July 2016

02 July 2016

July started off with us in Camooweal having taken a day off to enjoy the water of the lake and the company of two couples who we first met at the Brunette Downs Rest Area, and happy hour on the two nights we enjoyed there was a very pleasant time chatting over a few drinks.

Topping up with fuel before leaving the very busy town we made our way into Mt Isa where we did some shopping and left town for a very familiar camp at Mary Kathleen. Snagging our preferred spot on the swimming pool building slab we settled in for the rest of the day.

Leaving Mary Kathleen yet again we made our way into busy and buzzing Cloncurry, and out again. Nothing of real note to talk about on the way down the Matilda Highway except a stop at McKinley for a late morning tea. There were quite a lot of caravans in town and many stopping at the newly renovated Walkabout Hotel, courtesy of the new owners who bought it after visiting and deciding to buy it and run it as a tourist attraction.

The new owners have extended the caravan park, properly spruced the place up by adding movie props such as the original film set bar and an old ute and truck from the movie. And it seems the town has followed suit by painting and sprucing the place up as well.

Walkabout Hotel

The Walkabout Hotel from the film Crocodile Dundee as it is today.

Morning tea over we continued along through the drought ridden countryside that seems to have been missed by the recent downpours in Longreach and surrounds.

Arriving in Kynuna, home of The Blue Heeler Hotel, we decided to check into the caravan park at the roadhouse after reading the comments of recent visitors on wikicamps. No phone signal here and despite the sign, no TV signal either, so up went the satellite dish before we settled in as the cloud came over and the cool wind that we were heading into picked up.

03 July 2016

Hidden down the back of the caravan park we were out of the weather and well aware from the road, but woke to a cool morning. A pretty boring drive into Winton through the open plains changed dramatically when we arrived in town. Cars and caravans parked everywhere meant that the town was doing a brisk business.

We passed the now vacant block where the Matilda Centre once stood before the fire that destroyed it. Then, after topping up with fuel we headed back out of town to the Crawford Creek Rest Area about 40km's towards Longreach. Managing to get the same spot we have had the last couple of times we have stopped here we settled in for the rest of the day.

06 July 2016

Well the last few days have been just drive a couple of hundred kilometres and camp, then repeat the same the next day and definitely not feeling like we are on tour or holidays. Must be a going to work thing :-)

Leaving our rest area camp it was a short hop into Longreach where we managed to get into the car wash to use the spray hose to wash the whole rig down and then, as we were too long to drive out, reversed back out and went on our way.

Flat open countryside again to view as we made our way along before we came into a busy Barcaldine and stopped at the Barcaldine Showgrounds. Our site was perfect to finished the wash down job with soapy water, broom and sponge to give the rig that new shiny look from top to bottom. Pleased with the way the rig looked we settled in for the night hoping the Corella's wouldn't see us as a clean target.

No Corella bomb marks in the morning we moved on through Blackall to camp at the Stubby Bend bush camp just out of the small but nice town of Tambo. It was cold overnight and we awoke to ice all over the rig which we removed before starting the days drive.

Barcoo River Tambo

Pink and Blue hues in the sky at sunset on the view out of our camp.

Stopping in Augathella for morning tea it was tempting to stop in the nice sunny free camp in town, but moved on to snag one of the last powered spots at Morven where we have camped before.

09 July 2016

Leaving Morven we took an easy drive to the Neil Mitchell Weir on the outskirts of the small town of Mitchell. Snagging a spot on a concrete pad from old buildings, and opposite the weir we settled in enjoying the sunshine along with about 30 other campers as they were spread along the kilometre long area.

The next morning we awoke to a cool start to the day and after a slowish start headed off towards Roma. Arriving in town we managed to get a long parking space in the caravan parking area and headed off to the shops.

Boots for Joanne, food, fuel and alcohol were on our shopping list and once obtained we got out of town as quick as we could and headed down the highway towards Surat.

THe closer we got to Surat the more water we could see along the roadside and we began to wonder what state the free camp would be like, and on arrival we found out. There was water still on the ground and plenty of wet boggy spots. We managed to snag a great spot and had sun for the rest of the day and watched campers come in trying to negotiate the boggy spots, one of which a motorhome managed to find just nicely. With plenty of people looking on and not offering to help we were just about to unhitch the house and take the ute and winch over he managed to get out by using some left over firewood under those dual wheels at the back.

Another cool night and we awoke to a sunny day. Being booked into the caravan park for the week from today we packed up and took ourselves up the road and settled into our allocated site.

We are not sure how long we will be here in Surat but have been asked to help clean up the site and help with the out loading. We have also been asked if we can go to Bellata sometime after the 20th to do the same, so we could be busy for a bit.

11-17 July 2016

It's been a while since we have been constrained by time regulated by someone else and since the body has done anything too physical. So starting work this week was interesting on a number of fronts. Physically things were fine, though we did sleep well each night, but the coming down from the tropical North where the lowest temperature we experienced was around 20 degrees to an area where the wind was cold and the highest temperature for the week was 18 degrees was the biggest shock.

The week was pretty much taken up with outloading grain into trucks and cleaning up afterwards. With four of us to do the job it was fairly easy but next week we will be down to three.

Staying in the caravan park meant not only that we had all the benefits of it but that we were able to leave the rig in relative security and take the ute to work etc which we enjoyed (and so did the ute with no weight on the back).

18 - 24 July 2016

Work, work, work, a birthday and a family visit this week.

The weather last week was cold and even foggy and this week it was warm and sunny as we outloaded chick pea and then wheat. Day after day it was pretty much the same thing, so noting too new there.

Saturday was Joanne's Birthday and included a trip South to St George to catch up with her Brother Paul and his partner. We walked some of the town (it's not that big so it was easy), did some shopping and spent some time in the Bakery enjoying a brunch and coffee.

Visit over it was time for food shopping before Joanne and I took the 115km's back to Surat and Paul and Geoff made their way back to their caravan at Yetman. Back in Surat after unpacking and putting all the food and goodies away Joanne and I went off to the pub for a meal and a drink to celebrate Joanne's Birthday.

Sunday was a quiet day catching up, watching a bit of tv and doing online inductions for this years grain harvest and tomorrow we will be back loading trucks and cleaning the site up.

Mark Twain once said "...years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do that by the things you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbour. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." - and so we will.