It turns out that there was a lookout right behind my motel in Mt Isa, so up I went. It had a painted silo there, but this was the view that dominated. I have to say that I’m not particularly drawn to Mt Isa and I was eager to get on the road and see what else there was to see.
I was listening to a ‘Casefile’ episode about the death of a young boy called Aaron Bacon who was sent to a wilderness training camp in terrain probably very similar to what I was travelling through. The poor boy. It made it all very vivid as I was looking at the dust and dirt.
The place looks as dry as a chip. Despite what friends online were telling me about flooding further down, there was no evidence of it here.
There was a memorial marker alongside the highway for Burke and Wills. I’ve always had a soft spot for these guys, ever since I read a book about their failed expedition when I was a child. They passed through here on their way up towards the Queensland coast.
Have a quick read of this link about the Burke and Wills expedition. It’s so sad – the bad luck that they had was beyond anything.
When I was with the Ligas at the second salt lake, I learned from the information board that the Dig Tree is still there.
omg.
(Maybe there’ll be another road trip one day…?)
Almost right next to the Burle and Wills memorial was this. Bad luck keeps happening, it seems.
A bit further down the road, there was a sign towards “Chinaman’s Creek Dam.” You know the rules… I turned the wheel.
It was a beautiful spot. There was a Barbeque area and playground that was filled with locals gathering for a kid’s birthday. People were using the barbie to cook snags and the smell was fantastic.
I sat there for a while, with my Antarctica Pee bottle filled with water, munching some chicken crimpy shapes. I was enjoying the view. It was nice to be in a beautiful place that others were using too.
This was sticking up by the side of the road and I liked the look of it. I snapped this without getting out of the car.
I wanted to show you what most of the creeks look like here, so I stopped the car at the bridge over Scrubby Creek and walked back to take the photo.
This country is DRY.
Cicadas were singing – and it was the middle of the day. In Melbourne, I’m only used to hearing them at dusk. The heat was beating down.
It’s a part of the country that I’m glad I’m seeing, but I wouldn’t want to live here. I don’t know how the early settlers, especially the women with those long skirts and petticoats, managed to survive with no airconditioning.
When you see lots of hawks, it means there’s fresh meat on the road. On some stretches, there were lots of dead kandaroos.
It was nearing midday and I was thinking that I’d better find somewhere to grab some lunch.
Yes, I’m not kidding. They shot the opening sequences of ‘Crocodile Dundee’ at this very pub.
And they’ve been milking it ever since.
I bought a ginger beer and a magnet in deference to the sign. They didn’t offer anything to eat, but I stayed for about half an hour, talking to the woman behind the bar and a couple of other tourists.
It fulfilled the extrovert inside this introvert. I’ll be good without human contact for days now!
The original bar in the movie was blue, and they’ve kept it around the back. She was most insistent that I go and see it, so I did.
He looks like he’s had too much whiskey, doesn’t he?
Then it was back on the road again, in search of lunch.
Little did I guess what was going to happen at the roadhouse I stopped at!
OMG – these brolgas are so BIG! They walked so close to me, without a care in the world. I was beside myself!
The roadhouse here was as grimy as Liga would have liked. There were crumbs all over the table where I sat and the owners sat at a table next to me where they’d obviously been sitting all day as it was piled high with stuff. The chips I ordered for lunch (to be safe) were ok, but I left half of them. I wanted to get out of there and keep going.
Apologies for the wonky horizon line. This is what the country looked like, going for miles. When they say there’s nothing in the middle of Australia, believe them.
This is what Winton looks like on a late Sunday afternoon.
Yep. Dead.
I was able to find a motel who gave me a room for $165 – ouch. But their wifi was excellent.
I spent most of the afternoon talking to friends and family.
Instead of getting a Roomba mower, these people have gone for the prototype.
The plaque reads:
AB. (BANJO) PATERSON
(1864-1941)
WROTE THE WORDS TO
WALTZING MATILDA AT
DAGWORTH STATION IN
THE WINTON SHIRE IN 1895
TO A TUNE PLAYED
BY CHRISTINA MACPHERSON.
THE FIRST PUBLIC PERFORMANCE
WAS IN WINTON AT THE
NORTH GREGORY HOTEL
ON APRIL 6TH 1895.
WALTZING MATILDA IS
NOW KNOWN THE WORLD
OVER AS AUSTRALIAS’ UNOFFICIAL
NATIONAL ANTHEM AND
INSPIRATION.
DURING HIS LIFE BANJO
WROTE MANY POEMS ABOUT
THE BUSH AND SET THE
TREND FOR AUSTRALIAN
LITERATURE IN ITS INFANCY.
Now you know!
Again, I have a soft spot for Banjo Patterson. Mum and Dad gave me a children’s book of poems called ‘The Animals Noah Forget’ about Aussie animals. It’s funny how much you carry with you from childhood.
So far, this is how far I’ve driven. The car was at 100,000 KMS as we left Melbourne, so it’ll be interesting to see how far my trusty little Golf drives before we get back home.
And look at this. I’d just connected with Evan28 when I glanced out of the window and saw these brolgas enjoying the water being sprayed on the lawn outside the motel.
How wonderful!
Dad joke of the Day:
Now you’re in the territory of our last trip in outback Qld but we were there in July and August, much cooler weather. We stayed in Cloncurry and had lunch at Chinaman Dam, had drinks at Walkabout Creek of course and those brolgas at the roadhouse were the ones that attacked our dog Maddie. Imagine driving all the way to Winton with a crying chihuahua and of course no vet.
You can imagine how fast the bushfires can spread in the dry but then it amazes us when you see the flood markers by the road and imagine how much water comes in the times of flood.