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Mount Isa to Winton
Wednesday
The grinding at the mine site was somewhat similar to the perpetual background hum of a generator. Maybe after a while the locals take it for mgranted. I didn’t!
We stimulated the local economy a little more, fuelled up at $1.22.5 (after the voucher) at Shell which was the only station in Isa to have diesel (one wonders how the other stations operate in such a large city!) and headed south to Boulia. The rugged small hills around Mount Isa quickly gave way to the flat, flat plains until we reached the Lilyvale Hills and the Cawnpore Lookout. There was a lot of traffic on the road with the majority being caravans. There were very few pull-offs and generally it was a pretty dull road.
Early afternoon saw us in Boulia which is a neat little town with a great park and a shop which sells absolutely everything. Right from the mud tyres and rim on the front porch to bobby pins inside.
We booked into the Middleton Hotel from Boulia at $60 for a room and wondered if we had done the right thing. We set off. A fair distance out of Boulia you came across, and I mean across, some water channels from the channel country. Here the road is like a roller coaster as you slow down and go over the humps and hollows.
The Lilyvale Hills are about 50km before Middleton and there is a lookout you can drive up to called Cawnpore Lookout. From the lookout you can see the handiwork of ancient rivers, about 95 million to 100 million years ago and the size of the Amazon. The view is something like a miniature Monument valley with mesas rising out of the ancient silt. There was some very good interpretive information at the lookout.
Middleton was certainly different with a population of three although we counted four locals. There is a pub, a sign which says Hilton Hotel, a pub, a couple of old buildings and a pub. Did I mention there was a pub? Because that is really all there is. Middleton was once a staging post for Cobb & Co and the pub was erected in 1876 and not much has happened since. The pub is also located on the “Common,” which by my understanding was a small block everyone could use. In this case it is a small 28,000 acres.
The $60 is starting to look a bit doubtful. We caught up with two camel jockeys at the bar and decided next year we will get to the camel races. Should be fun.
Below is an email we received to-day from our son, Peter. He was in Lima en route back to Utah and obviously has been polishing up his Spanish
“Hi Dad,
Bit of trivia. Prado means "Meadow" in Spanish which I guess is "Paddock" in Australian. Something to think about for those Prado owners!
Cheers
PK”
Thursday
Dawn broke with the same splendour as the sunset. We settled things down with a cup of tea and headed to Winton. The people at Middleton were very friendly and it is definitely worth a stop for a cold drink and a drool over the two old fuel pumps, the ones where you can no longer get the cylindrical glass container for the top of the pump.
The mother and young girl have just left for the two hour drive into Winton so the young one can spend the day with other students of the air and some teachers who have travelled up to meet them.
Life is certainly different to that of the latte-sipping set from Bondi or St Kilda, the ones who are vocal about everything but have no idea of what life is like, or what happens in the bush where hopefully the real Australia still is.
The trip into Winton was through some glorious scenery with more mesas and a change in stock to cattle and sheep with the cattle being a Hereford cross. Winton is one of our favourite towns it was clean, tidy and busy. The Matilda Centre is one of the best Tourist Information centres you will come across. There is a large range of food and great coffee. Lark Quarry is 1 ½ to 2 hours away with 45km of sealed road. We are looking forward to the trip to the past. But before we leave there is the small problem of four old Bentleys parked out the front of the Matilda Centre. These cars had travelled from Perth to Darwin then from Darwin to finish at Brisbane next week. They were in a beautiful condition, probably worth a fortune but you would freeze in the cockpit. Lucky buggers!
Lark Quarry proved to every bit as good as we had hoped. You step back 95 million years with a very knowledgeable guide and into an ESD (environmentally sustainable development which is interesting in itself) The $11 and $7 fees are cash only. After an explanation we were ushered into a cool, cool building. At first it is a bit difficult to work out the tracks but you can clearly see the tracks of the big fella and the myriad tracks of the startled little fellas as they raced away in a stampede. The little guys were only a bit bigger than chooks, then some others about the size of an emu and the big one about 2.5 metres high. You should visit the museum run by the little old ladies in Winton before you go to Larks Quarry where you will get a better perspective. Lark Quarry is the only fossilised stampeded in the world. The walk around the outside was also very interesting.
The guide explained that the largest meteorite to hit hearth formed the Gulf of Mexico and it was the one which stuffed up the climate and breeding of the animals of the time. It was also difficult to get your head around the inland seas which existed in central Australia all those years ago.
All in all it was a good trip and worth the trouble to finally get there.
We travelled to 260km from Lark Quarry to Jundah and saw one other vehicle. So it is a pretty lonely road. The road was in very good condition with the country rather boring until we dropped down to the Mayne River where it opened up into more mesa type country and wonderful plains with trees along the creek courses.
Jundah was like an oasis with a great little pub staffed by English backpackers. The double room set us back $65 and although it was in an old building it is clean and very tidy. Bingo!
Pic to follow
Wednesday
The grinding at the mine site was somewhat similar to the perpetual background hum of a generator. Maybe after a while the locals take it for mgranted. I didn’t!
We stimulated the local economy a little more, fuelled up at $1.22.5 (after the voucher) at Shell which was the only station in Isa to have diesel (one wonders how the other stations operate in such a large city!) and headed south to Boulia. The rugged small hills around Mount Isa quickly gave way to the flat, flat plains until we reached the Lilyvale Hills and the Cawnpore Lookout. There was a lot of traffic on the road with the majority being caravans. There were very few pull-offs and generally it was a pretty dull road.
Early afternoon saw us in Boulia which is a neat little town with a great park and a shop which sells absolutely everything. Right from the mud tyres and rim on the front porch to bobby pins inside.
We booked into the Middleton Hotel from Boulia at $60 for a room and wondered if we had done the right thing. We set off. A fair distance out of Boulia you came across, and I mean across, some water channels from the channel country. Here the road is like a roller coaster as you slow down and go over the humps and hollows.
The Lilyvale Hills are about 50km before Middleton and there is a lookout you can drive up to called Cawnpore Lookout. From the lookout you can see the handiwork of ancient rivers, about 95 million to 100 million years ago and the size of the Amazon. The view is something like a miniature Monument valley with mesas rising out of the ancient silt. There was some very good interpretive information at the lookout.
Middleton was certainly different with a population of three although we counted four locals. There is a pub, a sign which says Hilton Hotel, a pub, a couple of old buildings and a pub. Did I mention there was a pub? Because that is really all there is. Middleton was once a staging post for Cobb & Co and the pub was erected in 1876 and not much has happened since. The pub is also located on the “Common,” which by my understanding was a small block everyone could use. In this case it is a small 28,000 acres.
The $60 is starting to look a bit doubtful. We caught up with two camel jockeys at the bar and decided next year we will get to the camel races. Should be fun.
Below is an email we received to-day from our son, Peter. He was in Lima en route back to Utah and obviously has been polishing up his Spanish
“Hi Dad,
Bit of trivia. Prado means "Meadow" in Spanish which I guess is "Paddock" in Australian. Something to think about for those Prado owners!
Cheers
PK”
Thursday
Dawn broke with the same splendour as the sunset. We settled things down with a cup of tea and headed to Winton. The people at Middleton were very friendly and it is definitely worth a stop for a cold drink and a drool over the two old fuel pumps, the ones where you can no longer get the cylindrical glass container for the top of the pump.
The mother and young girl have just left for the two hour drive into Winton so the young one can spend the day with other students of the air and some teachers who have travelled up to meet them.
Life is certainly different to that of the latte-sipping set from Bondi or St Kilda, the ones who are vocal about everything but have no idea of what life is like, or what happens in the bush where hopefully the real Australia still is.
The trip into Winton was through some glorious scenery with more mesas and a change in stock to cattle and sheep with the cattle being a Hereford cross. Winton is one of our favourite towns it was clean, tidy and busy. The Matilda Centre is one of the best Tourist Information centres you will come across. There is a large range of food and great coffee. Lark Quarry is 1 ½ to 2 hours away with 45km of sealed road. We are looking forward to the trip to the past. But before we leave there is the small problem of four old Bentleys parked out the front of the Matilda Centre. These cars had travelled from Perth to Darwin then from Darwin to finish at Brisbane next week. They were in a beautiful condition, probably worth a fortune but you would freeze in the cockpit. Lucky buggers!
Lark Quarry proved to every bit as good as we had hoped. You step back 95 million years with a very knowledgeable guide and into an ESD (environmentally sustainable development which is interesting in itself) The $11 and $7 fees are cash only. After an explanation we were ushered into a cool, cool building. At first it is a bit difficult to work out the tracks but you can clearly see the tracks of the big fella and the myriad tracks of the startled little fellas as they raced away in a stampede. The little guys were only a bit bigger than chooks, then some others about the size of an emu and the big one about 2.5 metres high. You should visit the museum run by the little old ladies in Winton before you go to Larks Quarry where you will get a better perspective. Lark Quarry is the only fossilised stampeded in the world. The walk around the outside was also very interesting.
The guide explained that the largest meteorite to hit hearth formed the Gulf of Mexico and it was the one which stuffed up the climate and breeding of the animals of the time. It was also difficult to get your head around the inland seas which existed in central Australia all those years ago.
All in all it was a good trip and worth the trouble to finally get there.
We travelled to 260km from Lark Quarry to Jundah and saw one other vehicle. So it is a pretty lonely road. The road was in very good condition with the country rather boring until we dropped down to the Mayne River where it opened up into more mesa type country and wonderful plains with trees along the creek courses.
Jundah was like an oasis with a great little pub staffed by English backpackers. The double room set us back $65 and although it was in an old building it is clean and very tidy. Bingo!
Pic to follow
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