Days 10 and 11 Longreach to Winton, Winton

Sorry about no post yesterday (Friday), but I got sidetracked.  More about that later.

Red letter day today (Saturday), I put my shorts on for the first time! It actually got to 23 degrees.

Had a good trip yesterday.  Travelled 180 k's through mostly grassland country.  The population density is definitely increasing, we saw two homesteads and both of them were no more than two or three kms from the highway!  The road surface was very good and so was our fuel consumption, 10.5 litres per 100 k's.  Can't really explain why it was so good.  All the km's were done with the caravan on the back.  The road and environmental conditions were the same as the last travel day when we registered 12.5.  Perhaps we were going imperceptibly downhill.

Checked into the Matilda Country Tourist Park.  It is a very friendly family operated CP which welcomes pets.  Many of the sites are well shaded and easily accessible.  There is  just one problem. Like most of Winton, it is serviced with water straight out of the artesian bores.  The pong of Hydrogen Sulphide is very evident.  They say you can drink that water after you have either let it stand to let the gas disseminate or have boiled it off.  All I can say is that it must be an acquired taste!

Now for the reason I was sidetracked.  Last night we decided to stick our heads into a two women bush poetry show that is put on by the CP most nights. The ladies in question were Melanie Hall and Susan Carcary.  We did not intend to stay long, but the show was so good we stayed til the end.  It was great, so entertaining, clever and funny!  They have been selected to present their show at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.  I wonder how they will go down with the Poms!

Today, we toured all the sights of Winton.  It took almost 30 minutes.  We managed to check out the musical fence.  Today's research task is to\find out all about the musical fence.  We then took the Sante Fe off the bitumen onto the dirt to have a look at Pelican Waterhole, the original the site of the settlement that would later become Winton.

Then it was into town for some lunch at the Jolly Swagman Cafe in the Waltzing Matilda Centre.  The coffee here is fantastic.  Could be the best in all of Western Queensland.  We then walked up to the SPAR supermarket for an ice cream which we ate while seated on a seat outside the shop and watched the world, or at least the Winton part of it, go by.  After that it was back to the van park via the BP servo where the diesel was selling for $1.65 per litre.

Tomorrow we are off to Hughenden via the Kennedy Development Road.  We went out and had a look at it this morning. As Development Roads go, it is very good with bitumen across both lanes.  However it has no line markings and is narrow.  Normally, these roads only have strip of bitumen up the middle, the idea being that you travel up the middle until you see something coming from either behind or ahead at which point you slow right down and put two wheels and the van wheels onto the dirt.  If it is a road train that is going to pass, then you leave all of the bitumen to him and get right off.

Anyway, talk to you from Hughenden.

Typical of the country between Longreach and Winton

Landsborough highway;how about the traffic!

A shady site at Matilda Country Tourist Park

Kennedy Development Road towards Hughenden

Winton Jump Up country

The sign says it all

Original site of Winton. They had to move because of
 bad floods would you believe!

The Santa Fe off the blacktop and on the dirt

Waltzing Matilda Centre, Winton

Main Street, Winton