Well this is the last of the catch up posts and hopefully we can keep this updated more regularly; we did have a great few days at Winton which you will read later on but lets start with the van park and other options available.
The caravan park at Winton is the Matilda Country Tourist Park and comes under the Top Tourist banner (you definitely need to book); site fees were $27 per night and they do have everyone by the nuts as it is the only park in town. They tend to cram as many in as possible with some parking on the roadways within the park and a mass of extension leads running all over the place. One of the mornings was quite cool and the amount of heaters tuned on based on the power load available tripped every power head in the park on 2 occasions.
The amenities consisted of about 3 demountable buildings for male and the same for female; the mens had the standard trough, 4 loo's and 3 showers. The showers were the fibreglass base with a shower curtain and then another shower curtain where you got dried; I personally hate these curtains, as soon as you get in the shower it seems the bloody thing wants to eat your legs and part of your arse and they are an absolute mongrel to keep off your body.
The park had a camp kitchen which had some form of entertainment each night (bush poets, solo singers etc); you could also have a roast meal each evening which was as much as you like for about $12; every night you had a choice of beef or beef (it never changes).
Other option are you can free camp at the rear of the Gregory Hotel in town but you have to be quick and lucky to get a spot in here, no power available but water can be obtained by bucket only, you are not allowed to connect your hose for direct supply. There also is a free camp 4km South of Winton called the Long Waterhole, it does take big rigs and phone service is available and dogs are allowed. The other option is a farm stay about 15km West of Winton but they only have 4 powered sites.
Above is the Winton caravan park; plenty of dust here.
Winton boasts a population of approximately 1000 and is part of the dinosaur trail as it has the most concentrated areas of dinosaur finds. If you are keen enough you can trip out to Lark Quarry Dinosaur Trackway where they do have the world’s only recorded evidence of a dinosaur stampede; the drive is 110km from Winton so you will need to be keen on the subject.
More to the things I like – PUBS; there is what is known as the “Greatest Outback Queensland Pubs” (30 in total) and Winton has 3 of them. These are North Gregory Hotel, Winton Hotel and Tattersalls Hotel; above is one of many unique parts of the hotel walls, they all are adorned with all types of memorabilia.
Above is the old dining room at the Tattersalls Hotel; this is small and cosy, there is plenty of other eating areas in and outside the pub and the food at all the hotels is very good.
Above is what is known as Arno’s Wall; this is an architectural marvel (or disaster) either way it is very unique, it stands 2m tall and runs a total of 10m and it has every sort of object built into the concrete. As you can see it has everything from motor bikes, hub caps, sinks and dunny’s; very interesting to look at but it makes you wonder about the mental capacity of the builder who maybe has the IQ of a Wombat (my apologies to the Wombat's).
Above is another free attraction at Winton; yes it is true and yes you can play a tune on it; one section is tensioned between 2 timber posts and in tune should you be musical inclined. There is a bin close by with various sticks and metal objects that can be used to play the fence.
With me not being that good on the strings close by was a drum set; I bashed the shit out of these whilst Lin struck up a tune on the fence. It’s a good job this attraction is nowhere near any residential properties.
We found Banjo Paterson situated outside The Waltzing Matilda Centre; this is the only museum in the world dedicated to a song. This is a great place to visit and you can purchase a ticket for here and it also gives you access to other paid town attractions as a package.
All in all Winton was great for a visit and if you wanted to take in all the sites at a relaxed pace it would be best to allow 4 days to a week.
Will try to be a little more regular once we leave Tweed Heads which will be 12th October; the only firm commitment we have is from the 14th December 2009 to the end of Jan 2010 we will be at Scarborough in Brisbane for the Christmas period.
As always we wish you all well and hope you stay safe.
Will post again soon
Regards – David & Linda – The DavLin Rig
