03 Jul 25 June to 3 July 2018 – Winton to Bogantungan
25 June 2018 – We left Winton and drove to a free camp at Dingo Creek Downs near Longreach. This is a huge bush camp with tracks going well back from the road and there was only 1 other van there. We had a camp fire and a very quiet night.
26 June 2018 – In to Barcaldine where we stayed at the Showgrounds for 3 nights with the luxury of power and water connected. It is a good place to stay and was very busy each day with RVs coming and going. We were able to do the grocery shopping, laundry, dinner at a pub and did a day trip along the Aramac-Lake Dunn Sculpture Trail. This is approximately 200 klms of mainly dirt road with about 30 sculptures along the way. Most were made by a lady sculptor who lives on a property in the area and uses all sorts of scrap metal to produce her works. She uses old pieces of corrugated iron, nuts and bolts, fencing wire, barbed wire, bits and pieces of old engines and machinery, shovels and spades and just about anything you could possibly find lying around a property. My favourites are the Returned Soldier, the Bottle Tree, the Cutting Horse Cowgirl and the Motorbike Musterer.
29 June 2018 – We left Barcaldine and travelled a short way south to Lara Wetlands on Lara Station (a cattle property). The wetlands is a small lake fed by water from the Artesian Basin. The water comes out of the ground at 44C and feeds into a thermal pool which is a great therapeutic bath to ease your aches and pains. The cooled water then feeds into the lake which supports a huge variety of birdlife and is a great place to camp around. There were plenty of RVs of all sorts there but it was a generally very quiet and peaceful environment. Fellow Southern Cross fifth wheeler owners are the current caretakers there.
We also did the Homestead Tour which explained the history of the station and the grand old homestead which has not been occupied since the 1970s and is slowly being restored by the current owner.
2 July 2018 – Back to Barcaldine for a night at the RV rest stop, where we were able to get right back from the road in a lovely bush setting and had a camp fire under the stars.
3 July 2018 – We are now starting to head in a generally south east direction on the way home to Maryborough. We are in no rush and will probably be home in a couple of weeks. Tonight we are at a free camp at Bogantungan (between Alpha and Emerald) next to a heritage railway site. Apart from the old railway buildings there are 4 houses here and it is a very quiet and peaceful place except for the occasional truck labouring up the hill on the nearby highway.