We arrived in Winton to clear blue skies and 27C - just as well we brought shorts and t-shirts.
Accommodation options are somewhat limited at Winton, so we
had pre-booked a room at the North Gregory Hotel in the main
street. Like a lot of the buildings out here it has a checkered history
(twice burning down) since first opening in 1879, and the current brick
building has only been around since 1955. Our upstairs room was surprisingly larger than most with
views of the beer garden below.
Definitely a 'de ja vu' moment, as back in 2009 we parked
the caravan at the back of the hotel for $10 a night, which included use of the
hotel's bathroom facilities, and on the understanding we would eat in the
on-site restaurant, then Chinese. There were still up to 12 caravans parked at the back of the hotel but the restaurant is now a regular bistro, and although Penny stood in a
queue for half an hour waiting to order our meals, they were delivered quickly
and were absolutely delicious.
Earlier in the afternoon we sat in the beer
garden and whilst enjoying a glass of wine, listened to Gregory North (no
relation to the hotel), a local bush poet, regale us with tales of mystery
involving the famed words and tune of Banjo Patteron's Waltzing Matilda.
We had another 'de ja vu' moment when we walked to Arno's Wall at the back of the hotel. German immigrant Arno Grotjhan dug up a valuable opal at Opalton back in the 1960s, bought a house in Winton and spent the rest of his life building Arno's Wall. The wall is about 70 metres long and 2 metres high and was constructed from concrete and rock from his Opalton mine, as well as, well, everything including the kitchen sink.
One of many dinosaur related themes in Winton
The next morning we set out on our 'dinosaur adventure' to the Australian Age of Dinosaurs Museum of Natural History (AAOD) 24 kms south of Winton. The site comprises 4,500 acres and is situated on the 'jump up' which is a mesa (flat topped) hill in the middle of a seemingly endless plain. The scenery from the top is breathtaking, not to mention the dinosaurs...
We began our tour in the Fossil Preparation Laboratory where preparation, preservation and restoration work is undertaken. It is a long and time-consuming task to chisel the rock away.
Matilda (Diamantinasaurus matildae) a sauropod
Banjo (Australovenator wintonensis) a theropod
Fossils from one of the sauropods. The bones in the background are vertebrae that fit together to form part of the neck of the dinosaur - each is approximately 40cms long.
From there we took a shuttle to the March of the Titanosaurs Exhibition, a 54 metre long track-site discovered on a property near Winton and relocated over five years to the AAOD. The trackways were made by numbers of different dinosaurs, from chicken-sized to enormous sauropods.
Penny rubbing the chin of one of the sauropods
We were warned to wear fly masks, but they weren't really that bad...
The Pelican Waterhole, about 1.5kms from town, was Winton's original name and location, however it flooded too much and the town was moved to its current location and renamed Winton.
We passed this on the way out of Winton, but obviously someone stole it from around Charleville as Winton is actually 1,400kms from the Gold Coast.
The next morning we headed back to Longreach for a night and then on to Emerald. Between Winton and Longreach we passed 55 caravans heading to Winton - caravanning is definitely still a very popular national pastime!
On the road again
Following a brief overnight stop in Emerald we drove towards the coast and arrived in Gladstone. On the website our hotel (which was beautiful) boasted two restaurants; The Oak and Vine and a Coffee Club. Unfortunately, both were closed for renovations, and they looked like taking a while... Since we hadn't had lunch on the way we walked up to the main street and the cafes (all 3 of them) closed at 2pm, which probably explained why the main city centre was completely deserted. Muesli bars do come in handy.
It was State of Origin night and at least the bar downstairs was operational, so we sat with the maroon and blues fans for a lovely dinner and then watched the game up in our room. Not a good result, so it was just as well we weren't still down in the bar.
The next morning we headed out for a day's adventure in and around Gladstone. Our first stop was the Auckland Hill named after the 'Lord Auckland', the ship that brought the original European colonists to Port Curtis in 1847 to establish a colony of North Australia. The views were wonderful.
Then we drove on to Round Hill for even better views and lots of information boards about the history of the area and Gladstone's production and exports. We didn't realise that Gladstone has Australia's largest Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) port in addition to hosting renewable energy projects such as wind farms and solar farms. We also didn't know that Cement Australia operates the largest cement plant in Australia or that Queensland Alumina Ltd. operates one of the world's largest alumina refineries, here in Gladstone.
With all this industry (and there is much more) it was no surprise that the city spends a lot of money and time on its parks, gardens and foreshore walking trails, of which there are many, all of which are beautifully maintained.
A very friendly local who posed for the camera
The gardens host a variety of events over the year, and they are currently setting up for this year's Luminous, a multi-award-winning light and art spectacular transforming the gardens into a kaleidoscope of colour featuring interactive light displays, live entertainment, roving performances and creative workshops, etc. The event runs for three days, and entry is only $6 - if only we'd been here two weeks later... There was a lot to see in Gladstone, and we were so pleased we had stayed for two nights.
Then it was on to Maryborough. We spent several enjoyable hours in and around the city centre. After parking the car at the beautiful Queen's Park, we spent time at the very moving Gallipoli to Armistice Memorial reading about those who participated including Maryborough's own Duncan Chapman who was the first Allied soldier to step ashore at Gallipoli in 1915.
We then walked, via an RSL memorial service, to the former Customs House Hotel for coffee. Jim went on to the Military and Colonial Museum, the best place outside the Australian War Memorial in Canberra to connect with the nation's military past. He was extremely impressed.
Meanwhile, Penny was thrilled with her visit to Story Bank, once the Australian Joint Stock Bank, where in 1899 the manager Travers Goff and his wife welcomed their first child into the world, in an upstairs bedroom. The child's name was Helen Lyndon Goff, but the world knew her as P L Travers, the author of Mary Poppins. Nowadays this beautifully restored heritage listed building tells the story of Mary Poppins and her creator with interactive displays, images and documents from P L Travers' estate. Fascinating!
The Study
The Library
The Cabinet of Curiosities (a series of cupboards, dressers and desks created by local artisans in 2013) which is full of dollhouse sized characters and scenes from Travers' books.
Mary Poppins' Statue
We continued on to City Hall, which although impressive, is nowhere near as quirky as the attached toilet block known as the Cistern Chapel.
Inside City Hall
The gold ladies' toilet
Inside the ladies' room
At the entrance to the men's room
Inside the men's room
Through the historic hub of Portside we wandered past the many heritage buildings. Maryborough, one of Queensland's oldest cities was officially founded on the banks of the Mary River in 1847. It began as a trading port and within three years was second only to Sydney. It thrived during a gold rush and became a major centre for shipping wool, timber and other goods with ships arriving from various international ports.
Bond Store 1846
Inside the Bond Store
School of Arts 1887
Former Customs House 1899
Court House 1877
Both evenings we dined at the White Lion Hotel (1864) opposite our motel. Adjoining the hotel is another motel called Best Western Kimba Lodge. Some of you may remember a carton on TV in the 1960s called Kimba the White Lion - I loved it as a kid!
And now we spend a couple of nights at Mooloolaba before heading home.
It has been another wonderful driving adventure!
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