Day 15 Around Winton Take 2

We were a little exhausted after our big day chasing dinosaurs yesterday so we stayed in Winton, did some house duties - washing of car and clothes - and then visited some of the town sights.  We concentrated our efforts in the Waltzing Matilda Centre where we spent two and a half hours and could have spent as long again to do it justice.  It is a museum which has every conceivable piece of paraphernalia surrounding Winton, its history, its people its machinery, even down to a train engine and carriage which served the area.  It is very pro Aussie and capitalises on the "Waltzing Matilda" theme and its impact on the Australian psyche.  Had a look at Arno's wall where a guy has cemented everything from the kitchen sink and a couple of motor bikes into a 120m wall surrounding his property.  A bit quiet in town today given it is Easter Monday. 33 degrees again today with blue skies and a pleasant southerly breeze.  

210414 Rubbish bin protectors in Winton - all bins not just one

210414 Heat exchangers-used to reduce the artesian water from 93 to 50 deg C

210414 Banjo Patterson monument at Winton

210414 The "Jolly Swagman" in Winton

210414 Arno's wall in Winton

Day 14 Around Winton

We are in dinosaur country. This morning we ventured 110km (55km made, 55km unmade - should see the Land Cruiser) to the southwest along the road to Jundah to the Lark Quarry Conservation Park, where we viewed the 3300 dinosaur footprints immortalised in stone.  The site is covered by a purpose built structure to preserve the footprints. Some superb outback scenery at the site.  This afternoon we visited the Australian Age of Dinosaurs, about 25km to the SE of Winton.  This is the home of the largest collection of Australian dinosaur fossils and the most productive fossil preparation laboratory in the southern hemisphere.  This is home to "Banjo", the largest predatory animal discovered in Australia.  The museum is located atop a huge mesa plateau called "The Jump-Up" with large rocky outcrops, cliffs, canyons and some stunning views of the surrounding plains.  Winton is a typical outback town - wide streets, plenty of room and home also of the famous musical fence and of Waltzing Matilda.  Needless to say Banjo Patterson and the name Matilda feature greatly around the town.

200414 Dinosaur footprint at Lark Quarry Conservation Park

200414 The Gnome sitting in the spinifex grass at Lark Quarry

200414 "Waste not, want not" on the Winton-Jundah Road

200414 - Symbolic of a beautiful day travelling back to Winton

200414 "Banjo" (Australovenator Wintonisis) at the Australian Age of Dinosaurs display

200414 Fossil Preservation Laboratory at Australian Age of Dinosaurs

200414 Coming down from "The Jump-Up" Mesa

Day 13 Longreach to Winton

Had a quick look at the QANTAS Founders Museum and the Stockman's Hall of Fame in Longreach.  185km today along the Landsborough Highway brought us to Winton. Excellent roads.  The countryside seemed to improve as we came closer to Winton.  Apparently the amount of roadkill is a measure of the state of the land.  The drier the land the more the animals access the sides of the road where there is some green grass.  Here however, they are vulnerable to passing traffic.  Countless birds including crows, kites and eagles gorge on the free meals.  The countryside is flat with few trees.  Saw our first sheep this afternoon.  We are overnighting at a caravan park in Winton. Winton is a small town in the middle of nowhere.  Temperature currently 33deg.  Winton's claim to fame is dinosaurs.  More of that tomorrow. 

190414 Kites leaving their meal table as cars approach

190414 Stockman's statue at the Stockman's Hall of Fame

190414 A 747 and a 707 on permanent display at the QANTAS Founders Museum at Longreach

190414 An old fire track heading to the Easter parade in Longreach

190414 Typical countryside between Longreach and Winton

190414 Typical road between Longreach and Winton

Day 12 Barcaldine to Longreach

A lazy 125.6km form Barcaldine to Longreach via the Capricorn Highway.  Visited the Tree of Knowledge at Barcaldine, the birthplace of the Labor Movement and prompted by the shearer's strikes early in the 20th century.  The interior of the monument has hundreds of long pieces of timber hanging from the top.  They apparently are symbolic of the ends of shears and "chime" when moved by the wind.  We noticed as we came west from Barcaldine the countryside changed and became dry and barren, obviously still under drought conditions. Inspected an impressive array of historical farm machinery at Ilfracombe. The display was every bit of 500m long on the side of the main road through the town.  We overnighted on the Thompson River, about 3km from Longreach. The river is sizeable and was full of muddy water.  We met up again with Bob and his cocky who entertained us once again.

180414 The Tree of Knowledge Monument in Barcaldine

180414 The Tree of knowledge, dead but not forgotten.  Note the hanging timbers

180414 Soaking up knowledge from the Tree of Knowledge

180414 Introducing the gnome, checking out an old Chevy at Ifracombe

Day 11 Rubyvale to Barcaldine

305km from Rubyvale east along the Capricorn Highway via Willow, Alpha and Jericho, had us at a free camp outside Barcaldine by mid afternoon.  Again, brilliant weather.  Highlights for the day were crossing the Tropic of Capricorn, the view east from the Drummond Range east of Alpha and entering the catchment area for Cooper Creek and Lake Eyre  We did not know the catchment area stretched so far north.  The countryside is sparsely populated, cattle grazing mainly.  Roads were excellent and gun barrel straight for a lot of the way.  At the free camp we met one of the cleverest cockatoos we have seen for many a year.  The bird travels with his owner in a caravan. He can all but have a conversation with you and boy, can he laugh.

170414 Crossing the Tropic of Capricorn near Rubyvale

170414 Looking east from atop the Drummond Range

170414 One of the cleverest cockatoos we have ever met

Day 10 Fossicking at Rubyvale

The day dawned bright and sunny and we were in miner's mode. Full of expectation we headed off to the Miners Heritage.  It is a walk in mine so we did the touristy thing first and inspected the mine. The mine is about 40m underground and was a working mine before being converted to a tourist attraction.  We were able to see sapphires and zirconia in what they call the wash.  This is a bed of gravel, sand and clay from an original creek bed which overlays the granite base rock.  The gems originate from what were local volcanic eruptions, millions of years ago.  The lava was eroded over time, depositing the gem crystals in the creek beds.  

We bought a bucket of wash for $20 and fossicked in style for whatever gems might be present.  We found small sapphires but nothing of value of course.

160414 A bucket of wash ready to go to the surface

160414 The narrow wash layer above granite basement

160414 Two make believe miners with make believe gems

160414 A tunnel from which wash has been mined

160414 Vertical vent to enable air to circulate

160414 A vertical hole to take wash to the surface

160414 Fossicking in style and comfort at Miners Heritage at Rubyvale

160414 The fruits of our labour - genuine sapphires but of little value, except for the experience

Day 9 Emerald to Rubyvale

A leisurely 75km drive from Emerald to Rubyvale via Anakie and Sapphire.  Great touring weather today.  We are now in the gem fields and did some fossicking this afternoon after acquiring a $10.10 fossicking licence.  Found nought but have been bitten by the bug. Contemplated buying a mining lease plus associated equipment (refer photos) but decided against it as the property was facing west.  This visit to Rubyvale has been fascinating, seeing how the miners live and wondering if there are indeed riches in "them thar hills."  There are mullock heaps everywhere which confirms there is an awful lot of useless dirt between the gems. There is a cacophony of sounds assaulting our senses at the moment.  The lorikeets, apostle birds and cockatoos are providing a real distraction.  

150414 Brolgas and emus on the roadside near Anakie

150414 Someone didn't read the sign

150414 Rock Tamers by name

150414 Mining for gems at Sapphire - a mullock heap in the making

150414 Diane fossicking - such a big hole she dug with zero return

150414 Miners' digs at Washpool outside Rubyvale.  We considered making an offer on the one in the distance

150414 Wedge-tailed eagle near Washpool

150414 Prickly problem - must have lodged in the post during last wet