Still in Lawn Hill at Adel's Grove Campground we enjoyed a drink accompanied by homemade arancini with parmesan sauce, got to love these backpacking European chefs in the middle of nowhere. The young woman behind the bar in Gregory Downs was from Manchester and she told us she had applied for a job at Adel's Grove but was unsuccessful. I'm not surprised, I imagine Lancashire Hotpot would not have gone down as well as the amazing French and Italian dishes currently on offer.
The following day we drove in to Lawn Hill National Park again and went on the rim walk. It was hard going, climbing up rocks yet again and we had foolishly opted to do it in the midday sun. The views were fabulous and the damage from the storm a couple of years back was clear to see. We also saw another crocodile sunbathing near where we were swimming the day before. On our return to the campsite, we went for a cooling dip (we really were not learning 🐊).
One more place on our list while up this far was Riversleigh. A 35km drive along a good dirt road with a few river crossings brought us to the World Heritage Site where fossils of megafauna (wombats the size of rhinos, flesh eating kangaroos etc.) have been discovered. The centre was unmanned but the information boards were brilliant. The reason the fossils were found at Riversleigh was all down to the limestone. The fossils were mainly formed in muddy pools rich in dissolved limestone. This then hardened forming a protective shell around the fossils. The signs led us along a path with steps up around a hill. There were rocks beside the path the whole way studded with endless fossils. I had not been too fussed about visiting Riversleigh but it was amazing. On the drive back a green flash shot across the sky looking suspiciously like a flock of budgies but too far away to be sure, we have still never seen one for definite.
One last dinner at the Hungry Emu - Hawaiian Chicken Burger and Homemade Lemon Meringue Pie - we spent an enjoyable evening watching the eyes of new arrivals popping out of their heads when they saw the menu. It may seem strange that we were all so excited about the food but, to get this far from anywhere everyone would have been travelling for some time and experienced the food in tiny towns where you are lucky to see a vegetable. In fact we were in a remote town once where there was a sign in the pub saying 'Please do not order vegetables if you are not going to eat them. I have to drive 250kms for fresh veg and do not want to see it left uneaten on your plate.'
The food may have been wonderful but the morning coffee was truly awful. Ian insisted on forcing one down every day but even he could not face it on the morning of our departure. Instead we chose to stop at Murray's Cafe as we passed through Gregory Downs on the way to our next destination. As I write this all these places are underwater after some nasty floods, it can be very tough living in a remote area for so many reasons.
Cloncurry is a decent sized town with both an IGA, a Foodworks and bottleshops so we picked up some, much needed, dog food and wine. We had planned badly and gone from alcohol restricted towns to the middle of nowhere without diverting to a big town in between. Cloncurry sorted us out and we set up in the Coppermine Freedom Camp which was under the road with no toilets but free and perfectly ok. We were not expecting a huge amount from Cloncurry but how wrong you can be. On our morning walk with Harvey we saw a sign for the Curry Merry Muster which began that very day! We caught the free shuttle bus from our campsite to the free rodeo, all paid for by a big mining company operating locally. It was amazing, bucking bulls, bucking horses, steer wrestling and roping. What fun!
Once we had our fill of cattle related excitement we caught the bus back and got ready to watch the parade through town later. It was excellent with a movie theme so there were Jurassic Park, Finding Nemo, Shrek and Men in Black floats followed by a procession of road trains, really good. Cloncurry is a town with a population of 3000 and was a very friendly place with none of the them and us feel of Alice Springs or Tennant Creek. The public spaces were beautifully maintained for everyone to enjoy together and it made for a very friendly, inclusive atmosphere We could not stay in the free camp forever so were headed just up the road to Corella Dam after a quick stop at the visitor centre to see the museum. It was $20 each entry to see some farming equipment which was visible from the outside without paying so we did not bother going in and got on our way.
Corella Dam/Clem Walton Park was fabulous and we set up on the water's edge and chilled watching Pelicans, Egrets, Cormorants, Swallows, Double Barred Finches. Unfortunately several caravans around seemed to think everyone wanted to listen to their music and at one point there were three different playlists competing to be the loudest. We had chosen the dam because it was close to Mary Kathleen, an abandoned Uranium Mine. It is possible to camp where the town used to be there but it was a bit dry and dusty so we preferred the dam. The mine was set up in the 1950s and a whole town was rapidly built housing over 1000 residents. The mine closed in the 1960s but reopened eventually closing for good in the 1980s. The town was quite something in its day with an olympic size swimming pool, school and oval but all gone now. The open cut mine has a beautiful but worryingly fluorescent looking pool of water at the bottom. You are not supposed to swim in it for obvious reasons but some people do, I imagine they regret it when they start glowing in the dark.
On the way back to camp we spotted a 4WD drive which took in three abandoned copper mines and finished up at Fountain Springs Waterfall It was well worth doing and I finally got some photos of the elusive budgies. We had booked one night in the Oasis Caravan Park in Cloncurry to do some washing and pick up more supplies. It was $35 a night and very pretty in the middle of town but the sites were tiny and I have seen cleaner showers, however it suited our purposes for one night and we were next door to our neighbours from Gregory Downs. Cloncurry delivered yet again as we went on the Chinaman's Creek Walk (we drove because it was pretty hot and quite long). The road took us up to a spectacular lookout then on to a dam which had been developed as a really nice swimming and picnic area with a big playground. The Post Office Hotel served good food and was dog friendly, what a great town.
The next leg of our journey took us down the Matilda Highway to Winton. We spotted The Walkabout Creek Hotel from Crocodile Dundee so had to stop for a cold one. The Matilda Highway was a strangely bumpy road with loads of road trains mainly going in the opposite direction, a bit uncomfortable but it got us to Winton.
We were delighted with our camp and enjoyed watching the birds and recharging our batteries. Winton is quite large and there were a few things we had not managed to get to see last time. One was Willie Mar's Market Garden and Shop. Willie was apparently quite a character who grew all his own fruit and veg and supplied the people of Winton for decades. The shop finally closed in 2000 and was well worth a visit. Next was the Qantas Marker, where Qantas began. Beside the marker was the Musical Fence with instruments made of old junk for visitors to play.
Jurassic Park was showing at the open air cinema and what better place to see it than the dinosaur capital of Australia? The film was not that great and the seats were a bit uncomfortable but we enjoyed ourselves, they give out blankets for the cold and watching a film under the stars was magical.
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