Winton to Kingfisher Camp

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Fuelled up and drove to Winton, stopped for a hat pin for Alex and while Kate was trying to choose a glass heart keyring, bumped into Richard and Di (the Ulty owners from Townsville). They are camped out at Bladensburg NP right by the river. Followed them out of town and set up - beautiful.

There were other kids swinging on a river and jumping in the river. Kate and Alex looked on dubiously until Alex finally plucked up the courage. He loved it. Kate decided to swing, but not go in the water, so only had her t-shirt and shorts on. She let go of the stick to readjust, and fell like a stone into the water. Screamed her head off, it was pretty cold and she didn’t want to get wet. I was so busy laughing I didn’t know which way to look. Anyway, good sport that she is, got back on and kept swinging. All was good, until she forgot and tried to readjust he hand and ker-splash down she went. She started to get a bit tired and her hands were getting blisters. Kate got changed whilst Alex kept swinging until dark - around 6.30pm. Had tea and the kids were out for the count as soon as their heads hit their pillow. Rod & Gill had drinks at Richard & Di’s camp and chatted until after midnight - had no idea of the time. Oh well.

On the way out of Bladensburg NP stopped to look at the Homestead and the Woolshed. Reached Cloncurry around lunchtime, got supplies and lunch and checked emails at bakery. Made some phone calls and drove on to Mt. Isa. Looked around, but just a large mining town - even had a McDonald’s and KFC. Went to the 360° lookout over the town for photos. Topped up the fuel tank and drove out of town to the rest area - free camping, but also road trains during the night.

Rod reattached the air cleaner hose which had come loose. Drove to Lawn Hill NP and stopped at Riversleigh Site D Fossil Findings - very interesting, except for the snake which slithered off the path about 30cm from my foot. That was after the huntsman spider crawled out from under the bonnet and scampered down the snorkel. On to Lawn Hill Gorge and walked out to Indarri Falls, Lawn Hill Creek and Gorge Lookout. Alex was at the back and complaining about being tired. He is never tired when at the front and leading - funny that. Anyway slowly down the steep hill Alex ever busy minding everyone else’s business turned around missed his footing and grazed the top of his foot on a rock. Well Rod didn’t see the graze and said “Just rub it better and get moving”. This made Alex all the worse. So hanging on to Mum, he hobbled down and limped back to the carpark. Kate was pointing out any obstacles and moving the bigger rocks to make things easier. The Ranger’s office was closed, but there were plenty of campsites - just very dusty. Had some lunch and headed off to Adel’s Grove to camp for the night. It has a bit expensive for what you got, but after a long day it was peaceful (no road train noise) amongst the palm trees and the amenities block close by. Relaxed and read, whilst the kids played DS.

Got up early and headed off to Kingfisher Camp, on Bowthorn Station, a bit North West of us and South West of Burketown. Headed along the Scenic Route of Savannah Way. Lots of gates to open and the ever changing road from narrow grassy track to rocky, to trees all around, then open paddocks, to twisty and bulldust on the roads. The signs to Kingfisher Camp are just listed as KFC - got the kids’ mouths watering for the real KFC. Bowthorn Station named each of their paddocks, like River Paddock, Gidget’s Paccock. Finally arrived to the booking office to lovely green lawns. Only $20 for the night and no charge for the kids. Nice open camping area, grass, sun, shade, taps for water from the river (needs boiling) toilets & showers. The kids were fascinated with the cows and followed them everywhere. The cows even snuck in at night to eat the grass beside the camping area. Sprinklers are put on for an hour every day to keep the grass green. Water is straight from the river, so a bit cold for the kids - only ran under a couple of times. The nights get quite cool, but the days warm up, and different to home, the afternoon keeps getting hotter until about 4.30/5pm. Doesn’t get dark until 6.30pm’ish.

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Photos

Bladensburg NP
Alex & Kate having lots of fun

Mt Isa Campsite
You can see how close we are to the road

Savannah Way
One of the many gates the kids opened - teamwork.

Kingfisher Campsite
Washing was the 1st thing we did - even before eating