THANK YOU FOR BEING PATIENT WHILE THE PICTURES LOAD
Day 12
Sunday
21st August 2005
Click on the pictures for larger versions
We woke, had a quick cuppa and after an interaction with an aggressive,
whinging Victorian, who verbally abused mum when she went to use the
toilet - he obviously wasn't aware dogs were allowed to accompany
campers in the Rest Area - we packed up.
The young revellers weren't impressed that the other campers were up and
about packing up around 7.00am. It woke them up. Bugger!! Not a happy
group of campers. We were glad to be leaving.
Leaving Muttaburra, we
headed towards Morella - located on
the highway between Winton and
Longreach. The road turned to
gravel not far out of Muttaburra
but it was reasonable to drive on.
Because the terrain changed fairly dramatically as we came up over a
rise, we decided to stop and give the dogs a run in the open, plus take
some pictures of our surroundings. The shots below are the result.
Judy walked to the top
and took in the surroundings as I took a shot of where she was.
( Zoomed in )
Judy walked to the top
and took in the surroundings as I took a shot of where she was.
( Zoomed out )
This combination of plant life took Judy's eye enough for her to take
the shot below.
10.22am
10.23am
10.24am
The nearest property entry showed we were
at Woodleigh Creek.
Below are the location details.
Latitude: 22° 37' 60 S
Longitude : 144° 25' 60 E (Degrees, minutes and seconds)
Looking North
10.26am
10.30am
Looking
West
10.31am
10.31am
Again I
have no idea of the name of this species and no doubt the farmers will
say it's a weed but I thought the colour and overall look of the plant
deserved a picture or two.
10.34am
10.35am
10.35am
The entry to Woodleigh Park
Close-up of the hill in the left picture
If you click on this picture you'll see a Kangaroo silhouette in
the centre of the picture. He was watching us watching him. A group of
them kept a good eye on our dogs. I was very surprised to see any
wildlife at all in those hills.
10.37am
10.55am
11.07am
After a
relaxing 45 minutes or so we drove on. The condition of the road became
worse in various spots with rocks spraying up onto the caravan. As we
neared the main highway to Winton the road turned to black soil
which had been wet recently - from the same rainband we passed around
Cracow. The tracks in the black soil were like railway lines to the
vehicle and the caravan. I had to drive slowly as the tracks ducked and
dived where previous vehicles had slid around. There would be no way any
vehicle would make it through that section if it rained so I was really
pleased we had dry weather.
After turning
onto the Matilda Highway and heading north west towards Winton,
I decided to pull over to check everything after the rock and roll trip
from Muttaburra. Just as well, because our next problem had
occurred.
A bottle of Mint Sauce had rattled out of its spot and emptied out
inside the fridge!!
Judy was not a happy girl. When she opened the fridge, fluid ran
everywhere and had to be soaked and and cleaned up as best we could as
it ran into a section of the carpet near the bed. The positive side, the
smell of rotten eggs from the disaster near Cracow was masked by
the smell of mint for the rest of the trip.
The picture below left shows the Matilda Highway leading North to
Winton. The right picture is looking east across the railway line
to the East. This area was the greenest we would see other than around
Ravenshoe. Last time through, in 2002, it was nearly dust from
extreme drought conditions. This trip was like a "calendar picture".
2.22pm
2.23pm
Looking North
along the barbed wire fence separating the road from the railway line -
green as far as the eye could see.
Looking across
the road to the west- north west. From my map, the range seems to be the
Forsyth Range.
2.24pm
2.25pm
We refuelled in
Winton at the caravan park on the northern outskirts and
continued on.
Next stop was the Kynuna Service Station where we
set up camp.
The facilities were reasonable but then the price for the night was
brilliant, only $5.00.
A lovely young girl around 11 years old took a fancy to us
and chatted on about the dogs while we set the caravan up. Her parents
kept an eye on her and eventually called her over. They were on their
way home to Melbourne after travelling around far north
Queensland.
Around 7.00pm I decided to close the side window in the table area of
the caravan. It wouldn't budge. No matter what I did, I couldn't get it
to budge. So started a long process which ended in the glass cracking
and me having to remove the whole window in the dark and cold. After I
finally had it removed and on the kitchen table in bright light I found
the culprit. An aluminium rivet had wriggled loose and become jammed in
between the window and the track. With a pair of long nosed pliers which
luckily I carried in my tools, I dragged it out like pulling a tooth.
The glass was cracked but held solidly, so I replaced the frame and it
gave no troubles for the whole of the trip, allowing me to have it
replaced once we arrived home. The worst part of the effort was the
residue left on my arms and hands from the sticky caulking compound used
to seal it. Around 9.30pm after refitting the window, trying not to make
noise and stir the campers' dogs, I wandered over to the facilities and
had a long HOT shower to thaw out. Jude had a lovely cuppa ready when I
arrived back.
All was well again.