WOODGATE BEACH TO ROCKHAMPTON, LONGREACH AND WINTON

 

WOODGATE BEACH TO ROCKHAMPTON, LONGREACH AND WINTON

TUESDAY 27TH MAY   -   We were very sad to be leaving Woodgate Beach as we so loved the place.  It was time to move on once more.  We set off to meet our friends in Rockhampton 360 kilometres further north on The Capricorn Coast.   We stayed at Parkhurst Tourist Park 15 minutes drive from Rockhampton. It was a small caravan park set back from the main road and was $25 per night.  There were a lot of permanent residents there.  Our friends Rob and Ros and Molly their dog have been there since February.  We last saw them in January in their beautiful home in The Barossa Valley.  We spent three fun filled days with them and really enjoyed catching up once more.

Rockhampton is the beef capital of Australia, with a population of 39,200 people.  There were 6 life-size bull statues throughout the town, representing the main breeds of the area. We visited Kershaw Park which was beautifully set out with 2 stunning waterfalls. 

 

FRIDAY 30TH MAY   -   We left Rockhampton to start the 3,000 kilometre trip to Darwin.  

A bit of trivia - it was 3 years ago today that we sold our house in East Hills.

We travelled for 377 kilometres through Queensland’s Central Highlands through Blackwater and Emerald.  We stopped for lunch in The Botanic Gardens in Emerald and visited the 25 metre high Van Gogh “Sunflower” painting on a huge easel in Morton Park.  It was the main feature of the town.   Emerald was once a major sunflower producer and was a large, modern country town.  Next we passed through the beautiful Drummond Ranges, Chocolate Hills Road, Too Good Creek, Dingo and Bluff and on through the Capricorn Highway to the tiny spot of Bogantungan, where we stayed in the rest area beside the railway line to Longreach for the night.

 

A rail disaster happened in nearby Medway Creek in February 1960. During a bad storm, part of the bridge was knocked out.  2 children and 7 adults drowned that night and 43 people were injured.  Men from Bogantungan were first on the scene.

There were 5 other vans parked up for the night.  It was a gold coin donation payable in the railway museum.  

SATURDAY 31ST MAY   -   We set off from Bogantungan and passed through Alpha and Jerico.

A BUS SHELTER IN JERICO

 

We stopped in the interesting town Barcaldine for lunch. It featured in the Great Shearer’s Strike in 1891.  The Tree of Knowledge, a large Ghost Gum, was a spectacular feature in the town.  It grew outside the railway station for over 180 years, until it was poisoned in 2006, and was a place of inspiration for the striking shearers.  It has held a special place in the history of Australia and received the highest possible heritage honour in the National Heritage List in January 2006.

FOUR PUBS SIDE BY SIDE IN BACALDINE

 

Barcaldine is home to the first free flowing bore in Queensland sunk in Back Creek in 1896.  Artesian water is the life blood of the Outback and is referred to as liquid gold.  The water is naturally filtered and is some of the purest water in the state.  

After lunch we drove on to Longreach which was 324 kilomotres from Bogantungan, and visited the Qantas Founders Museum which was fascinating and had very interesting exhibits and documentaries showing the history between the founders Hudson Fysh and Paul McGinness.   The museum is home to the World’s only Bristol Fighter simulator, the aircraft both McGinness and Fysh flew together during WW1.

OUR VAN PARKED CLOSE TO A JET ON THE RUNWAY

 

RICHARD IN A FLIGHT SIMULATOR

 

A MODEL T FORD SIMILAR TO ONE USED BY MCGINNISS AND FYSH

 

 

It all began in March 1919 when the two Gallipoli veterans heard of a $20,000 prize for the first Australian to fly from England to Australia in 30 days.  Their sponsor died before the race and the executors of his estate didn’t support the race. 

Instead McGinness and Fysh accepted an assignment from the Department of Defence to survey the air race route from Longreach to Katherine.  They completed the gruelling route in a Model T Ford.  This journey strengthened their belief that an air service was the only way to link remote outback settlements. 

In November 1922, they won the contract to operate the first scheduled airmail service from Charleville to Cloncurry.  Qantas as we know it today, developed from that first contract  - an amazing story.

 

We stayed at Apex Riverside Park a free camp about 7 minutes out of town.  It was jam packed with vans when we got there at 4pm and we were lucky to find a spot to park for the night.

SUNDAY 1ST JUNE   -   We left Apex Park and headed to Winton.  We were keen to visit the “Musical Fence” on the outskirts of town. It was an odd collection of plastic barrels, pot lids and all sorts of metal objects put together in an auditorium with a wire fence attached to wooden sounding boards.  There was a bucket of cut down hosepipes and metal strips to bang and clang on all the “instruments” to your heart’s content.  There was also a make-shift drum kit.  It was really good fun and luckily wasn’t near to anything or anyone that could be offended by the “din”.  It originated on 20^th July 2003 with visiting artists gathering in Winton to perform a truly unique composition – the world premiere of “The Musical Fence”.  It was designed by percussionist and composer Graeme Leak and is the first permanent musical fence to be installed in the World.

Then we went to visit “Arno’s Wall” in Arnos Park.  The wall is 2 metres high and 70 metres long.   It was made from concrete and rock from Arnos Opal Mine in Opalton and is filled with an odd collection of old lawnmower parts, boat propellers, old machinery, vintage typewriters , motorbikes and other scrap items.  It was quite bizarre.

 

Winton is famous for dinosaurs and the dinosaur stampede.  At Lark Quarry Conservation Park, there were 3,300 footprints preserved in stone, marking the only known dinosaur stampede on the planet.

QUIRKY DINOSAUR GARBAGE BINS IN WINTON HIGH STREET

 

We visited The North Gregory Hotel which was the location of the first live performance of Banjo Patterson’s Waltzing Matilda in 1895.  Caravans can park at the back of the hotel for $10 a night.

 

Winton was an interesting place.  It was really dry, hot and dusty and   full of caravans driving up and down and parking in the main street. 

We passed through Kynuna and onto McKinlay where we stopped at “The Walkabout Creek Hotel” made famous by the movie Crocodile Dundee.  It was sold for $290,000 shortly after the movie.  The new owners have retained the rustic atmosphere.

 

After a long drive of 465 kilometres, we reached our overnight stop.  On the way to Fullarton River Rest Area, we almost hit a kangaroo.  Richard had to slow down as much as he could when we saw one dart across the road, and narrowly missed another following closely behind.  It was quite upsetting seeing how much road kill there was on the roads from Bogantungan through to our overnight stop – much more than we’ve ever seen before - lots of wild pigs, cattle and kangaroos.  I suppose it’s no wonder with the volume of huge road trains hurtling past day and night.

We also noticed lots of Greyhound buses in both directions travelling from Cairns to Brisbane.

Next Week:  We will be continuing our journey to Darwin via Mt. Isa and Tennant Creek.   Stay tuned to see how far we get.