Cloncurry 19 July 2014

We had another look around Winton in the morning before heading off about 300km to Cloncurry. The distances between towns are immense in western Queensland and you could imagine the excitement of the pioneers when the railway came to town. Winton is only a small town of about 1200 people and except for the tourists coming to see the dinosaur fossils, would be hard pressed to survive. The North Gregory (one of the 4 pubs in town) is an interesting hotel and reputed to be the pub where Waltzing Matilda was first performed. It has been rebuilt at least 5 times, the last reincarnation in an attractive art deco style. Went through a hamlet called Kynuna whose only claim to fame is a pub called the Blue Heeler and stopped for lunch beside some amazing rock formations. They were small plateaus or mesas that had a hard ironstone top and clay sides that were slowly eroding. The further north we drove, we noticed the black soil and Mitchell Grass slowly giving way to bare dusty paddocks with occasional mobs of Brahman cattle – reminded us of NT. We drove onto McKinlay, another small village that had a pub called Walkabout Creek – I don’t think it was the one used in the Crocodile Dundee movie. We camped about 60km south of Cloncurry, the landscape changed again and we saw red soil, with white gum trees emerging out of the yellow Spinifex Grass – beautiful colours at sunset!