From outback Longreach to the dinosaur country

Headed north through Charleville to Augathello, where we stayed overnight, then on to Longreach. There were lots of huge road trains in this area.
We passed the “wild dog fence”. At Blackall, we had lunch by the river and spotted an azure kingfisher. The roads are narrow and very lumpy.
The weather is warmer but still very cold at night.

We have arrived at Longreach having passed over the tropic of Capricorn. The weather is warming up and the nights are mild. We’re gonna breack out the shorts.
It was a long hard drive today and we are going to stay here for a while to recuperate. There is lots to see here. Ray says ‘Banjo Paterson sneezed twice here’.
We visited the Qantas Museum, where Qantas is reported to have originated and they had their first airport.
We also visited the Stockman’s Hall of Fame and Outback Centre. All beautifully set up for the many visitors.
We went for a walk by the Thompson River just north of Longreach – a bit of a non event.
Where we are staying they have a couple of beautiful Brolgas that visit each evening
Getting along with my ‘Drunkards Path’ block.

Leaving Longreach at 9am heading for Winton.
Overcast, slight showers, what’s happened to our good weather?
The Bogonvillea is beautiful, we passed a herd of wild camels and we spotted some little zebra finches on a wire fence coming into Winton.

Winton is in dinosaur country. The fossils and dinosaur bones are fascinating. We have to come back here to checkout some of the archaeological digs.
There are some really important finds in the area between Winton, Richmond and Hughenden.
Also in Winton is the Waltzing Matilda Centre. Banjo Paterson wrote Waltzing Matilda at nearby Dagworth station and it was first played at the North Gregory Pub in Winton.

At Hughenden we did the eco river walk along the Flinders River (the longest river in Queensland). There are lots of dinosaur attractions around town.
We visited the Coolabah tree with blazes put there by Frederick Walker when he was exploring north in 1871 and William Landsborough whilst he was searching for the missing Bourke and Wills in 1872.

Stopped overnight at Kimburra on the Campaspe river (no facilities) – lots of wildflowers in the area and many apostle birds at the campsite. Ray to checkout name of little black & white bird.