April 19th, 2012- Wals Camp- Cloncurry

Thursday morning we were heading North again. Not sure where we will end up today as it is really hot and not too sure about free camping. The countryside North of Winton is beautiful with lush fields, cattle stations, and the occasional plateau. Stopped at Kyuna for morning tea. Met a two nice couples from Queensland there and swapped some stories. A couple of friendly Brolgas were fixtures at the Blue Heeler Hotel where we stopped. They came right up to you and ate biscuits out of your hands. Apparently they wander right into the Pub as well. We got stopped by a train on the way along with a few road trains.

Our next stop was the famous Walkabout Creek Hotel from Crocodile Dundee fame. There was a lovely small caravan park at the rear of the Hotel where we had considered staying but the fellow behind the bar was less than friendly. The place was completely empty when we walked in with the two couples we met at our last stop. The guy did not even acknowledge us and proceeded to make a few phone calls. Eventually we were able to order a drink but decided against staying overnight and from enjoying lunch there as we had originally planned. Such a shame as this place should be a little gold mine if managed properly. The Pub was really well looked after and the amenities were great as was the caravan park which we snooped in. Just shows that you can spend the money to make a place wonderful but it is all wasted if the people don't deliver great service.

We decided to head on to Cloncurry because of the hot weather (and poor service). We stayed at Wals Camp which is a basic caravan park set up for only a few campsites. We did manage to get some shade and had power and water. Cheaper than a caravan park but amenities were basic. Quite funny as the doors were wedged open and the men's/ladies were adjoining with no wall in between the stalls.

We set up camp and then set out to explore town a bit. Not much to see in town itself as is basically a mining town. Did a bit of shopping and again ran into our new friends from earlier in the day. We took a drive out to the town lookout and Chinaman's Dam. Wow! What a surprise. Beautiful setting amongst red rugged hills and everything so green. If you ever travel this way take the short 5 minute drive out to Chinaman's Dam. We crossed the dam in our Pajero before returning to the main road and going down to the boat ramp. Got some lovely pictures and enjoyed the peace and quiet.

We stopped at the old bridge crossing the Cloncurry River on our way back to the caravan site. Enjoyed a quiet and relatively early night as was one of our longer travel days.