We set off from Winton Wanderers Caravan Park around 9.15am. It was a beautiful day with not a cloud in the sky although it was chillier than we’d got used to.

Check out Tommy the Orb Weaver spider that was weaving its web in the gardens between our RV’s. Ben named it Tommy. What an amazing creature.

Our first stop in Winton was at the dump point to do the job of dumping our cassettes and then to the servo for fuel for the motorhome. We then had a stop at the Winton sign on the outskirts of town.

It was a very uneventful 180km across flat grassy plains to Longreach. We passed hundreds of RV’s of all types along the way and a few 3 trailer road trains and one very wide load with a huge tractor on board. Rich and I commented that we felt like we’d seen more motorhomes on this trip than on previous ones. Of course we saw lots of caravans and we are amazed at how many different brands there are. But we just felt that we were seeing more motorhomes than we’ve noticed on previous travels.

As we approached Longreach and crossed the wide brown Thomson River we pulled off to the left to visit the Apex Park. This is a donation camp situated right on the banks of the river. It is a very popular spot and even though it was only lunch time it was pretty full already. Across the road is the overflow section and there were quite a few already camped there too. We’ve camped there before in the overflow however I definitely wouldn’t recommend it if there has been any rain as it is black soil that sticks like glue and it is very easy to be very bogged.

After checking out the river we set off again into town and to the Longreach Tourist Park where we were booked in for 3 nights.

Rich and I were pleasantly surprised by the park and we felt that it had been upgraded since we were last here. All new cement slabs on most sites, new bollards with power, water and sullage points for each site and a lot of red gravel has been added everywhere. Between the rows is a garden bed that the new bollards are placed in. I even noticed some tomato plants in the garden beds with lots of green fruit.

The pool was sparkling blue and the amenities, whilst old, were very clean.

We had two sites next to each other and as the motorhome is our only vehicle we had plenty of room. Most sites allow for a car then the slab then the caravan. Our site only has our motorhome then the slab with our awning over it then a large space between us and Katie where a car would usually go.

The kids are old hands at setting up camp by now and it didn’t take long before we were all set up. After everyone had lunch we set off in the car to explore Longreach. Riley stayed at camp for a bit of ‘me time’ and we dropped Ben and Maddie at the skate park to burn off some of that endless energy.

Katie was surprised how small Longreach was as she expected it to be much bigger. The whole town is only 5 blocks by 8 blocks on the south side of the railway line and only a few more blocks on the north side. It has a population of approximately 3,100 people.

Did you know that all the streets in Longreach are named after birds? The streets running east-west are all named after water birds. The streets running north-south are named after land birds which can sometimes lead to laughs when actual emus walk down Emu Street!

The Tropic of Capricorn runs through the centre of town so it can get pretty hot in Longreach during summer. Like many towns in the outback ‘the season’ runs from April to October. The summer months from November to March are just too hot for tourists and many tourist venues close for the summer.

Agriculture, particularly livestock, is the main industry around Longreach and then comes tourism. These two drive the other industries such as retail and construction, even health and education are reliant on the first two.

Longreach is home to two pretty well known museums, The Australian Stockman’s Hall of Fame and the Qantas Founders Museum. Both see thousands of visitors each year and are a huge draw card for visitors to the area.

Longreach is also a home base for the School of the Air and you can tour the facilities and even watch a class in action. We’d done this with the kids at Broken Hill and it certainly was interesting to see and we recommend a visit if you’ve never been before.

Longreach used to be on the Cobb & Co route and that tradition is being kept alive by Outback Pioneers. You can book a stagecoach ride with them and experience it for yourselves.

Ben and Maddie had a great time at the skate park and declared it a good one. Ben rates it a 7 out of 10.

Back at camp we booked some tours and enjoyed our dinner sitting under our awning. It was my turn to cook and we had crumbed steak, potato bake, veggies and gravy. It was yummy and enjoyed by all. There was none left after some had seconds. Always an indicator of a good meal when there is none left over!

It became very chilly and everyone retired as we had to be organised for our tour at the Stockmans Hall of Fame the next morning.

Rich decided to give our tour to the Australian Age of Dinosaurs Museum of Natural History a miss as he didn’t think getting in and out of the bus or the bus ride would be helpful. He is improving slowly and can move about more freely but he stayed home while the rest of us walked down to Reception to wait for our Red Dirt Tours bus to come and pick us up. We had to be at the meeting point at 8.10am.

Our bus duly arrived and we met Kate our guide for the day. There was just us 5 and one other couple from the caravan park on the tour. As we drove out of town to where the museum is located Kate gave a running commentary on the history of the museum and the Winton area in general. It was very informative.

The museum was started in 2002 on the sheep station owned by David and Judy Elliot. Much of the dinosaur bone preparation was done on their dining room table! In 2006 and fellow grazing family, the Brittons donated land on the top of the ‘jump-up’, a rugged mesa wilderness area, and the museum moved there in 2009. Today the museum houses the world’s largest collection of Australian dinosaur fossils.

The museum has been built in stages and there are more exciting plans for future development.

The best part about doing the tour with Red Dirt Tours is that once you arrive at the museum you skip all the queues and go directly in to the tours. Red Dirt Tours have it all organised so you go from one tour to the next on the bus without having to line up.

Our first tour was at the Fossil Preparation Laboratory. This is where the bones that are collected in the field are brought to be prepared and eventually put on display. It is painstaking work and much of it is done by volunteers. Some of the volunteers come back year after year to work on the fossils. We were told it is a little addictive!

We had a half hour break for some morning tea and then headed into our next tour of the Collection Room which houses the very special and rare bones that have been discovered near Winton that indicate a new species of dinosaur. Some of the bones are only a small percentage of the actual dinosaur but are enough for the experts to recognise when they are looking at a new species. The bones can indicate the size of the dinosaur, what it ate, how it moved and, in some cases, what its skin looked like.

We got back on the bus and were driven by Kate to our next stop at the Dinosaur Canyon Outpost. From there we walked to the March of the Titanosaurs. This exhibition is an amazing creek bed full of dinosaur footprints. Out guide told the story of what we were looking at and used a laser light to highlight the footprints of the different dinosaurs as they must have walked or moved along the creek. There were huge sauropod footprints, tiny dino footprints , crocodile footprints and even a turtle. The entire trackway was painstakingly removed from the creek where it was found and moved to the museum where it could be preserved in the specially built air conditioned building for visitors like us to hear the stories.

Following that we had the chance to walk along Dinosaur Canyon. Along the canyon are sculptures of the dinosaurs we’d learnt about.

We got back on the bus and driver Kate returned us to our caravan park. We all thoroughly enjoyed our tour of Australian Age of Dinosaurs.

We got back to camp to find Rich up and about and glad to see us. I think he was getting a little bored without company. His back was still very sore and it was still hard for him to go from sitting to standing and vice versa however he was definitely improving. We had a quiet afternoon and it was Katie’s turn to cook. Spaghetti Bolognese was on the menu. Yum!

We set up our chairs in front of the motorhome so we could watch the sunset. Sunsets at Winton are usually spectacular because it is so flat.

It was a hot windy day in Winton for grandson Ben’s 12th birthday. It was 30° and sunny with a hot dry wind.

It was an exited Ben that came over to the motorhome in the morning. He’d had a lovely time with his family opening presents in their van. We gave him our presents and he was excited to get a new basketball and I had been sneaky at Kronosaurus Corner in Richmond and bought him an hourglass that he’d admired in the gift shop. When he opened it he said ‘How did you get that without me seeing Gran?’

I cooked up a huge scrambled eggs and bacon on toast for everyone. Special treat for the birthday boy!

Rich was still in a lot of pain but moving a lot better and he was able to sit up in the chair and read his book.

We spent the morning relaxing, washing and folding and reading.

The Winton Wanderers Caravan Park is quite impressive. They have 80 sites, all drive through. The park is set out in a grid with each row having 10 sites. You drive in one way and drive out the other side. Each site is bordered on each side by garden beds with trees that will eventually provide shade. I don’t remember the park being here when we were last here in 2021 so I’m guessing it’s around 4-5 years old.

The park is set on 100 acres and is only 5 minutes from town. Just near reception are 5 brand new cabins under construction. I wonder if a swimming pool is in their future plans?

There are two amenities blocks with a laundry in each. Unfortunately the laundry in the one closest to us was out of action so Katie had to drive to the other one with her mountain of washing. I love my little 3.2kg Sphere washing machine in the motorhome. Although the loads are small when we are on a powered site with water hookup I can do many loads. With the wind the wet clothes were dry in not time at all. I even changed the sheets. Don’t you love clean sheets?

Ben wanted to go to the skatepark so leaving Pa to continue resting, Katie, myself and the three kids set off to explore Winton. We had a lot of fun taking silly photos at all the signs.

We visited the Musical Fence and the kids had fun making lots of noise. Maddie has really got rhythm! Just next to the Musical Fence is the site of the very first Qantas flight and there’s a sculpture to commemorate that historic moment.

We dropped Ben and Maddie off at the skate park while we had a wander along the Main Street and checked out the shops including the North Gregory Hotel, the Royal Theatre (one of the only open air theatres left in Australia), the tourist centre and other shops. We even found a Riley St! We picked Ben and Maddie up and they’d had a great time at the skate park and no limbs were broken.

Because it was Ben’s birthday we decided to all go out for dinner and, after all showering and getting dressed up, we went out for a birthday dinner at the North Gregory Hotel. We had a scrumptious dinner and the waitress even added some birthday candles to Ben’s fig and pecan pudding so we could sing happy birthday. I think Ben had a great day.

Oh dear! Last night while sitting around chatting Rich went to move his camp chair, and because it was on a slight hill, he fell backwards onto his back. The pain was excruciating. We managed to get him into bed however he didn’t have a very good nights sleep and so our two nurses, Catie and Jenny, recommended we seek medical help.

Julia Creek has a very new modern hospital not far from the RV Park so I drove him around there. He stayed in bed. I went inside and asked if someone could come and look at him as he was finding it very difficult to get out of bed. Well no, you can’t do that. He has to be brought inside the hospital. The nurse suggested I call the ambulance. The ambulance station in Julia Creek is opposite the hospital.

Really! I have to call the ambulance that I am parked out the front of to come and take Richard across the road into the hospital!

So as I was calling 000 the nurse came outside with a wheelchair. Now that was helpful. She couldn’t help me but I managed to get Rich up and out of the motorhome and into the wheelchair so I could wheel him inside the hospital. Poor fellow was in agony by this time. Once inside the nurse could take over and they quickly assessed him and called the doctor.

The doctor eventually rocked up and after examining Richard said he wasn’t too concerned and he’s probably jarred his back. He recommended X-rays however the nearest hospital for that would be Longreach. He ordered a shot of morphine and an anti nausea shot and once they were administered we were sent on our way.

We were headed to Winton which has to same size hospital as Julia Creek. The nurse did say to call in there if we needed to, otherwise wait until we get to the bigger hospital at Longreach.

So after a morphine shot Rich was NOT driving. He couldn’t anyway.

So I drove from Julia Creek to Winton via Kyuna. Wow what a fantastic road. It was mostly two lanes wide and in such great condition. There were lots of floodways that I had to slow down for (it is channel country) and a few cattle grids but on the whole it was a fantastic trip and I was able to hoon along at 95km/h most of the time.

We pulled up at the intersection of the Kyuna/Julia Creek Road with the main Winton/Cloncurry road and we’d just settled in for some lunch when who should arrive but Katie and the kids. They’d gone the longer way via McKinlay so they could visit the infamous Walkabout Creek Hotel from the Crocodile Dundee movie. They enjoyed their visit there but the kids have no idea who Crocodile Dundee is as they haven’t ever seen the movie. We’re showing our age!

After a lunch break we continued on to Winton and, when we arrived in the late afternoon, checked in to the Winton Wanderers Caravan Park just on the western outskirts of town.

It was our turn to cook and we finally got out Katie’s Weber and cooked sausages and lamb koftas. I made a veggie bake to go with it. We all sat outside under our awning, enjoyed dinner and watched the amazing sunset.

Left Hugenden after using the dump point and filling up with water.

Check out the gorgeous birds in the tree above the potable water tap.

Arrived at Richmond and had a delicious lunch in the cafe at the visitors centre, chicken, leek and mushroom pie YUMMMM. The lady said they were local pies and I recommend them.

We visited Kronsaurus Centre and found the audio guides a brilliant way to move around the museum and see the exhibits. There is a theatre that shows a 15 minute movie about the Richmond area 100 million years ago when the giant aquatic reptile Kronosaurus ruled the Eromanga Sea.

We were all amazed at the almost complete fossil of an icthyosaur that was found in the Richmond area. The most complete icthyosaur fossil in the world.

We spent about 2 hours at the museum. I think Maddie listened to every recording! It is an excellent museum and well worth visiting.

As it was still early in the afternoon we decided to continue our travels and head on to Julia Creek.

Who should we meet while trying to find a good camp spot at Julia Creek RV Park – Andy & Jenny. What a surprise! They were already camped up alongside Catie & Robert so we quickly moved our camp around to where they were already set up. Catie & Robert got a big surprise when they arrived back from town and there we were!

There was an emu dad and his chicks right near the park but we were warned not to get too close as he had already attacked a camper who got too close.

It was Katies turn to cook and we enjoyed pulled pork with mash and veggies. So good!

It was time to pack up and leave Charters Towers where we said a fond farewell to Bill. We were off to hunt for dinosaurs.

Heading west we crossed the great dividing range and the road became flatter and straighter. We began to see that quintessential outback red dirt.

There were so many RV’son the road. We saw our first 4 trailer road trains for this trip.

Approaching Hughenden we spied a large solar farm and a wind farm on the distant hills. We spied a giant windmill at Prairie.

On arrival in Hugenden we went directly to the RV Park we were quickly registered, paid our $10 donation and set up camp. We were glad to get there early in the afternoon as we suspected it would fill right up later in the day. The park is right next door to the showgrounds and provides camping for self-contained vehicles only. You can’t even let your grey water out on the ground at this one.

We set off in the car to visit the Flinders Discovery Centre, the home of a skeleton of a Muttaburrasaurus. Scattered around town are sculptures of ancient creatures and of course, a Muttaburrasaurus.

Maddie wanted to go check out the lake and have a swim but when we walked over to the lake the beach was full of mucky looking algae. I’m guessing that the beach isn’t cleaned until summer. So we walked around to the playground instead. We then walked down to the boat ramp and pontoon. The water looked pretty murky there too. A couple of teenage girls walked by and said ‘ watch out for the crocs! There’s a couple of freshies in the lake’. Maddie looked suitably frightened by that prospect however I suspect they were joking as we’d left croc country behind.

We were correct in our assumption that the RV park would fill up and by nightfall there wasn’t a spare spot left.

We were up bright and early to head out to our tour at Texas Longhorns. Caretakers Bill was on the job bright and early and wished us a great tour.

It only took about 15 minutes to drive out of town to the property where Texas Longhorn Tours are held.

We were all checked in by Lynda and then her husband Mick came along and gave us a little talk on why they started breeding Texas Longhorns and why they love them so much. We watched a short video of the history of the breed.

While we were watching the movie and listening to Mick Lynda had prepared a delicious morning tea with nice hot tea, homemade Anzac biscuits and a yummy butterscotch slice.

Following our yummy morning tea it was time to load onto the 4 wheelers and head out on safari. Katie was our driver. Each vehicle held 8 people. First stop on the tour was the Love Shack. This is where all the AI happens. Lynda demonstrated how that works and showed us the various bloodlines that they use to produce calves. We were shown the fantastic cattle crush designed and built by Mick to hold these amazing cattle with their very long horns.

Next stop was the cattle yards where the kids were excited to meet Dougal, a Scottish Highland steer. Dougal is so quiet you can just walk up behind him and pat him. His hair was so soft!

In the paddock near the cattle yards were the two huge grey Percheron horses that Mick and Lynda use to pull a large wagon for their wagon tours every Wednesday.

Back on the 4 wheelers and Mick led us out into the paddocks to check out the cattle. The first paddock was full of cows and calves. This is where we saw Matilda, the current Australian record holder for the widest horns.

Then we traveled into another paddock that houses the steers. We were able to stop and get off and some of the cattle were so quiet and seemed to enjoy a pat. The two American Bison were the bossiest of this group of cattle and they just barged their way through the gentler Longhorns.

Back at the homestead we visited the JR Gallery of Horns. This old stable has been turned into a memorial for old JR who once held the Guinness World Record for the widest set of horns.

We all thoroughly enjoyed our tour at Texas Longhorns and recommend it to anyone passing through the area. 5 stars!

Back at camp Rich and I borrowed the car and went out to Mitre 10 to swap and go two gas bottles then we drove around to visit Bill’s wife Bea. Bea had a fall the week before and had broken her kneecap and was waiting to have surgery. She couldn’t visit us so we went to her. We had a lovely hour chatting with Bea and it was great to catch up. We hope her knee surgery goes well and recovery is quick.

Bill joined us at our camp for a drink and a yarn after he finished his caretaking job for the day. He is so passionate about his hometown and can talk for hours about Charters Towers. It was great to listen to.

We finally got away from our great camp at Majors Creek Farm Stay around 10.30am. It was a slow start to the morning.

It had been a fabulous camp amongst the mango trees. We all could have murdered the roosters next door though. There were two of them and they set off very early in the morning. They sounded like they were trying to outdo each other with the loudness and determination of their cock-a-doodle-dos. Be warned if you camp there that the roosters are right next door!

It was a cloudy and overcast day as we headed west. We crossed the mighty Burdekin River over the Macrossan Bridge. It is hard to imagine the water level being almost up to the bridge!

I had contacted an old friend who we had met when crossing the Nullarbor in 2016. Bill and Bea now live in Charters Towers and, after contacting Bill, found out that he was currently caretaking the campground for the Council at the showground. We went directly to the showground where Bill was waiting for us. He had a great grassy spot picked out for us with access to power and water and we quickly set up camp.

Pa and Riley decided to have a quiet reading afternoon but, after lunch, Katie, Ben, Maddie and I set off to check out ‘the Towers’. We drove up to Towers Hill and wow! The views from up there are amazing. There were boardwalks with information boards telling the history of the Towers.

None of us had any idea of the significance of Charters Towers in Queensland or Australia’s history. At one time Charters Towers was known as ‘The World’ as it had the most significant gold mines in the world at that time. It was once the second largest town in Queensland after Brisbane. It is now home to some 8,000 people.

A gold rush started in 1871 when the adopted Aboriginal child of Henry Mossman, Jupiter Mossman found gold in some quartz. They’d been caught in a terrible storm and their horses had escaped. Jupiter was collecting the runaway horses when he found the quartz. The three men then went to Townsville and lodged their claim.

This started a gold rush and people came from all over the world to try their luck. The town had some 28 pubs at one time and many fortunes were made and lost. Some of the historic buildings in the CBD are from that time. These include the grand Post Office, the City Hall, the Ambulance Station, the Newspaper, and the Stock Exchange Arcade.

For so many years the Stock Exchange in Charters Towers set the price for gold world wide. Isn’t that amazing!

By the end of the peak period around 1916 some 7,000,000 ounces of gold had been mined in Charters Towers. At today’s prices that would be worth some $21billion US dollars.

Mining continues in the area with three mines still in operation. These mines employ over 2,000 local people so mining still plays a significant role in the area.

Towers Hill also played a significant role during WWII. Some 29 concrete bunkers were built into the hill and they were used during the war to store bombs and other ammunition in the fight against the Japanese. There was a very real fear in Australia at the time that the Japanese would invade and the Charters Towers area had thousands of Military personnel based there.

Some of the old bunkers are now a memorial and have interactive displays. Ben was a bit disappointed that you couldn’t go underground into the bunkers!

Down the hill from the Lookout is a memorial to all the miners at the Miners Walk. This is a boardwalk with information boards about the miners and there’s a list of all the miners who have died over the years. Ben and Maddie loved the glass covered mine shaft that they could lie on and peer down into. It is filled with water at the bottom but apparently goes much further down.

We took the kids back to camp and set off again to check out Goldtower. Goldtower is a relatively new complex housing large shopping , a shopping plaza, Mitre 10, a new child care centre under construction as well as being home to the incredible Wall of History mosaic.

It is also home to The World sculpture and an old poppet head that has been restored with a huge pile of fake gold at the end.

The Wall of History is an amazing artwork along one side of the Plaza building and is 7 metres high and 80 metres long. It depicts the history of Charters Towers from the accidental finding of gold by Jupiter Mossman through to the golden age of the town. The mosaic is made from over 5,000,000 tiny tiles and is truly spectacular.

On the walls of the large stores are another set of mosaics also depicting life in Charters Towers through history.

It was great to catch up with Bill. What a great camp spot we had.

We set off from the Big4 Adventure Whitsunday at 9am. I think we were all glad to be leaving. We’d enjoyed our stay but we were ready to be without all the people. Airlie Beach is lovely but it is a tourist town and busy with lots of visitors. The Big4 is a huge park but it was almost full for the 5 nights we were there. We were all looking forward to having a bit of space around us.

Stopped at Bowen to check out the Visitor’s Centre and The Big Mango, another big thing to add to the growing list we’ve seen.

We saw lots of vegetable growing around Bowen. It was near there we saw our first pineapple plantations and mango orchards.

After Bowen the road passes though very flat cattle country. The A1 was very busy with trucks, RV’s of all types, buses and cars.

Away off to the left as we travelled north we could see the line of hills that form part of the Great Dividing Range

Spied another big thing at Gumlu so we stopped for a pic with The Big Pumpkin. There was a large fruit and vegetable stall selling all sorts of fabulous produce. The area is a huge vegetable growing one. Vast fields of vegetables were on both sides of the highway

We came into The Burdekin Shire. The Burdekin Shire grows the most amount of sugar cane in Australia. Huge fields of sugar cane with the little cane trains again. We crossed the very wide Burdekin River after Home Hill.

We pulled up at Plantation Park as we came into the town of Ayr for a lunch break. This is a huge park with plenty of room for parking. We found a good spot under some trees near the huge Adventure Playground. A temporary Visitors Centre is located in the park and further on was another big thing, a giant carpet python.

We had to check that out. Turns out that it is a sacred place for the local Indigenous people. Gubulla Munda is the totem for the local people and it is in this spot that some of the ancestors bones were reinterred after being returned to Australia from the UK. There is scientific evidence that the Birri-Gubba nation have been in the area for over 40,000 years.

From Ayr we started to head inland. We avoided going all the way to Townsville and turned off onto the Woodstock-Giru Road.

We left behind the cane fields and found our camp for the night at a farm stay in Majors Creek. The farm stay is on a Mango orchard. There is a mailbox at the front gate that contains registration forms and maps of the farm. You are free to park anywhere under the huge 100 year old mango trees in the front paddock. They have two powered sites, potable water is available, rubbish bins and you can have a fire. They provide a few fire pits and you can collect wood in the paddock.

After setting up camp the kids walked down to the back of the farm and had a play at the creek. You could see from the debris in the trees on the creek bank how high the water level in the little creek can get up to.

We utilised one of the fire pits, an old washing machine inner, and had a great night around the fire. Late in the afternoon another motorhome came in but they camped away from us and we felt like we had the place to ourselves. That was lovely after being in the Big4 for the last 5 days. On to Charters Towers in the morning.

It was a chill day at Airlie Beach on Day 5 of our stay. Everyone was tired from our big day at Whitehaven Beach & Hill Inlet the day before so it was a reading books, watching TV, playing games, sort of day. Just what everyone needed. You have to have a down day every now and then to recharge.

It was a hot day 29° and 45% humidity. I really wouldn’t like to be there in summer if that was a mid winter’s day.

Katie, Maddie and I went out in the late afternoon to do the groceries and a little surprise shopping for a birthday that’s coming up soon. We bought some nice surprises!

The kids spent the afternoon at the pool and water slides. It was my turn to cook so I cooked fish and sweet potatoe chips with a spinach, beetroot, walnut & feta salad. Delicious.

We were to pack up and leave the next morning and begin our journey inland. I think we’d all had enough of the coast and being around lots of people. So I found us a camp via WikiCamps at a farm stay on a mango orchard. That should be fun.

It had been a great 3 weeks traveling along the Queensland coast and exploring some of the places we’d heard of. We’d enjoyed our stays at Hervey Bay, Bundaberg, Rules Beach, Yeppoon, Cape Palmerston, and finally Airlie Beach. We’d enjoyed walking on beaches, swimming, doing tours of the major attractions, learning lots of history and what each area is known for. It had been a leisurely pace with two night stays at most places.

Now it was time to head inland to Charters Towers and then on to the Dinosaur Trail.