Week 3 - Winton - Boulia - Mt Isa

Winton Qld

The Andrew Barton 'Banjo' Patterson monument - writer of  Waltzing Matilda.

Arno's Wall, now a quirky tourist atttaction by 'Arno' who liked 
to cement interesting items in his wall (mower, motorbike, tv).

Like many outback towns, Winton's streets are wide and its main street 
is divided. Cycling in outback towns is easy with very little traffic about.

Winton's Age of Dinosaurs museum, many volunteers have worked on these bones of a dinosaur they've named Matilda. It's taken a long time to get these bones to this stage.

Action at Winton's Saleyards

Bougainvilleas are plentiful in Winton Westward bound on the Min Min Bwy to....

 Boulia

Slow moving cattle are the only hazzards to contend with on this narrow road. 

Middleton - "What? That's a place here in this deserted part of the country?"

Yes along the Min Min Byway from Winton to Boulia, a distance of 371kms is -
The Hilton Hotel! Like to stay awhile?
Sign says - Vacancy, Airconditioned, No TV, No Phone, No Charge!

Directly opposite the Hilton is the Middleton Hotel and the Cobb & Co Coach. In the early 1900s this stop was one of 9 changing stations for coaches along the 371km distance from Winton to Boulia. Now this roadhouse is the only stop along the road.

Boulia

The Burke River bridge crossing in Boulia - tradition has it that Burke and Wills filled their water bottles here. The river's named after Burke and a creek is named after Wills.

In Boulia (the town of the Min Min lights) this sign reads - 'west of Boulia is the vast Simpson Desert, travellers are advised to carry ample food, water and fuel.'
The Min Min Museum  is brilliant and well worth a visit.

Boulia's murals on the water tanks. We continue further north towards Mt Isa!

 On this stretch we needed to get off the road completely each time road trains passed. Luckily it wasn't a busy day - only six passed! Sign along the road - 'Overtaking Opportunity 45kms ahead!'  You wouldn't want to be in a hurry!

But the scenery was often beautiful and varied.

Mt Isa

Sign on Mt Isa lookout - almost halfway between Melbourne and the Equator.

Mt Isa Mine by day from the Lookout and below... after sunset.

Mt Isa's Underground Hospital was built in 1942 as the area was considered a possible target during the war when Darwin was bombed. Fortunately it was never needed but it is a great museum now and enjoyed by many tourists.

Also at the hospital museum, the dummy in bed looks a bit crook but the patient in 

the dentist chair either died from fright or had to wait too long!

At Mt Isa's Lake Moondarra picnic ground the peacocks greet visitors.

Keep watching for our next travel blog update!

Week 2 - Bourke NSW to Longreach QLD

        Middle of Nowhere!!

We continue our journey up the Kidman Way and came to our first toilet stop
for the day????? Oh no perhaps not!

Outback Loo!! This greeted us at the Bushtucker Inn rest stop just before the NSW-QLD border crossing at Barringon. Looks like the only thing at Barringon is the Bushtucker Inn and this rest area with the air-conditioned LOO!! Dare to go??

                                                                          

Bushtucker Inn Rest stop - peak hour? That Outback Loo is just behind our van?

                                        

      This Emu did come to greet us!

Just a few metres up the road at the NSW-QLD Border and you can check out the distances yourself. From here - it's another 1799kms before we get to Karumba.

Nardoo Station

                                           

At the Nardoo Station camp we were suddently surprized by the cattle mustering. That's us between our vans. The thundering noise of cattle being
herded thro the paddock by motor bikes and dogs was great.

And there's plenty of dust!! But that's to be expected as it's a working property where campers are welcome and it provides the station with an extra income.

Our group at the Hot Artesian Tub at Nardoo Station
from L-R Keith, Maria, Gerry, Kath, Marg, Ray, Barb & Richard.

Our night at Nardoo ended with songs by the campfire.

Charleville Qld

While at Charleville we got to ride on the Birdsville Road.  We could pretend

we'd cycled from Birdsville (only 838kms away) but you wouldn't believe us!

But that's us on our bikes.

A very interesting morning at the Charleville Weather Station where the weather balloon

is released automatically each morning precisely at 9.15am. Me holding sample balloon.

This devise is attached to the balloon with a message for the finder. It transmits meteorological data by radio signal to the Bureau of Meteorology. It takes about 4 hrs
to reach a height of 35kms growing larger as it rises until it eventually bursts.  

From Charleville we travelled thro' Tambo to Blackall.

Tambo

 

This monument at Tambo tells a sad story. A wonderful human being giving up his life

to help others and losing his life at such a young age - 34yrs.

   

      Boab Tree in Tambo.

Also in Tambo, this sign at Fanny's Rest Stop shopfront!!

Get Gas when you eat their food do you?? Gerry couldn't resist this shot!

Blackall

This monument in Blackall is dedicated to Jack Howe who in 1892 set an almost

unbelievable record of shearing 321 sheep with blade shears in one day.

Blackall's riverside camping $5 per night to council.

Next stop.... Barcaldine.

  

The artwork on the Inn in Barcaldine was impressive.

This Egret enjoying the Wetlands in Barcaldine I saw on a ride
around the area. Some spots you can only get to by foot or bike.

 Longreach

   At the caravan park in Longreach the Brolgas came to visit.

I can just imagine the wagons rolling up in front for supplies.

 

A visit to the Qantas museum in Longreach was also very interesting. The 747 is sure is a big machine especially when viewing it from underneath. The engine below looks much smaller from a distance. To replace just one of these today will cost in the vicinity of $5M.

And to think it's only held to the aircraft by 4 bolts!!! Just the thought of it! Oh well at least it held my weight. That's it for this chapter and tomorrow 23rd May we leave for Winton.

Week 1 - Travel from home to Bourke.

We left home on May 9th and headed for Shepparton where Gerry and Mike had

a small job to do before we could join our travelling party in Jerilderie NSW where

we arrived in the evening of May 10th. The following brisk morning we  took off

on our Oz trip along the 800 km stretch of the Kidman Way. 

 

Rest Stop near Cobar in NSW

Here's our caravan convoy at a rest stops in southern NSW. Our convoy at this
stage consists of Keith & Kath Smith (tail -end), Richard & Marg Gidman, us and
Ray & Barb McDonald (tour leaders).

Cobar

                           In the town of Cobar the Great Western Hotel has the

longest iron lace verandah in the state.

Cobar's Catholic Church

The Cobar (meaning copper) Mining Monument

We stayed at the Cobar Caravan Park which was very pleasant with spacious sites and
great facilities. Because of the good rains the area has had, the sites were very grassy.

Bourke

Sign in town - 'Bourke Gateway to the Real Outback'

The restored Jandra Paddlesteamer cruises on the Darling River at Bourke and with
the 14 metre high floods here earlier this year, the photo below shows the water mark
high up on the branches.

We were already on the top deck of the Jandra when we took this photo so that will give

you some idea of the height the floodwater reached. The whole area was in flood for months.

Beautiful cotton fields of Bourke.

The most well known name in the Bourke area would be that of Fred Hollows and in
the Bourke Cemetery is his grave. There is a tall monument as well as this large rock with his name engraved in it. It's very earthy and probably the way he would have wanted people to be remembered. Fred worked tirelessly throughout his life to improve the health and and wellbeing of indigenous Australians as well as restoring sight of the poor overseas.
He wanted to end avoidable blindness. Restore sight for just $25 and help Fred's dream live on.....  http://www.hollows.org.au/

Also in the Bourke Cemetery - a musician's grave?

The Bourke/Northy Bridge over the Darling River is a wonderful heritage piece but difficult to cycle over as our wheels kept getting stuck in the gaps. Oh well a walk never hurt anyone!

Black Cockatoo in this magnificent tree on the banks of the Darling.

Kidmans Camp just north of Bourke. Spacious sites with great ammenities and a delicious dinner around the campfire while we were entertained by a Bush Poet. At this camp we were surpized to meet up with our friend Faye from Easter camping at Baringhup in Vic.

Fitzgerald Post Office Hotel from 1888 in Bourke.

As we leave Bourke we are reminded of this!

Till next episode!