a kitchen sink, a Holden engine, his suggestion for a new Australian flag, and myriad other objects. The park was a shady oasis with flowering plants and a pleasant place from which to view the results of Arno's passion.

After leaving Winton we travelled through the driest country we have ever seen. The land so parched and poor. Even the beautiful Brahman cattle, with their soft, floppy ears looked miserable as they stood in a row with their tails to the cold wind.

The beer delivery.

The road was fenced all the way so there was no camping under the trees. We ended up in a huge lay-by with at least 15 vans where there were toilets. One passing truckie commented on the CB radio... " jeez.. they're ***#x.x#**#^<x.. everywhere!"

The landscape changed to longer grasses and trees along dry creek banks, red soil and ant hills. The sunset last night painted the eastern sky in the softest pinks, greys and mauves while the western horizon was dark against a vivid, deep red-orange sky. Stunning!

We stopped in CLONCURRY for fuel and did some shopping. The local gallery has some wonderful drawings and paintings of local scenes. The cemetery has some Afghani graves and although we all searched, we couldn't locate the grave of noted Dame Mary Gilmore.

About 4kms out of town we lunched at Chinaman's Creek Dam Reserve and rested our eyes on some cool water. Everywhere we look the land is so parched and the earth crunches underfoot.

A bit further on the landscape changed and suddenly there were trees. The road had an overtaking lane to allow overtaking on hills as we drove up and down rather than in a straight, flat line.

We stayed the night at a rest stop and chatted around the fire to a number of other travellers, including a family with two young children travelling for a year. Mum was doing distance education with them and they were having a ball.