Lewis's Travel on the Gravel: Blackall to Winton a glimpse at the past

17th to 18/6/2021 Blackall to Winton. A glimpse at the past

We Left Blackall and headed for Winton going through Longreach. We decide to stop and take a look at the QANTAS museum there. If you weren’t aware this is where QANTAS started all those years ago. When you reach town there is a huge shed and under it you can see a Boeing 747 Jumbo with the iconic Flying Kangaroo on the tail. We were going to do the tour but it was very expensive so we opted to look around the museum instead.

On to Winton Dinosaur Capital of the outback. We booked the Matilda Tourist Park for 2 nights as we needed to do washing etc. This park offers a show each night with a bush poet who the kids enjoyed. If you didn’t want to stay at a Caravan park there is a free camp just out of Winton on the road to the stampede called Mistake Creek. Flat sites but no facilities you have to be self-sufficient.

We booked a tour of the Dinosaur stampede (family ticket is cheaper). It is 110kms out of Winton the road is Ok some dirt some sealed. (Beware if it rains you will get stuck). When you arrive there is an impressive building and information boards at the site. The dinosaur stampede is the only known site in the world with evidence of a stampede. There are approx 3500 footprints in the stone with different species of Dinosaurs. It is said to be over 95,000,000 years old (hence the title a glimpse at the past).

So this site is pretty outback in the middle of nowhere thousands of Kms from home and you will never guess sitting in the same tour, on the same day, at the same time was Lara a girl I work with and we went to school together and we didn’t know each other were going to be there. OMG

We spent the rest of the day exploring Bladensburg National Park in the park is the site of the Shearers Strike and it is said that this was the beginning of the Labour party. There is an impressive Shearing shed and an Old Homestead that you can go in and look around. It has the same door handle as my Great Grandmothers house. The drive out to Scrammy Gorge and lookout is 4WD only and is well worth it. A beautiful oasis in the middle of some hard country. The locals called it the jump up as it is where the Earth was covered in ironstone millions of years ago and has prevented the land from being washed away causing the jump up. When you go there you will know what I mean.

A quick look at Skull hole and then back to town for a Parma and a beer at the Tattersalls Hotel.