PetalliTravellers: The Big Lap - Week 2.

 We started week 2 heading to Blackall for our 3 day lockdown starting at 6pm. We stopped at Tambo for a walk (and Peter's coffee). Once in Blackall we set up in the RV reserve. The camp beside the river is large and dusty but as many vans as usual so we set up down near the river.

We went to the information centre to pay our $10 a night permit fee and then headed to the hot springs pool for a swim. Good value at $2 each.

It was lovely to stay put for three days – reading, doing crosswords, sewing, just relaxing.

At the end of the 3 day lockdown we packed up and headed north-west to Barcaldine for Easter eggs and lunch then up to Longreach. Masks still needed to be worn inside and outside if one couldn’t social distance. 

It was strange seeing everyone wearing masks, and it made me glad that so many people are being responsible (that, and the fact that police were fining people on the spot for not wearing a mask. 

Once in Longreach we drove through and out the other side to the Apex Park RV site.

We have stayed here before and the cost has gone up from $3 to $5, still a bargin. Right on the Thompson River with a lovely fenced off grassed area with toilets, picnic tables and bbq shelters. It is a very large area of dirt and we were surprised that there were only about 20 vans there. Bonus! We got a good site and set up for the Easter break.

We had planned on a devonshire tea on the Saturday, but the shop was closed. We stocked up with groceries and fresh food, we walked around the railway station,

and talked about where we would stay if and when we do a train trip to Longreach.

We went to the QANTAS museum to see the planes. Good to see they are now under cover.

We took our photos of the Tropic of Capricorn sign. We plan to take a similar photo on the other side of the country in a few months.

On Easter Sunday, and the prediction of rain, we departed Longreach and headed to Winton.

The Winton Way Out West Country Music Festival was about to begin, so wewere unsure if we would get a camp site, but to our surprise the back of the Australia Hotel only had 3 other happy campers there.

Camping is the cost of a beer

 

 – although Peter wasn’t having a drink without the rest of us, so four drinks and dinner, was the cost! 

We were across the road from the original Chinese Market garden and shop.

 

Last time we were here it was a small plaque outside a falling down tin shack. This time the garden has been reclaimed and a large sign is at the front. 

One can walk around the garden and interpretive signs tell one what was grown or happening there.

The old shack is now supported and filled with replicas of what would have been there at the turn of the 20th century.

Great job Winton, I love seeing history portrayed for the younger generation to see. We walked up and down the main street and were lucky to see the open air picture theatre open.

Every other visit it has been closed, thank goodness for the music festival. There is a small museum type room with old projectors and roller skates, not sure what the roller skates are for. The theatre itself has old movie posters around the walls and deck chairs look so comfortable. One day we will see a movie there.

We also went up to the Musical Fence for a play.

We thought about staying a little longer to see the Hill Billie Goats and Sara Storer, but Peter was keen to get moving, so onto Julia Creek and week 3 of the BIG LAP.

See PetalliTravellers on YouTube.

Dinosaur Capital of Australia/Home of Waltzing Matilda.

From Longreach we travelled 175km to the outback town of Winton. Our plan was to stay behind the historic North Gregory Hotel – but it was already full at midday, so we parked the van and had a walk around town and the new Waltzing Matilda Centre. In 2015 the Matilda Centre burnt down. I remember feeling sad as it was one of the few museums that we went to that we really liked. The new centre looks strange, and is very modern inside. It is meant to depict fitting in with the landscape and the outside mostly looks like a big rock, with heavy metal chains. Inside is a cafe, and Peter said the coffee was good. The info desk is small and most of the touring pamphlets are located around the corner. It still houses the museum, and it was pleasing to see some of the out buildings still remained after the fire.

Winton is famous as being situated close to gem fields and is a stopping centre for fossickers. It is also where Banjo Patterson wrote Waltzing Matilda, and where the music was first played – at the North Gregory Hotel, and thirdly and more recently, Winton is known as the dinosaur capital of Australia. Winton has its origins in 1875 when a man named Robert Allen camped on the banks of Pelican Waterhole. A year later Pelican Waterhole was flooded and Robert Allen moved his dwellings of a hotel/store to the site of today's Winton. It was then that Allen, as the postmaster, changed the name to Winton, to make it easier to write on postage stamps. The name comes from a suburb of Bournemouth in England. The town was gazetted in July 1879.

We walked around the main street past the North Gregory Hotel, the scene of the first performance of Waltzing Matilda in 1895, and next door the old open air theatre. If we had stayed behind the North Gregory Hotel we would have gone to one of the screenings. The theatre was built in 1918, and is one of only two open air theatres left. The town is getting ready for the Vision Splendid Outback Film Festival at the end of June. This festival is 9 days and about 30 films screened each day in the Civic Centre and each night in the open air theatre.

After walking around we got back into the car and went up to the Musical Fence, located up where the old airfield use to be. QANTAS was formed in Winton in 1920. There is memorial to QANTAS at the Musical Fence. The Musical Fence is a fun area to make music using strange objects. Created in July 2003, it was the first musical fence in the world.

After buying a few items for dinner - salmon rissoles - we headed out of town to the free camp Long Waterhole, for the night. It seems all the places we planned to go, and some we didn't plan are full of happy campers – REALLY FULL! Not that we are complaining, it is good to have so many other like minded travelers with us. Long Waterhole is an area put aside for self contained vans. It is located about 4 km out of town and is a made made waterhole that was the centrepiece of a bike track around the waterhole. We met up with some people we met at Longreach - so happy hour was good.

We stayed one night, it was a little cool overnight, but it is getting warmer. We had planned a few days in Winton, but with the North Gregory being full we decided to keep going. Before leaving Winton we went up to Arno's Wall behind the North Gregory Hotel. The wall is constructed out of concrete and rock and 'stuff' – most from Arno's opal mine at Opalton. An interesting wall that stands a couple of metres high and has at least three sewing machines that I saw.

After a quick stop at the bakery for bread rolls and Peter's coffee we were off again heading north and the warmer nights.