Friday, 11 October 2024
We headed out about 8.30am this morning heading for Cloncurry. Our first leg was punctuated only with a couple of feral cats, a couple of emus, cattle (safely in paddocks, not on the road) and lots … and lots of kites. There were flocks of kites circling above every poor kangaroo that didn’t make it across the road last night.
Sixteen kilometres east of Kynuna we passed the turnoff to the Combo Waterhole Conservation Park. Some sources say that the Combo Waterhole is the billabong that features in Waltzing Matilda. However, with our research suggesting that the waterhole is usually dry AND with the road out recommended for 4WD only we had already decided that we wouldn’t head out that way. However, other sources suggested that it’s The Swagman’s Billagong just 1.8km east of Kynuna that is believed to be THE billabong. Unfortunately, we didn’t see a signpost for The Swagman’s Billabong so … no photo of a billabong that may or not have been the one written about in Waltzing Matilda.
We stopped in Kynuna to take a photo of the Blue Heeler Hotel. The hotel is said to be where shearer Samuel Hoffmeister (the inspiration for the swagman in Waltzing Matilda) had his last drink before he took his own life. Some also claim that it is the pub where the song was first sung, but Winton’s North Gregory Hotel also makes this claim! Anyhow, the Blue Heeler Hotel has seen better days.
We drove along to the playground and toilet behind the Kynuna Roadhouse to spend a penny before getting back on the road. We had already seen a pair of brolgas at the Winton Outback Motel and encountered a couple more roaming about Kynuna. I always thought that brolgas were more of a waterbird so these ones seem to be a long way from the water??
On the next leg of our journey we passed another caravan heading north. Only the second van that we have seen travelling in the same direction that we are. Most days it continues to be more of a steady flow of vans southward bound. More cattle and more kites. There are so many kites. So far they have all flown away from their roadside dinners safely and we haven’t collected any on our bull bar.
We pulled into McKinlay in front of the Walkabout Creek Hotel made famous in the Crocodile Dundee movie. Despite its link with this iconic Australian movie, the current owners are trying to sell according to a sign on the front wall. We wandered in for a Quick Look with the owner requesting a donation in the RFDS collection box if we wanted to take photos. Bernie and Cathy also decided to buy Cokes (one Diet one No Sugar) to inject a little bit of cash into the business.
When we were still about 80Ks out fo Cloncurry we started seeing what we thought were ant nests. Metre high red dirt ant nests along the roadsides and in the paddocks. We wondered if it was evidence of more of the meat ants, but learnt later in the day that they’re actually termite nests. As we drove along a section of road where the vegetation has been burnt we saw a willy willy picking up the ash and whirling it up into the sky beside the road.
For a minute we thought we had encountered another van heading north but then we realised that when we pulled in at McKinlay the van being pulled but the Ford Ranger Wildtrak truck snuck past us … and we were just catching up to it again, ha, ha.
About 14 kilometres from Cloncurry, we finally left the Landsborough Highway behind us and merged onto the Flinders Highway heading west. We’re still on the Matilda Way and will be until we reach the end of the road at Karumba on the Gulf of Carpentaria.
Arriving in Cloncurry we made our way to the bakery for lunch. OMG, so many sandwiches in the fridge. For the first time in days, we could choose what sandwiches we would have rather than having to have what was left. The girl serving was thrilled that we were buying four sandwiches because they have been slow to move today. She said that usually by 12.30pm there would not be so many sandwiches left in the fridge, and she has been wondering why no-one is buying sandwiches today.
We drove around to the John Flynn Place Museum to learn more about the man on our $20.00 notes. Although we have already seen tributes to John Flynn, the founder of the Royal Flying Doctor Service, we still learnt more about him and his vision to create a ‘mantle of safety’ for the isolated communities of northern Australia. The museum also informed us of others who helped make John’s vision a reality in particular Alfred Traeger who worked tirelessly to bring radio communications to the outback to enable calls to be made requesting the assistance of the flying doctor.
Our next stop was at the Cloncurry Unearthed Information Centre and Museum. We purchased a combined ticket at the John Flynn Place Museum so headed off to see Cloncurry’s other museum to view its incredible collection of local history items – indigenous and colonial – rocks, petrified wood, minerals and gemstones and, outdoors, the recently completed water tank mural and vintage machinery. We also obtained some information about visiting the now abandoned Mary Kathleen Uranium Mine on our way across to Mount Isa tomorrow. We watched (or snoozed through, I admit it) a number of short films telling us more about the local horse sales, the Mary Kathleen Uranium Mine and the 2019 floods. Before driving to the motel Bernie and I climbed the Cloncurry Lookout for the 360° view of the town and surrounds.
We checked in, we unpacked the truck, we headed back into town to visit the Foodworks Supermaket and top up the tank at the BP before finally spending some time enjoying the Gidgee Inn Motel’s swimming pool. Very refreshing with the temperature still at 38°C at 4.00pm in the afternoon!
Dinner tonight was an easy affair strolling across to the motel’s restaurant. The food was great, but I had to go and dig my polar fleece out of the car because the a/c was set to ARCTIC!!
