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| We were both looking forward to our first venture into Australia's Outback. So instead of pointing La Dolce towards the ocean, we turned west at Townsville and began our journey into the heart of Oz. |
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| Breaker, breaker, this is long distance Clara in La Dolce Vita, coming up behind ya......... |
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| Our first destination was Charters Towers, which used to be Queensland's second largest city during the 1870's gold rush. At the time it was known as 'the world' due to its cosmopolitan population. Today its well preserved buildings are a showpiece, including the Bank of Commerce. |
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| Although the outback can be really remote, in parts the landscape dramatically changes. Here in the Lilyvale Hills the view was quite stunning. |
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| Porcupine Gorge National Park, is a stark contrast to the dry country that surrounds it. |
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| The floodwaters from the north leave behind water holes in the gorge, which are perfect for a refreshing skinny dip. |
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| The waters also bring some brilliant life to the country, including native flowers, like this banksia, which was overtaken by hundreds of butterflies (common Australian crow) - just beautiful. |
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| Even in the arid channel country of the south west, wildlife can be spotted (not so easily photographed mind you). |
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| Wedge tail eagles rule the sky and the highway when there is road kill to be had. |
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| And then there is the wildlife that became extinct millions of years ago. |
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| Much of Queensland's Outback was once part of the Great Inland Way, resulting in the region being rich in fossils. I suppose this is one good way to camouflage a rubbish bin. |
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| One of the highlights of the dinosaur trail is the world's best preserved dinosaur stampede at Lark Quarry Dinosaur Trackways near Winton. |
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| Protected from the elements, the trackways of hundreds of small dinosaurs can be seen escaping from one big mother of a dinosaur. |
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| The tracks lay preserved and pristine for 93 million years until the 1960's, when a manager of a nearby grazing station spotted something unusual. If you look hard enough, you can see the large dinosaur footprints. |
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| We found some magic camp spots, this one just happened to be next to a billabong, under the shade of a collibah tree! |
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| And this is Mr Banjo Paterson, who wrote what is possibly the most famous Australian song of all, Waltzing Matilda. |
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| And this is the North Gregory Hotel in Winton, in which, after a few beers, Banjo put pen to paper and wrote the lyrics to the tune written by his young lady friend. |
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| We haven't yet mentioned the amount of dust that seeped quite freely into the van. Just imagine not dusting a house for about 10 years. That is what we were faced with every evening. |
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| Many of the pubs we came across in the Outback were quite unimpressive externally. Walk inside however and there was always a very cold beer waiting for us and a local who liked a yarn. |
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| Before reaching Birdsville, we stopped for a couple of nights in Bedourie, where we met the trainer and jockey of Narabeen above. Who later ran at the Birdsville Races and won!!!! :) |
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| Whilst in Bedourie we were also joined by 450 variety club bashers, who were driving from Cairns to Birdsville raising money for charity. |
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| There were 170 cars involved and between them they raised $2.1mil - pretty impressive. |
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| The cars had to be at least 34 years old, modified for the outback tracks and dressed to impress. |
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| Back on the road, most of the highways were single lane and a game of chicken was played when a vehicle came in the opposite direction - apart from when a road train was approaching, of course. |
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| Accommodation was pretty basic in the middle of no -where. |
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| But there was always a shower and a meal available. |
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| What the ???? We were intrigued to know whether the hunters of these wild pig tusks were subscribers to Australia's 'Bacon Busters' magazine. |
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| Sunrise was pretty spectacular. |
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| It doesn't get much more outback than when you climb a giant red sand hill. |
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| It was quite early in the morning when we came across these solitary footprints, from one of the many critters that prowl the country at night. |
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| Yet another pub!!! The visit to the Court House in Mitchell, lead to our biggest hangover of our entire trip, after we spent an evening with an Australian Bounty Hunter. Whether he was or not didn't really matter as he could tell a good story or two! |
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| Despite being as far from the ocean, as we have ever been in Australia (for Linds in his life!) we thoroughly enjoyed our venture into the country's heart. We can now truly appreciate how hard life would have been for Australia's first pioneers. We do however also understand why so many people are drawn to this part of the country. It really is remarkable and so worth the effort to visit. We will return. |
| Click here to see the fun we had at the Birdsville Races |
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