Around Oz the First Time - Chapter 10 - Winton to Corella Dam

Another big day today and we are up early. There are a lot of kilometres (for a person bought up in imperial measurements that is sometimes hard to say) to be travelled today. The cold is abating, but still is in need of pharmaceutical help. The nasal spray works a treat and the sore throat has gone.

The pie shop is the first stop. They got me yesterday along with a great hot chocolate that I needed to imbibe one more time. The park is emptying quickly, and we get caught waiting for others to hitch up and file out. One pair in particular, directly adjacent to us, seems to take forever. We met them last night and they had a drink with us so we can’t sledge them too much.

With 400kms to go today there are going to be breaks along the way and the first one is the Blue Heeler Hotel. Milkshakes are $5 and the tea which is self-serve is $3. The ambiance is free. There is a sign suggesting if you are entering only to look and take pictures you must donate to the local Rural Fire Service – fair enough. There are also a number of other misdemeanours that will cost you a donation as well. We take it all in and snap large amounts of pictures.

Two vehicles towing boats which passed us along the way have stopped here too, but unlike us who are tea totalling they are imbibing of the ale. They are off to King Ash Bay for a 12 day jaunt on a houseboat. Whilst not local, locals they are Queenslanders. They are aiming for Daly Waters Pub tonight and driving into King Ash Bay tomorrow – and we thought we were putting in some distance per day. They head back to the bar for another round before heading off and Silver Leader checks out one of the boats with its owner. They certainly are fit for purpose. They are also full of beer or the tray of the trucks towing them are!

We have a long way left and we hit it again wondering when, if at any time, the boys may pass us again. They catch us at our next port of call, McKinley, the home of the Walkabout Hotel from Crocodile Dundee fame. Lunch here consists of a pie and soft drink, $10 per person. They only do pies on Sundays. The memorabilia madness here is much more commercial than at Blue Heeler but also just as rustic. There are pictures of naked shearers, how do we know they are shearers – they are shearing sheep in the buff.

There is a cardboard cut-out of the Paul Hogan which I have my picture reluctantly taken with. There is also a large map of Queensland we take pictures pointing to where we are.

We are back on the road again. All day the bush has been a mass of openness. There is very little roadkill but you suspect there might

be pockets of water as the grass although dry is high and the cattle are sparsely seen. We also see some Brolgas and emus. A camel was called by Robyn, but no one saw it nor was a picture taken so the conjecture is she didn’t – aren’t they the rules?

As we close in on Cloncurry the topography changes. What were vast amounts of cleared plain now becomes rocky escarpments. If this was an inland sea the drop offs and crevices would have been filled with large predators, I muse. At times the creeks are bone dry then suddenly one will have pools of water in it.

What had been long straight sections of road before Cloncurry quickly becomes undulating and windy. A Space Cab which passed us not far out of Winton is on the side of the road (I think a potty stop for a child) and goes past us again soon after we pass it.

Forbsy has cracked his grey water tank enough that he suspects it will empty before we stop at our final destination. If we get too close the automatic windscreen wipers come on. Today I have been playing with the cruise control rather than attempt to moderate speed myself. Fuel consumption on the flat road is more than 1 litre per 100km better. On the long flats it will cruise control.

We turn into Corella Dam and the fun of driving really starts. We hit the gate with 2 other vans. This means we are stuck with our bum on the road while the front van opens the gate. By the time we get to the gate another van has joined in. I get out to close the gate to be met by the driver who suggests if the gate is closed the site is unavailable. Actually, if the gate “is locked” is closer to the truth. He says he is going to follow and I suggest he ensures he shuts the gate and I head back to the car. Settling in I see him do a U turn and drive off, gate still open. I swear at him and Robyn trudges back to close the gate. This is a working cattle farm and the quickest way to lose privilege is an open gate, and cattle wandering the road.

The road is dirt, in places corrugated let alone containing washed out causeways, tight corners and steep hills. Another gate and Silver Leader makes, what could have been a costly mistake. He has been self-calling errors on himself all week. Leaving vents open or not changing the fridge in the van over to the car etc. This one takes us along a track we did not need to traverse. Whilst not impenetrable it is overgrown and Silver Leader loses a rear-view mirror, brushed off by the foliage. Both Forbs and I have already retracted ours. This means we can only see where we are going, not what is occurring behind us – probably a good thing.

Finally, the bush parts, and we are on the lake. Now to find a spot that will take the three of us in close proximity. This is a free camp so there is no organisation to the parking of vans. On our way in the spillway was filled as far as the eye can see with vans. Here on the other side of the hill there are fewer vans and there are amenities.

This is an idyllic spot. Vans settled, Silver Leader suggests we need to deploy the yabby traps. Their target are Red Claw yabbies and all reports are they have been “braining” them at the spillway. In discussions with a fisherman parked close suggest there was a large freshwater prawn caught the night before. All looks good.

A creek and not much weed, must be OK to throw a lure and perhaps not lose too many. I break out my trusty collapsible rod and box of small lures and start to flick a pattern on the lake. It’s 4.00pm and it’s still hot. The water seems alive with either insects or small fish. Nothing touches a lure. Time for a cheese and bickie break and a recap of the day with the team. 393kms today, another big day, in fact it’s Sunday and this is the end of the first week of the trip. Only 12 left.

Better fish some more. A few more casts and what, I can’t believe it, I have had a strike. I play for a moment, yes it’s still there, the line slackens and although my heart sinks the line goes taut again until finally, I land it. It’s a fish! Pictures are taken and the fish returned to the water. To suggest it was a tiddler would be an understatement, it was a little bigger than that, but it certainly wasn’t legal nor was it going to feed the team, although all the pictures we took did their best to prove otherwise.

As the sun recedes below the tree line I try to take some sunset photos, but they don’t do this place justice. I walk up the hill away from the camp, a dangerous and potentially silly thing to do in things but what the heck. At the top of the rise I am rewarded with some spectacular shots of the sunset. One in particular has the group wanting a copy.

Dinner tonight was very simple – a salad sandwich. We had eaten pies breakfast, and lunch and it was time to give some admonishment to the diet. The bugs flock around the outside lights. Many are small enough to infest into the van the screen mesh, but the Mortein makes light of them. Being a free camp dust and dirt are everywhere plus I had a tumble into the bank of the lake so I need a shower before bed.

The weather report suggests 33 today will be 23 tomorrow. Having said that, it’s hot this evening and although the wind is beginning to pick up we are leaving the windows open with a view to lowering the temperature inside the van. You can’t use the air-conditioning when free camping. It simply won’t work on the batteries.

Yet another big day tomorrow