14-27 deg C, that wind still persists
The Long Waterhole turned out to be a great camp, nice and quiet, plus very dark for sleeping. We even had a visit from a couple of emus while having brekky. We left about 8 am and headed the few km into Winton to fill up with water at the RV parking area. There's also a dump point there so did that too. That out of the way we decided to have a wander around Winton, a place we've stayed at twice in the last three years and enjoyed both visits. Our wander took us past the café/bakery, which happened to be open. For no other reason than to support the locals, Greg had a very tasty chicken pie and a milkshake (they had no decaf coffee) and Wendy had a bun and coffee. The streets of Winton are always immaculately clean and they generally have some new street art or murals around the place. A great little town, but we didn't stopover this time.
Refuelled on the road out of town and headed for Longreach, 180 km away. Didn't need mornos but stopped for a cuppa tea at Morella Rest Area just over 110 km in. Although we also enjoyed Longreach during our recent visits, we didn't feel the need to stop there either this trip, so we took the bypass around the town and kept going towards Windorah. The Longreach / Windorah road is a real mixed bag. It goes from billiard table smooth, wide enough for two road trains, to a very rough single strip of bitumen barely wide enough for one car. However, everyone was so considerate and the km clicked away nicely. Saw only one live Skippy, but sadly maybe a hundred dead ones on the side or in the middle of the road. Also spotted a pair of emus and a dad with four cute chicks only 10 m from the road. Probably saw about a dozen wild goats which have certainly been thinned out since the price of goat meat went through the roof.
Arrived at our free camp for the night at 2:25 pm no worse for wear. The camp is perched on top of a ridge/escarpment (locals call them jump-ups) overlooking the surrounding countryside. There's only three other vans here. Not because it is not a great spot, but because, much to our delight, we are now 'off the beaten track' once more, with much less RV traffic. And that suits us fine. As much as we like meeting fellow travellers, with their hints, advice and recommendations, the volume of vans / campers / motorhomes out there at present is a bit much sometimes. We breathe much easier when the numbers are in the single digits.
Nature put on a beautiful sunset this afternoon/evening. After dinner we did some star gazing as the weather is just perfect at the moment. The only problem was that the moon was just too bright to see anything.
Long Water Hole
Our visitors this morning
Waltzing Mathilda Centre
Sheep that strayed into town; note Wendy is on the other side of the trough whilst patting the ram
Coffee shop
Murals
North Gregory Hotel
Changes in scenery today
Goat and kids
The Minions are still on the hill on the Southern side of Stonehenge
Pano from the jump-up
Drone shots - free camp
Highway North
Highway South
Us at Swan Vale Rest Area
The start of sunset
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