So we left Normanton on Wednesday and drove all day to Mt Isa. Was nearly 5pm when we got here. Had a bit of a stop and chat at the Burke & Wills Roadhouse, which is half way between Normanton and Cloncurry, to decide if we were going to go west from the roadhouse to Gregory Downs. There is not much there but somewhere near there is a very pretty spot that everyone raves about called Lawn Hill. From what we can gather it is the middle of nowhere with a couple of spectacular gorges.....hmmm does that sound familiar to any of my readers??? After a great deal of discussion and map reading and chatting to other travellers and the roadhouse staff we decided to give it a miss. Seen one spectacular gorge seen em all.........
So it was onward towards Cloncurry and then west to Mt Isa. We did not intend to go all the way yesterday but all the free camps along the road were packed out. So here we are, Mt Isa, mining town.
Himself got up early enough this morning to go on a tour of an underground mine, called the Hard Luck Mine.
This afternoon we took a drive around town and topped up the fuel and food supply and tomorrow we head for Camoweal, maybe even Barkly Homestead. Map is in the car so no idea of the mileage.
Thursday, July 28, 2011
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Tuesday...26 July 2011
Up early to catch our train ride. Had to be at the station by 8.30am. Then it was all aboard for a rattly ride down the line 16 miles. They say it is the only railway line in Australia that still measures the track in miles. Because it is not connected to the rest of Queensland Rail, it was not converted when Australia went metric!
.JPG)
So there we are rattling down the track looking at all manner of interesting stuff. The engine driver pointed out coolibah trees and some other trees that are an Australian native rubber tree. First time I have heard of it. We saw some lovely cows and wallabies, the local variety is called the Agile Wallaby but like the driver said some of them are not so agile when they cross the road!
And apparently there is a bird that is a crane but looks like a brolga, the difference being that the crane has more red on its head and neck and its legs are pink. So there you go, check out the legs on the birds.........
Along the way we crossed the mighty Normanton river before turning around and coming back to the station. The entire trip there and back was 32 mile or 48 kilometres and took two hours. Good way to use a morning.
This is a picture of a marker beside the track showing the heights of the water during the floods at various times up here. Guess this means the railway line is out of commission occasionally.
Monday, July 25, 2011
Monday...25 July 2011
Ok so we left Cloncurry and headed back towards Normanton but just our luck there was a Winnebago convention AND the local train called the Gulflander was having itself a 150yo birthday, so the bloody place was over run by train enthusiasts in their Winnebagos or as we like to call them, Win a bag of sh*t. End result, no room at any inn (caravan park) in the entire district. Now there are only two in Normanton and three up the road a bit in Karumba but those darn Winnebagos had the lot occupied! So we spent a night out in the never never back of Burke (literally) in a free camp on Saturday night and came into town on the Sunday, not a big deal, I mean who wants to voluntary share a town with wall to wall Winnebagos????. Our park of choice could fit us in and the site was in a prime position and lovely and big, but sadly we could not access the offered site, wrong turning angles etc. Darn shame really, we really liked that park and it is just over the road from the famous Purple Pub. Never mind the second park in town could fit us easily, just a shame the people running this one do not take lessons from the other ones. Lovely big sites, water and power and about as much soul as a lemon! Park owners have a motel at the front gate and take little or no interest in their park behind it. Sad really, it could be such a nice spot, they started well with a BIG BARRA at the front gate but thats it, no further money spent. We sit in a dirt site with a couple of stunted trees for company. The same trees have reticulation but sadly like most other things in this park it is not working. The trees rely on the kindness of the travelling public for an occasionally drink to keep them alive.
Today we went for a quick trip to Karumba to look around again and to see if maybe any of the three parks in that town had vacancies. Not likely, its right beside the ocean and is in a known fishing spot! We did catch up with people we shared the free camp with on Saturday night. Lovely folk. We walked around their caravan park but sadly there was only a couple of places we would have fitted in and they were all occupied.
Quick trip to the cheapest fuel in the gulf at the local fuel depot then onto Raptis which is this areas fresh fish supplier. Himself picked up a kilo of fresh prawns for $15 and a dozen oysters for $18, which I am told is good prices. Guess what he is having for dinner for the next few nights???? I will settle for a packet of Latina pasta!!!
Tomorrow we are taking the early ride on the famous Gulflander train to a place called Critters about an hour down the track, then they serve morning tea while the train turns around and we come back by lunchtime. Should be a pleasant little trip. Bit different for us. Longtime since Himself got on a train for any reason.......
Today we went for a quick trip to Karumba to look around again and to see if maybe any of the three parks in that town had vacancies. Not likely, its right beside the ocean and is in a known fishing spot! We did catch up with people we shared the free camp with on Saturday night. Lovely folk. We walked around their caravan park but sadly there was only a couple of places we would have fitted in and they were all occupied.
Quick trip to the cheapest fuel in the gulf at the local fuel depot then onto Raptis which is this areas fresh fish supplier. Himself picked up a kilo of fresh prawns for $15 and a dozen oysters for $18, which I am told is good prices. Guess what he is having for dinner for the next few nights???? I will settle for a packet of Latina pasta!!!
Tomorrow we are taking the early ride on the famous Gulflander train to a place called Critters about an hour down the track, then they serve morning tea while the train turns around and we come back by lunchtime. Should be a pleasant little trip. Bit different for us. Longtime since Himself got on a train for any reason.......
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Thursday...21 July 2011
Nice lazy get up late...ish!
Headed off to the ladies loo and ran into a lady we know from Condobolin. Very small world people.
When I got over the surprise we went out and saw the two big attractions that Cloncurry has to offer. First up was the Mary Kathleen memorial site. Mary Kathleen was Australias first uranium mine, it was situated 65kms west of Cloncury on the Mt Isa road, long since closed and merely a memory now, but they have some of the original town buildings here in Cloncurry in a memorial park. Very interesting.
From there we went to the John Flynn Museum. John Flynn wanted to put a 'mantle of safety' over the inland of Australia and from that small idea came the RFDS. The first ever RFDS flight was in a chartered Qantas plane out of Cloncurry. That was all a very long long time ago. The man was a visionary as well as a missionary for the A.I.M which stands for The Australian Inland Misson, a group formed by the Presbyterian Church. Today I saw a genuine pedal radio which is another one of Flynns ideas, creating a way that isolated familes could talk to each other and call for help when there was an emergency on their property.
The Rev. John Flynn was a very special person.
Headed off to the ladies loo and ran into a lady we know from Condobolin. Very small world people.
When I got over the surprise we went out and saw the two big attractions that Cloncurry has to offer. First up was the Mary Kathleen memorial site. Mary Kathleen was Australias first uranium mine, it was situated 65kms west of Cloncury on the Mt Isa road, long since closed and merely a memory now, but they have some of the original town buildings here in Cloncurry in a memorial park. Very interesting.
From there we went to the John Flynn Museum. John Flynn wanted to put a 'mantle of safety' over the inland of Australia and from that small idea came the RFDS. The first ever RFDS flight was in a chartered Qantas plane out of Cloncurry. That was all a very long long time ago. The man was a visionary as well as a missionary for the A.I.M which stands for The Australian Inland Misson, a group formed by the Presbyterian Church. Today I saw a genuine pedal radio which is another one of Flynns ideas, creating a way that isolated familes could talk to each other and call for help when there was an emergency on their property.
The Rev. John Flynn was a very special person.
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Wednesday...20 July 2011
Long haul today...350kms and believe me it is a seriously long drive when your back is having a less than happy day!
We have gone from Winton, the birthplace of Waltzing Matilda and home of the biggest dinosaurs yet found in Australia to Cloncurry, birthplace of the RFDS.
This country is steeped in history. These people were serious pioneers people. I am here and there is nothing for blooming miles. Why did they even come this far inland???? What motivated them? Life is one long series of questions when you travel this great land of ours.
We have gone from Winton, the birthplace of Waltzing Matilda and home of the biggest dinosaurs yet found in Australia to Cloncurry, birthplace of the RFDS.
This country is steeped in history. These people were serious pioneers people. I am here and there is nothing for blooming miles. Why did they even come this far inland???? What motivated them? Life is one long series of questions when you travel this great land of ours.
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Tuesday...19 July 2011
Another big day. We started by going to see the Musical Fence which was designed by a percussionist. It is a wire fence that can be played as a musical intrument. We then took a look at the Winton Truck museum. Himself did enjoy that.
After lunch we went down the main street and checked out the Corfield & Fitzmaurice Building, which is about the oldest one in town and has a display of opal and dinosaur artifacts. Then it was on to the local open air picture theatre and of course its projection equipment, then to the Gregory Hotel which is where Waltzing Matilda was first performed for a quick drink and then we went to see Arno's Wall. No idea who Arno is but he has built himself a wall that is over 70 metres long and is studded with old machinery from businesses in Winton and even includes a couple of complete motorbikes!
Moving day tomorrow.......
Monday, July 18, 2011
Monday...18 July 2011
Happy birthday Cindy.
Another big day for us. Up super early to drive 110km down the road to the site of a dinosaur stampede. It is the only place in the world that they have been able to record and preserve the evidence of such a stampede. So there we were, the guide did his thing and then, wow, they let you into the building and you can stand just above but right next to the clearly visible marks in the rock of a dinosaurs footprints. The story goes that two different species that were happy to co-exist were drinking at a waterhole when a meat eating larger dinosaur happened upon them and tried to catch himself a meal of one or more of the smaller dinosaurs. They flocked together then stampeded directly past the bigger one in their rush to get away. There in the rock is the clear tracks and evidence of the event. 95 million years old and we got to see it. Awesome. The other thing I am finding hard to come to grips with is the information that most of Australia was one big rain forest, all green and wet. We are in arid land now and it is hard to do the jump to accept this same area was once a lush green forest with constantly falling rain. And the people talk about global warming, its been happening now for 95 million years!!!!!
Another big day for us. Up super early to drive 110km down the road to the site of a dinosaur stampede. It is the only place in the world that they have been able to record and preserve the evidence of such a stampede. So there we were, the guide did his thing and then, wow, they let you into the building and you can stand just above but right next to the clearly visible marks in the rock of a dinosaurs footprints. The story goes that two different species that were happy to co-exist were drinking at a waterhole when a meat eating larger dinosaur happened upon them and tried to catch himself a meal of one or more of the smaller dinosaurs. They flocked together then stampeded directly past the bigger one in their rush to get away. There in the rock is the clear tracks and evidence of the event. 95 million years old and we got to see it. Awesome. The other thing I am finding hard to come to grips with is the information that most of Australia was one big rain forest, all green and wet. We are in arid land now and it is hard to do the jump to accept this same area was once a lush green forest with constantly falling rain. And the people talk about global warming, its been happening now for 95 million years!!!!!
When we got back into town we went to the Matilda Centre.
Apparently both Banjo Patterson and Henry Lawson came to this area at some stage in their lives. The entire area is mentioned again and again in their various works.
Back to Banjo. He wrote Waltzing Matilda on a property just out of Winton and the first recorded performance of it was at a hotel here in Winton. The hotel still operates, we thought we would drop in for a beer while we are here but so far we have not made it in there. Maybe tomorrow!
The Matilda Centre is a fascinating place, part memorial to the song, part museum of the Winton area. The place is full of information on the song, from its first outing to all the various versions that have been released by all sorts of groups and bands world wide. Did you know that Winston Churchill sang the song to Charles de Gaulle in the presence of Robert Menzies????? How wierd is that? The English PM singing to the President of France in the company of the Prime Minister of Australia. In the museum part is all sorts of extemely old stuff recording the history of Winton, fascinating stuff.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)