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Published: August 20th 2014
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Emus Along the Road to Winton
These Emus were easy to spot as the landscape was flat plains as far as the eye could see, with only dead-looking Mitchell Grass and the very occasional small tree or shrub, away in the distance. We set off towards Winton today and we saw Nancy leaving town as we headed for the Dump Point. She was parked by the side of the road so I rang her and asked if she was OK. She was, she had just forgotten to put on her extended mirrors. We said we’d see her in Winton, where we knew she was heading, too.
The drive to Winton was an easy one and Barry did the whole 174km without a break. There were lots of changes of landscape, especially the colours of the soil, from golden to white to red. The trees kept coming and going along the way, too.
We passed Nancy about half an hour out of Winton and soon after 3 kangaroos hopped across the road in front of us and disappeared into the long grass, fortunately far enough ahead not to cause a problem.
We arrived in Winton at 2.30pm and found the Tattersalls Hotel, where the caravan park was. As we pulled up, Old Bill came out to meet us, having been expecting us. He showed us our site and said to come across the road to the pub
Mesas Suddenly Appear on the Horizon
These lovely red flat topped mountains stitch the landscape at this point of the Landsborough Highway. to pay once we’d set up. The site was in a corner next to the main road but it was nice and large. We were just going across the road when Nancy turned up. She had remembered where we were staying and decided to come too. We all continued into the bar, us to pay and her to see if they had a vacancy. They did. We all paid up and then Barry backed her van into her site for her.
While she got herself set up we had lunch and then we all went for a drive around the area. We found the Musical Fence and had some fun banging away on the percussion “instruments” made from old metal drums, gas cylinders, car hub caps and various other dangling things. There was a “drum kit”, too, with a big plastic drum complete with foot pedal striker. The Musical Fence was a section of wire fencing that had been strung so tightly that it sang, both in the wind (unlike the Ship) and when struck with some pipe. They had erected a cover over it which had a resonator box in the roof and the sound carried
Barry Playing the Musical Fence
The roof above carries the resonator which amplifies the sound well. Each strand of the fence has a different note and you hit them with a piece of pipe. Great fun! up the post to it. They even had some music so you could play “Waltzing Matilda” except I think the fence needs tuning because we couldn’t make the right notes. It was fun trying, though. Big Kids – all three!
Next to this was a cairn commemorating the QANTAS Landing Ground, where the early planes landed from 1924 to the 1930s when they had bigger aircraft and needed a longer airstrip and a proper airfield, especially during WWII.
There was also a Heritage Truck and Machinery Museum, which was closed, but we could see loads of rusting vehicles all around the site, which looked more like a car wreckers than a museum. Don’t think we’ll bother with that one.
Our final stop was Arno’s Wall built by an eccentric German immigrant, Arno Grotjahn, around his house. He hated to see things go to waste and so frequented the local rubbish tips, where he would “rescue” items of all sorts and then incorporate them into his wall. He has an opal mine at Opalton, where he gets most of the rocks for his 2 metre high by 70 metre long wall. He was born in 1930 and is
Arno's Wall, Winton
This is just a small section of this weird wall. You can see the Aboriginal figure on the right, with a soldiers helmet above his head. There was even the kitchen sink! still going strong, we were told by another local. He had everything in his wall from a Singer Sewing Machine, Aga cooker doors, an old green fire extinguisher, a sculpture of an Aboriginal man with an Army helmet above his head, a cement mixer and a massive engine, which I wonder how he got up there! At the front of the house he had made some sculptures from the rubbish, including a flying saucer that was coming out of his lawn. We were most surprised to see a lot of plants emerging from the louvers at the front of the house. It looked derelict but it is still lived in. Definitely quirky!
After that surprising visit, I mundanely stopped off to buy milk and bread at the little supermarket and was amazed to find they had an SD card for my camera, as I had filled the last one! It was rather expensive, though, at $30. Then home for dinner and some more blogging, while we have the intermittent reception from the library. (We have no phones as the only transmitter here is Telstra and we are with Optus).
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