Australia
Winton

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    • Day 179

      Winton - Abkürzung beendet!

      September 30, 2019 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 35 °C

      With Winton we have reached the end of Australia's longest shortcut. It is a small city with several hotels, pubs and cafes. From here there are only 599km left to the ocean!

      Wir haben Winton und damit das Ende der 2724km langen Abkürzung erreicht. Jetzt bleiben noch 599km bis nach Townsville an der Ostküste Australiens. Mit anderen Worten sind wir spätestens übermorgen wieder am Strand!

      Winton ist eine kleine Stadt mit zahlreichen Cafés, Pubs und Hotels. Heute Abend werden wir uns ein leckeres Steak und das ein oder andere Bier in einem der Pubs gönnen.
      Hier in Winton wurde übrigens im Jahr 1920 die bis heute größte australische Fluggesellschaft Qantas gegründet.
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    • Day 211

      Outback IV: Roadtrip mit Matilda

      May 8, 2023 in Australia ⋅ 🌬 22 °C

      Die erste Hälfte der Fahrt nach Darwin führt durch den Bundesstaat Queensland. Hier ist es auf den Straßen weniger einsam, als wir erwartet hatten. Pro Stunde begegnen uns 10 bis 20 Fahrzeuge. Hierzu gehören jede Menge überlanger LKW, sogenannter Road Trains. Auf 3 bis 4 Anhängern ziehen diese 53 Meter langen Riesenfahrzeuge Waren, Kühe, Baustellenmaterial und mehr quer durch Australien.

      Auf der Strecke sind außerdem besonders viele Grey Nomads unterwegs. Diese oft frisch gebackenen (Un)Ruheständler:innen erkennt man an ihrem Allrad-PKW, hinter dem sie ihren oft überlangen Outback-Caravan ziehen. Viele Senior:innen verkaufen ihr Haus, investieren den Erlös in luxuriöse Campingausstattung und verbringen ihre Zeit damit in Australien immer dem guten Wetter hinterherzufahren.

      Genau für solche Australien-Touren sind Themenrouten entlang der Highways ausgezeichnet - man hat etwa die Wahl zwischen dem Great Inland Way, dem Savannah Way oder dem Adventure Way. Durch Queensland folgen wir dem "Matilda Way". Dieser ist benannt nach dem Volkslied "Waltzing Matilda", das als geheime Nationalhymne Australiens gehandelt wird - und sogar schon bei olympischen Spielen statt der Nationalhymne gespielt wurde. Im Örtchen Winton ist ihm ein eigenes Museum gewidmet. Für uns wird das Lied zum täglichen Begleiter und Soundtrack der Fahrt.

      Jeder Ort bewirbt in Hochglanzbroschüren seine Sehenswürdigkeiten, die natürlich überregional bekannt sind. Überhaupt kann man die Sehenswürdigkeiten kaum verpassen, da sie sich in jedem Ort entlang der Hauptstraße aufreihen und der Highway praktischerweise jeweils über eben jene Hauptstraßen führt. Wir kommen also automatisch an der Riesenameise von Augathella, dem Geburtsort der Fluglinie Qantas sowie der Royal Flying Doctors, die die medizinische Versorgung der entlegenen Gebiete sicherstellen, vorbei. Die einzige große Stadt, die sogar ein Kino hat, ist die Minenstadt Mount Isa. Die Stadt beherbergt eines der größten Bergwerke der Welt, das Silber, Kupfer, Zink und Blei an die Erdoberfläche bringt. Durch die vielen Bergmänner (!) und die Abgeschiedenheit hält sich hier das eiserne Gerücht, dass es in Mt. Isa einen erheblichen Frauenmangel gäbe. Außerdem ist interessant, dass die Mine sich nicht irgendwo in der Nähe der Stadt befindet, sondern mitten in der Stadt. Oder die Stadt mitten in der Mine bzw. mitten in der Tagebau-Grube.

      Ansonsten geht es auf flacher Strecke geradeaus durch die mal mehr mal weniger rote Landschaft. Während wir immer weiter in Richtung Westen fahren, werden auch die Abstände zwischen den Örtchen größer. Anfangs sind es weniger als 100 Kilometer, später eher 200 Kilometer. Ausnahmsweise darf man hier statt der üblichen 100 km/h sogar 110 km/h fahren.

      Damit es nicht zu langweilig wird, haben einige Städte Schilder mit Quizfragen zu ihrer Stadt aufgestellt - nicht, dass man das Highlight unterwegs doch verpasst ;-)
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    • Day 644

      Camp 9 - Corfield (+216=1508km)

      June 4, 2016 in Australia ⋅ ☁️ 23 °C

      Corfield Free Camp

      Route: https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=1U1ZKM…

      DE: Die erste Nacht im Outback. Temperatursturz nach Sonnenuntergang von 25°C auf 5°C in der Nacht. Kaum vorstellbar, dass ein paar hundert Kilometer ins Landesinnere, die Temperatur trotz gleicher Höhe und Breitengrad so unterschiedlich sein kann...

      EN: The first night in the Outback. The temperature dropped after sunset from 25°C to 5°C at night. Hard to believe, that just a couple of hundred kilometers towards the center, there's such a big temperature difference. Even though we're on the same elevation and latitude...
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    • Day 16

      Winton Australia

      August 24, 2021 in Australia ⋅ ☁️ 20 °C

      What did I say about pleasant? The winds came back with a vengeance last night! It was one of those situations I'm sure every camper has been at some stage. Wind howling, awning still up and threatening to disappear in to the dam, and freezing cold. We managed to roll the awning up and get everything away eventually. A couple of rubber mats disappeared but were found floating on the dam's edge in the morning. So far so good. No damage done.
      Taking the short cut today from Muttaburra to Winton via Morella. 206km in total and 76km of dirt. When we enquired at the Muttaburra Library the librarian assured us it was in “great condition”. Her husband had driven it “just the other day” and it had all been graded. We can't complain too much, most of the dirt section was pretty good although we had about 10km that hadn't seen a grader in a while. Tyre pressures down to 25psi and all the vents sealed, we had no problems. We did come across the grader and compactor about half way and after that it was smooth sailing. Only damage inside the van was the smoke alarm fell off the ceiling.
      Camped up for the night at The Long Waterhole just outside Winton on the road to Bladensburg National Park, where we stayed last time we were here.
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    • Day 7

      Winton - Hughendon

      April 13, 2023 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 32 °C

      Today was a day that took two unexpected twists.

      This morning was a last chance to look around Winton. This included having a look through the free part of the new Matlida Centre, the old one burned down in 2015, and a number of relics were lost. The centre is a commemoration of Banjo Patterson. Arno's Wall and the Musical Fence were two other quirky features of Winton that we had to check out. Near the musical fence was the original QANTAS airfield. The airfield had no runway, it was basically an open paddock for the planes to take off. They needed to take off into the wind, so the weather dictated their runway direction.

      Twist number 1. When the two other vehicles left for Richmond (the next stop on the dinosaur tour) we missed the memo on the direction they took. When we realised about 15km out of town that they took the Cloncurry Road route (and we didn't) there was literally nowhere for us to turn around for km after km. The decision was made to keep going and meet the family at Richmond.
      Twist number 2. Another 30km down the road the Ranger threw up a spanner icon on the dash with a 'check the manual' message. At the same time the ute shut down our accelerator and we rolled to a stop. The engine light came on and panic started to set in. We decided to head for Hughendon but the vehicle shut down another 3 times on us over the next 60km or so. I decided to lock the ute into 5th and we successfully made it to Hughendon, straight to the mechanic. After a quick computer check it was confirmed that the auto transmission had been overheating, mainly due to pulling the van in the 38deg afternoon sun. The ute was cleared to be safe to use for our continuing trip which was the best news I received for the day.

      The afternoon was spent having a refreshing dip in the local pool and then some nice afternoon and sunset photos of the region from the top of a local jump-up called Mount Walker. An evening walk around the lake near our camping area finished the evening.

      The rest of the crew will arrive in Hughendon to meet us tomorrow.
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    • Day 6

      Day in Winton

      April 12, 2023 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 36 °C

      This morning started with a walk of the main street today in Winton. We visited an opal shop that also included a back room with both opal history and memorabilia as well as a big wheelbarrow full of boulder opal offcuts. The girls could buy any two rocks for $10. They all found a nice one each. The owner showed them some tips of what to look for but couldn't find anything better than they found. A good find, girls!
      A change of plans had us doing the Age of Dinosaurs tour at 1pm today. The facility was in an amazing location, on top of a jump-up about 20km out of town. There was an impressive view of the countryside from up there. The tour started with a video and an explanation of the different dinosaur bones on display. They had the bones of banjo, a relative of the dinosaur who caused the stampede on display. Our visit also included a tour of their research centre and workshop, where they took us through the process of removing the bones from the ground and then out if the surrounding rock layer. The third part of the tour was a little train/trailer trip out to the newest section where they had another indoor dinosaur stampede encased in mud turned to stone. This one was about 50m long and was painstakingly moved piece by piece from another location to the top of the jump-up. An amazing feat.
      Tonight is dinner at the Gregory Hotel. The Gregory is famous for being the first place that Banjo Patterson recited his poem 'Waltzing Matilda'.
      After dinner we spent an hour in the outdoor theatre, watching their historical footage of old local ads, news reels, what looked to be one of the first Sylvester and Tweety cartoons and then a couple of slapstick black and white clips from yesteryear. It was a beautiful, calm, starry night and really was a lovely step back in time.
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    • Day 11

      Winton

      May 4, 2021 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 32 °C

      Winton is located in Central Western Queensland about 180 Kms northwest of Longreach. The area is home to diverse landscapes, beautiful red earth, spinifex, undulating plains, flat toped ridges with steep escarpments and dry channel beds waiting for the wet season, and of course FLIES ! ! ! Rich in history with links to the Great Shearers' strike, Waltzing Matilda and Qantas. The area has a new added attraction of even older history, in fact ancient history with the discovery of Dinosaurs !!
      Photos attached
      Early Qantas reference
      Horse and buggy rides in main Street
      Duncan playing his version of "Waltzing Matilda" on an outback junkyard set of drums.
      Banjo Paterson Statue outside the Waltzing Matilda Center.
      The North Gregory Hotel where the first recital of Waltzing Matilda took place on April 6th 1895
      The Tattersalls Hotel - Winton's oldest public bar was at the site of this hotel in 1882-the lower floor of the current hotel dates back to 1885, second floor to 1914.
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    • Winton

      August 24, 2021 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 19 °C

      We first visited Winton years ago for their outback festival. "You are crazy to go way out there. There's nothing there." our friends chided. We met a close friend who had done the trip by bus out thwre and had the best time ever. I won the Billy boiling competition and we laughed till we cried when they ran the dunny races.

      Feats of strength, chopping contests of axe skill, loud music. It was a wonderful time to be remembered forever.

      Winton has changed quite a bit in 20 years. The streets have been sculptured and many businesses now cater for the growing tourist trade as much as the traditional rural support.

      Winton is still one of the places we enjoy visiting. The artesian bore water still stinks though.

      If you ever waltz your Matilda out this way, be sure to drop in.
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    • Morning Walk - Conn Waterhole

      August 20, 2021 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 21 °C

      The river network here is an enormous series of mostly dry channels covering a huge area. Come the wet season it is a huge expanse for of water with only the tops of the trees giving a clue how shallow the waters really are. As the water recedes after thee rains, the floodwater cuts channels into the black soil along the flow.

      For reasons I don't understand, in some places there are huge wide and sometimes quite long waterholes left filled with muddy water long after the floods have made the long journey to Lake Eyre.

      After the floods there are areas where the black clay soil shrinks as it dries leaving huge cracks in the ground. Walking requires one to watch foot placement to avoid twisting an ankle or worse.

      Today we set off from the camp, along the waterhole. We came on to the power line then followed that until we reached the road from the highway. By this time we were glad of the ease of walking on the crack free road back to our camp. In an hour and fifteen minutes we walked 3.3 kilometers.

      There were no birds to be seen after we veered away from the waterhole.
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    • How Do We Use Muddy River Water?

      August 19, 2021 in Australia ⋅ 🌙 23 °C

      Water is one of the things that is ever on our mind when we travel. We have limited ability to carry lots of water with about 14 - 20 days supply on board if we were only drinking the water we carry. If we need to shower from our on board water we would be looking for a refill every 5-6 days.

      We can stock up on food for about two weeks with emergency rations for another ten days or so. If we can find suitable water for bathing and washing we can stay out for a lot longer.

      Many times we have nearby rivers or billabong, but the water is often very muddy and not usable as is. There is a way to use this water though. We treat it in the same way your local council would. We collect buckets full of muddy water and add a tiny amount of alum. Then it is left to settle. This takes a few hours and then the clear water is simply siphoned off ready to use.

      If we had to use this water for drinking we could boil it or use our 0.3 micron filter to make it safe for drinking.

      A little effort and we can extend our time in remote places. This is a travelling skill that most people are not really aware of.
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