There'll be shade!

There'll be a picnic shelter with shade was the catch-cry as we left Winton.  

In reality, there was a lot of open country and very little sign of civilisation or shade for the first 80km of the trip - until we pulled into a small park at Corfield. 

Here's some info about the tiny town. 

Once again we lunched on corned beef sandwiches (made with bread from Winton).  We used the loos, left a donation for the Flying Doctor and then got back on the road again - keen to reach Hughenden and start catching up with Di!

Day 5 = 216 kilometres

Fly level - moderate!

The first of our dinosaur tours was booked for 9:00am, so we made sure to be on-site by around 8:30am to allow for check-in etc.  

Another couple from our caravan park were there and put their dog into one of the public kennels before joining the group.  That dog seemed to cope well with the experience, whereas we're sure Bandit would not have waited quietly had he been with us.

The dinosaur lab tour was interesting, particularly seeing the plaster parcels stacked in storage, awaiting processing.

There was a collection room presentation next and then a short shuttle bus ride to the Dinosaur Canyon. The landscape/outlook around this area was quite beautiful and definitely my favourite part of our three-hour visit.

At the end of our tour, we returned to Elmer and drove back into Winton where we did a couple of quick missions before heading out of town, toward Hughenden. 

One of the guides mentioned three emu families that roamed the site.  We saw those three dads with their offspring on the way back out to the main road!

Winton ...

Our phones were way out of range at Winton.  There were some online tasks requiring attention, so we decided on a pub dinner that night, a very easy option - with wifi!  

Willie Mar's garden site is quite close to Tattersalls Hotel.  We had a bit of a wander about, though couldn't enter the buildings.  

Since returning home I've read more about Willie and watched a YouTube clip where people of Winton shared their memories of him.

We sat outside the pub, enjoying drinks and some social media. (Nick/Nik had a song being released the next day, so did some promotion for that).

Our meals were delivered more quickly than we expected, so we ate one-handed while shooing flies with the other hand!  Typically the flies flew off just after sunset (when we'd finished eating) - something we'd noticed out at Innamincka on a previous trip, though there were many more to deal with back then.  I refer to billions in this post!

Day 4 = 288 kilometres

Winning at Winton!

Did you notice there was no mention of getting fuel at Longreach on my previous post?  Yep.  We forget to call in at a servo before leaving town - which became obvious later along the road.  We had half a tank to get to Winton, so Nick drove in extra conservative style.  

Elmer is a thirsty truck generally and even more so when he is towing.  

I was assured half a tank would be sufficient and there was 50km of fuel in the reserve tank.  Seemingly the red warning light started flickering 60km out of Winton and remained on just before we passed the 50km marker, so we both felt hugely relieved when we saw the Caltex just on the edge of town!  Phew!

According to the pump display, there were just eight litres remaining when we pulled in to re-fuel.  We paid for the petrol and two recovery ice-creams!

We'd gone to Winton particularly to see the Age of Dinosaurs, so drove back out of town to that site.  On speaking with the guides though, we booked our tours for the next day (when it would be cooler).  

We drove back into town, called in at the very flash tourist information building, found a caravan park - and then looked at some of the local points of interest. I had a play on the drums at the Musical Fence but Nick is a drummer, so gave a much better performance!  (I took some footage of the fence but the wind noise interfered with the sound).  We both really liked Arno's Wall - there so much stuff displayed, it was just amazing!

Multi-grip on reality!

We woke extra early at Barcaldine, due to the heat of the rising sun hitting one wall of the canvas.  (Our focus the previous afternoon had been setting up in a shade, without thinking of 

morning sunshine).  

It was good we had an early start, Nick discovered a broken trailer latch during pack-up.  It had been dodgy for a while but we thought the box wasn't quite square, not that the latch was failing.  Nick removed the now useless latch and secured that area of the storage box with a pair of multi-grips, so we could travel.  

It was 110km to Longreach (self-titled capital of the Outback).  We found a park opposite Longreach Motors and called in there after spotting the ARB signage.  A nice young guy inspected the broken latch and directed us else-where to source a replacement.  We were unfamiliar with the town, so didn't  understand what he was saying (even after asking him to repeat the name). I diplomatically asked him to enter the address in my phone and we followed the GPS instructions to CentWest Engineering & Steel Supplies.  The salesman there was very impressed with the multigrips hanging on so well!

We bought two latches and then drove further into town (in the hope of finding a shady parking spot), for Nick to fit the new part.  I used the CWA restroom and had a little walk around that area of the town. We don't usually travel with much cash particularly in these COVID times, so I left a small donation in the CWA box - and will try to accumulate more coins for various donations next time we are on tour.

Funny sight - when I returned from my walk, I saw a lady taking a photo of Elmer Fudd while Nick was working on the trailer.  I greeted her and we chatted for a little bit before her husband drove up, keen for her to get in their car!

Barcaldine knowledge ...

It was later in the afternoon when we got to Barcaldine.  We selected a site and then went for a wander around the town.  Although I traveled through Queensland as a child, I couldn't remember visiting previously - and it was new for Nick.  

I wasn't keen on the look of the huge wooden structure in town but liked it better when standing underneath, viewing the remains of The Tree of Knowledge.  

The Tree was poisoned in 2006, which caused all kinds of uproar. A direct descendant of the Tree, named The Young Un, is located in the nearby Australian Workers Heritage Centre.  

We stood at back fence and caught a glimpse of that tree and might make a point of visiting during opening hours on another occasion.  In any case, we enjoyed our stroll around the town - admiring the library mural and reading of the many pub fires, then dining back at our site.  Nick tested his new guitar chair and it was very pleasant being serenaded under the stars.

Day 3 = 448 kilometres

Rolling out of Rolleston

You can see the caravan park cat sunning itself on a chair outside the camp kitchen (top left pic).  I reckon he/she may have needed a catch-up kip after the local roosters announced the start of a new day - at 3:30am!

Early start aside, we liked our overnight stop.  There were broad-leafed bottle trees around the park, some babies and a huge one next to the amenities block.  (Our new towels had their first use that morning).

We re-fueled before leaving town (and also bought some bug cleaner additive for the windscreen washer reservoir, from the agricultural supply store across from the servo).

There were a couple of geocaches found along the way to Emerald, where we did a bit of grocery shopping.  We got some extras from BCF  - camping mats cos the few we brought with had been old and deteriorating (leaving green plastic dust on us and our bedding) and an armless camping chair for Nick, so he could comfortably play guitar of an evening.  I also bought some thongs, a dustpan set, tongs and a serving spoon from The Reject Shop. Yep, we hadn't been away for a while!

We re-fueled before leaving the "major regional service centre" of Emerald.  It was about an hour's drive to Bogantungan, where we stopped for lunch.  I needed the loo and loved the little one located beside the railway station building - with liquid soap zip-tied to the railway gate, next to an outside tap!  I posted a gold coin donation through the museum door after lunch. (Home-cooked corned beef on fresh bread rolls)!

Bogantungan was the site of Queenland's largest train crash in 1960.  You can read some of that story, here.  The article mentions a blog and I've read a bit more about the accident by following that link.  

Lonesome Lookout

We'd stopped in the township of Injune to use the public toilets and pick up some tourist info. 

When starting to plan our break we had wanted to spend a week at Carnavon Gorge but there were no sites available - which prompted our Wing-it alternative.

We drove through some lovely country before and after the turn-off to the Gorge and will definitely visit on another occasion, to do many of the walks.  The lady at the tourist information office had spoken of Lonesome Lookout though and we turned off the main road to see that. It really was as awesome as the brochure description - wow!

Given our relaxed pace, we didn't travel as far as we had the previous day.  We rolled into Rolleston in the late afternoon, pleased to set up camp at the local caravan park.  (Nick found a large gecko in the power box when connecting the extension cord, and our neighbours had two little frogs in theirs)!

Day 2 = 265 kilometres

Pick Nick stop?!

We still didn't have a plan, so driving out of Roma was in a West-ish direction - with prickly pear appreciation along the way.  Yes, I know it's a pest species and has caused huge issues throughout history but I was interested to see yellow as well as red flowers, so we pulled over for a close look.

Please take note of beaming woman in new hat, proudly displaying her "half a road train sign" cos that find plays a crucial part in the adventure further down the track!

Even driving at our moderate pace, we overshot the turn-off to the Old Injune Coal Mine.  There had been a small sign quite close to the turn, which meant little advance warning of the heritage site.  

In any case, Nick turned around and we decided to take advantage of the shaded shelters for our picnic lunch.  What was for lunch?  Corned beef sandwiches!  (We actually had corned beef sandwiches for lunch all but the first and last days of our trip).

It was a very interesting spot.  I read one side of the billboard while seated and then read the other side after lunch. We spent some time wandering around the site, matching up what we could see with a couple of historical photos on the board.  

Can you see the pick heads used as supports in the apex of the picnic shelter roof?  Pretty neat, eh?!

Ace Roma-ing!

We woke early, which set the pattern for our time away.  Brightening sky is obvious through the canvas and we are very aware of bird noise also - which is a pleasant way to start the day.  

As we sat with our morning cuppas we saw that a crested pigeon was sitting on a nest in the bottle tree beside us.  That was a nice surprise cos of all the birds we had heard during the night and earlier hours, our closest neighbour wasn't one of them!

There wasn't enough milk for cereal, so we packed up to drive into town - driving to the Largest Bottle Tree first.  (We'd visited in 2018 as part of my birthday bottle tree trip).

Next stop was a return visit to Ace Drapers.  It became obvious that morning that we hadn't packed bath towels.  We could have continued to improvise but really I liked the thought of having another chance to marvel over all the stock available in what the locals refer to as the "overflow" store!

We found bath towels and a hat for me, before picking up milk and other basics (at a grocery shop around the corner).  

I was well and truly ready for my belated breakfast by then, so ate my sultana bran under a bottle tree in a little grassed area beside our parking spot.  Once we'd rinsed the dishes and stowed all the provisions, it was time to head out of town and continue our travels.

Wing-it wanderings!

Some of our trips are particularly well thought out, with various preparation and forethought.  Not this one! There's been a lot happening behind the scenes lately, so neither of us felt motivated for packing/organising. 

When Plan A failed (due to lack of site availability), we decided to "wing it".  

Some family members weren't convinced Nick would cope with such a laissez faire approach!

We took one Engel with us, running as a fridge, with a few frozen meals stacked on the bottom.  You might be able to spot an esky in the back of Elmer.  We had a few frozen bits in there, to defrost en route (for a planned cheese platter on our first night).

I was up very early to do the last of the packing.  I also put a large piece of corned beef in the thermal cooker, to cook as we traveled.  

Our Gladstone bags and my beauty case sat on the back seat.  Nick's guitar tucked in there also.  (We fine-tuned the arrangement while "on tour"). 

On departure day we exited the driveway before 9:00am - and started heading is a West-ish direction.

I knew the corned beef wouldn't be ready by lunchtime, so we bought very nice hamburgers at Dalby and ate them in a little park just up the road.  There was a big storm after that, which made for some short-lived excitement and we were glad when we passed out of it's range.  

We reached Roma in the late afternoon and set up camp at the Roma Gun Club, next to a bottle tree.  The bar opens for a couple of hours each afternoon and we sat on the verandah enjoying our bargain drinks before returning to the camper trailer.

Our camping chairs have arms, which aren't great for guitar playing but Nick found a stool in the back of Elmer and used that for a few songs.  Later in the evening we enjoyed our cheese platter dinner under the stars. A great start to the adventure!

Day 1 = 455 kilometres.