Dinosaur Country and Crocodile Dundee's Walkabout

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Today we left Winton and said “Goodbye” to Nancy. She seemed reluctant to see us go but before we departed, she gave us a wonderful gift to thank us for including her in our travels recently – the painting she had shown me last night, with a retouched sky, now blue as it had been, and with a small addition in one corner – a little black dinosaur like “Banjo”. She’d called the painting “Dinosaur Country” and signed and dated it for us. It was done in acrylic paints, which she assured me would be dry, although she’d only finished the changes this morning. I put it back into a bag and laid it on the bed under a light cover to keep it place no matter how rough the roads would be on the trip. We were very touched and will treasure it as a special memento of both a wonderful trip and a special lady.


We finally set off North to Cloncurry, after the usual dump. It was very windy, but fortunately it was still a tail wind, which helped us along nicely. Happily, we passed a lot less dead kangaroos on this trip than on the way to Winton. Barry saw a flock of fast moving birds that almost hit the car and pulled up just short of the windscreen, but I missed it, it was over so fast. He swears they were Budgies, but I’m not convinced. We’ll see if we come across some more.


The landscape on this road keeps changing from dry and scrubby; open and endless with almost no shrubs at all; to lush green and plenty of trees, some reasonably tall for this area and with literally thousands of small termite mounds all through the woodland. Some people have dressed up the mounds that are close to the road. One had on a black waistcoat (sorry Aussies – I mean a vest); a few had underpants over their “heads” and bras on; some had shawls and one was wearing in a little pink dress and matching bonnet. We were travelling too fast to get many photos, especially of the best ones, but it was funny to see them. Mind you, I did wonder later what effect the clothes would have on the termites inside as they would have messed up their carefully regulated temperature.

We stopped for a drink break before Kyuna next to some interesting rock outcrops, had a look around and a stretch and then back on the road again (that would make a good song title, wouldn’t it?)


By the time we got to McKinlay, we were getting very hungry so we stopped at a rest area. As we entered we realised it was beside a pub called “Crocodile Dundee’s Walkabout Hotel”. Sure enough, it was the pub they’d used when making the first Crocodile Dundee film with Paul Hogan. There were photos around the rooms taken during the filming and some faded signs, just like in the movie. I decided Barry needed something a bit more substantial than a sandwich to keep him going the rest of the way so he had a Meat Pizza and I had a Sweet Chilli Chicken Wrap. They were both delicious and washed down with our usual lemon, lime and bitters, made properly.


Refreshed and refuelled, we set off for the last 100 km to Cloncurry. We arrived at Wal’s Camp just after 3.30pm. We had seen on Wikicamps that they charged $25 so we were not impressed when he charged us and extra $5 for our small slide-out (which has never happened before as we are no bigger than the larger caravans at 25ft). We were parked on a gravel, dusty car park beside some small trees. The facilities weren’t much chop either. He even had rules about which gate you must use to come and go and would fine people if they did the wrong things.


The only good thing about that caravan park happened just as we were arriving. A pair of pretty turquoise coloured parrot flew into a tree near the office. The park attendant said they were Cloncurry Parrots, and unique to Cloncurry. I found out later that they are a race of the Australian Ring-necked Parrot, just like the Mallee Ringneck we’d seen in Lightning Ridge. They all seem to have a wide difference in colours that I’m surprised they all bear the same name in the books. They certainly don’t look as if they are the same. Unfortunately, they didn’t stay long and we didn’t see them again.

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Photos

Dinosaur Country
This is the lovely original painting done by Nancy and given to us as a memento of our trip together to the Dinosaur Stampede and the Age of Dinosaurs Museum.

A Jump-up (mesa) Near Kyuna
We think this is the Ayrshire Hills. It shows another change in the colour of the landscape.

Crocodile Dundee's Walkabout Hotel
On a lunch stop at McKinlay we were surprised to see the pub they had used in the Crocodile Dundee movie.

Inside Crocodile Dundee's Walkabout Hotel
This room still has the rather faded sign from the film, "Never Never Safari Tour - Mick Dundee" etc.
There are also lots of signed photos from the making of the movie.

Dressed Termite Mounds
We kept seeing termite mounds with clothes and hats on all along the highway. It seems to be a real craze.

Another Hill on the Way to Cloncurry
This one looks as if someone has taken a bite out of it. The black of the rocks is a real contrast to the red soil below.