2macstracks

The Army left first but at a leisurely pace, we left about 8:00, topped up with fuel at 214.9 a litre then set off for the road to McKinlay.

The road is actually bitumen all the way which surprises a lot of people. It’s called the Gidyea Bug Byway and the land looks like it’s been laser leveled, not difficult at all to imagine it as sea.

We crossed a railway line going between Mt Isa and the coast and passed several entrances to Cattle Stations.

McKInlay is a very small town, the pub is the only business here. The main road to Winton and Longreach goes right past so there’s plenty of passing traffic.

When we arrived there was a man hitching to Mt Isa with a big white dog, he’s still here tonight but we think he might have a ride lined up for tomorrow.

There are some interesting buildings in the town and many that people have deserted including the Roadhouse.

I love The Coolibah Tree,created by local women, it represents the McKinlay community with one leaf for each person living on each property in the area.

The pub was used in the filming of Crocodile Dundee and there are reminders of that all about but I think the Turkeys are a more recent addition.

Tomorrow we’re driving on to Boulia.

Within walking distance of the Caravan Park is a Nature Trail and we decided to check it out this morning before it got too hot. It was disappointing. Right near the start the “trail” was a Grader scrape in what had obviously been mud and that didn’t change at all. The mud had mostly dried though so we persisted and soon came to the RV Park where you have to be self contained to stay. The first camps we saw were in plain grass areas, nothing special but when we reached the Waterhole we decided it would have been well worth setting up our Porta Potti etc to be in such a beautiful spot. As we were walking past someone was pulling out of a prime site, maybe a camper on a less appealing one would quickly move in or possibly a new arrival might score it.

There’s a plant we’ve seen a lot recently, it looks like a very spindly tree and in places it’s all you can see. There was plenty of it today and we saw the skinny pods that had fallen from them, we discovered later they’re a weed called Pea Grass.

I decided I’d like to see the “Virtual Muster” at the Info Centre so today we went back there. I thought we’d watch a 3D movie on a screen but it wasn’t like that. We went into one of the renovated Fettlers’ Cottages and were shown how to put on head gear and Earphones. I freaked at the idea but Alex was willing to go first because there was only one set. I was surprised when I saw him turning his head to look over his shoulder but when I did put the gear on I understood why. We saw all the stages of mustering recorded at a family run Cattle Station including viewing from motorbike and helicopter.

Photos were displayed around the walls of the Fettlers’ Cottage.

I think that kind of technology will become an important tool in schools, imagine taking a Virtual journey with Burke and Wills!

As we left the Info Centre about 20 kids arrived in cars, all 4WDs and I realised they were from various Stations and enrolled in The School of the Air. They were having some kind of get-together. We saw them again heading out of town then later they were at the Mini Golf Course.

Another thing we checked out today was a WW2 bunker used to house direction finding equipment to locate enemy aircraft. I was more interested in another kind of building inside.

The Golfer had to get a game in somewhere since he’s not getting his twice weekly dose at home!

Every Monday night the Caravan Park holds a “Bush Dinner” this week 150 people ate there. Today staff were setting up for another catering event, at first we thought it must be for the Caravan Club that has arrived. They had a meeting in the Camp Kitchen but then instead of moving over to the catering area they dispersed. A gigantic Army truck arrived plus other vehicles, drove around the centre of the Campground then set up camp over the other side from us. Later, in the dark more Army vehicles arrived, I think at least five and it’s hard to imagine where they have fitted. We think soldiers will be eating near the Camp Kitchen.

It occurred to me how lucky we are to be living in Australia, Army trucks and soldiers arriving in the dark where people are camping and all anyone feels is curiosity no reason for any nervousness let alone fear.

Another pack-up day tomorrow, I wonder if we’ll be out of here before the Army.

The Prado Pilot came up with a bright idea last night, instead of heading off towards Winton we could go back east a bit to Julia Creek where they have some rare Dunnarts and we could see them being fed at the Information Centre. After a quick stop at the supermarket where The Chef managed to get the last box of GF Muesli bars ie my breakfast cereal, we set out for Julia Creek.

I’ve invented a new type of car air freshener, it works very nicely.

There were the usual patches of road works, narrow bridges with no guard rails, a couple of Road Trains and also today some Concrete Trucks. Luckily we got to Julia Creek early because although the Caravan Park manager said they had absolutely nothing when I asked him about the RV Camp along the road, he asked what we had. I told him a Camper Trailer and he said we had to be completely self sufficient to stay there then he started looking at his paperwork and said maybe he could fit us in to an unpowered site. Eventually that became a powered one when he said we could run a cable to a cabin nearby if we could use 240v power. So we’re here for two nights and will make sure we arrive early at the next place.

The Park has very good facilities and for a price, that can include hot spring water baths. There are five separate corrugated iron “bathrooms” which have two baths in each and can be hired for 45mins. There is also a nice Camp Kitchen and spotless Toilet/Shower Blocks. By signing a waiver you can also use Caravan Park bikes to ride around the town. The expression, “It’s like riding a bike, you never forget how” certainly didn’t apply to the man I saw trying one this morning.

Last year we managed to get a Moon Rock something I’ve wanted since we first saw them at Boulia 20 years ago. In the Park here might be the Great-Grand-Daddy of the one we collected, they look identical except for the size!

There are some nice murals in Julia Creek, some nice old buildings and quirky shops.

The Information Centre has repurposed railway Fettlers Cottages and Police cells.

At 2:00 we were able to see the Dunnarts……Dunnart being fed, it seems there were 2 males on display but they started fighting so now they’ve been separated. Apparently Dunnarts are, “lean, mean and rarely seen!” It’s a tiny marsupial only found in the Mitchell Grass of north, west Queensland. The female’s pouch has eight nipples in a circle so the mother can have eight babies at a time.

After being perfectly behaved at the Dunnart presentation Fergus was rewarded with a free run in a Dog Park which is right beside the Caravan Park. Unfortunately the only other dogs were aggro ones in a house across the road but he ignored them so he got to stand on the Winner’s podium!

The photo below is taken from our campsite looking east at sunset, the grass in the foreground is like Mitchell Grass.