Friday 1st August.
Today we traversed a road that we have not been on previously. Heading directly south from Julia Creek a secondary road 116 km's in length terminates at the Landsborough Higway, 3 km's east of Kynuna. At this point we turned to the east with Winton 155 km's on.
Winton is located in Central Western Queensland, 472 km's south-east of Mount Isa and 180 km's north-west of Longreach. Winton has a rich history with links to the Great Shearers' Strike, Waltzing Matilda and Qantas, but today the town is almost as well known for something far more ancient.....dinosaurs. The first official dinosaur discovery in the Winton Shire was made in 1962 - a fossilised footprint, with the site later revealing a stampede with over 3.300 footprints.
In 1999 the largest dinosaur found in Australia, a 20-30 ton Sauropod, nicknamed 'Elliot'.
The diverse landscapes with rolling Mitchell Grass Downs suddenly interrupted by Mesa formations, starkly beautiful red earth and spinifex country, Channel Country, undulating plains as far as the eye can see with a myriad of dry channels, waiting for the wet season.
After spending some time looking around town, lunch at the bakery we decided to head out of town about 2 km's to a very extensive camping area known as "The Long Waterhole". This area is defined as the town common consequently there are a large number of cattle and horses grazing and watering from the waterhole. Most of these animals are owned by townsfolk and are literally free roaming. Because of the permanent waterhole they do not stray far. It is also known widely by the Grey Nomad fraternity as a great spot to camp for a day or two.
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