McCulloch Family Giant Leap: Catching up with family in Winton.

After an early start to avoid driving in the heat we headed off to Winton which whilst it wasn’t far away, there wasn’t much to see or do along the way. As we had been unable to have the electric brakes looked at in Hughenden, Jason went onto a caravan forum to see if anyone else had experienced this sort of problem before. Someone had and for them it was the circuit breaker that was installed, whilst great for those who stick to cool weather and the coast line, it did not work very well in the hot weather and would play up. So with the idea that this could be the same problem we were experiencing we wanted to get to my Aunty and Uncle’s place before it got too hot and we could potentially lose our caravan electric brakes again!

Someone trying to get a lift.

I would be lying if I said it was an interesting drive as the landscape did not change one bit until we were pretty much in Winton. We then had to drive approximately 47 km out of town to their property, of which 17km was a good dirt road. Mind you this was the first time we had taken the van on a dirt road (other than caravan parks) but Jason took it nice and slow and we made it without any problems. No one was home so we just let ourselves in and enjoyed their air conditioning knowing that they weren’t far away. We had planned to go back into town and do some attractions but the cool air conditioning got the better of us and we just did some eKindy sessions instead.

All set up at Wando. The van now needs a clean.

Hamish was in his element, when it cooled down a bit in the afternoon - he and Kayla would join their cousin Paige in the wading pool. Patrick will be happy to know that the pool was never once inside the house while we were there! Then there were chooks, dogs and calves that needed to be fed, not to mention the three pet goats that roamed the yard. My cousin Amy was ever so patient with the million questions he asked her while going to feed the animals and then the constant asking if he could feed them again.

Helping to feed the chooks and collect eggs.

Now it is time for the dogs.

And don't forget the calves.

As my sister Mary, niece Jean and parents were coming across to visit us whilst we were there we decided to get out the next day and see a few of the tourist attractions. We had also called the local mechanics regarding our electric brakes and were told to bring the car in first thing in the morning. So after dropping off the car, our first stop was the Waltzing Matilda centre which was fantastic and the café attached to it was everything my Aunty and Cousin Amy raved about, especially the proper iced coffees – yum. The centre was amazing with so much to learn and history of the area; you could easily spend a day in there alone. Unfortunately our two have a limit so after a few hours we kindly left with two cranky kids.

Sunrise in the outback.

Hamish checking out the billabong.

I love the main street of Winton - so pretty.

Can you spot our two sheep?

For some reason we were also feeling adventurous and decided to also do Larks Quarry (dinosaur footprints) which is only 110km out of town. Of this about 50km is bitumen and the rest is a rather bumpy dirt road. Mind you we are outside the peak tourist period so of course the road is not at its best, but it did have us rattling about and every 10km or so there was a bitumen patch so people could pass each other as on the dirt you couldn’t see behind you due to the dust. I prayed each time that the worst was over or the bitumen would take us right to Larks Quarry, but it wasn’t to be and the worst of the corrugation was saved for the driveway in. The kids slept through the whole trip out, obviously rocked to sleep!

It was a lot worse than it looks.

Once we arrived we just sat in the air conditioned car to let the kids sleep a bit longer, however after about 10 minutes we noticed the resident manager came out of his house and over to us. He offered to do the tour early for us (wasn’t due to be run until 2pm) which we will be forever thankful for. See when we were at the Waltzing Matilda Centre we were told the tours were run at 9am, 12pm and 2pm. We thought that was fine and we would try and make one but if we didn’t there was no biggy. What we didn’t realise is that the only way you can see the centre is by the tour, so if he hadn’t come over earlier then we would have been waiting another hour to do it. In winter this wouldn’t be a big thing as you could just do one of the walking tracks up to the lookout or something, but in the heat of the day this wasn’t an option for us.

I have been here before so whilst it was good to see, not a lot had changed, however it was great to have the knowledgeable guide to provide the history behind it which I didn’t know. Jason really enjoyed it, and well the kids… let’s just say they enjoyed lying down in front of the fan. Obviously not very happy about being woken up to do the tour. Before we knew it, it was time to head back to home. Now obviously I for one was not looking forward to doing that return trip, but we did seek the advice of the tour guide as to what was the best speed to tackle the road.

So well preserved.

Outside the centre.

The view from the jump up.

The trip back out onto the main dirt road was worse than when we went in (I didn’t think it could get worse) but thankfully after that it was so much better. I don’t know if it had to do with the direction we were travelling in or the 80 km an hour speed the tour guide recommended but I was grateful all the same. I just feared getting a flat tyre and having to change it in the middle of day. Realistically it would have been Jason changing it with the kids and I trying to stay cool in the air-conditioning.

The next day I was very excited as my sister Mary and niece Jean were coming to visit us for the day. It was so great to catch up with them and see the kids all playing or in Kayla’s case staring down the other child. Later in the afternoon my other cousin Heidi popped out and dropped off her two kids so there were heaps of kids to swim and play with. Unfortunately all too soon we had to say goodbye to Mary and Jean as they had a long drive home that afternoon. Jason then whipped up some pizzas for dinner, after he had done the washing, gotten Kayla to have her nap, baked a cake and washed up (gosh I am so lucky).

Two cheeky cousins.

As close as I could get of them all looking.

Mary and Jean.

Family photo.

More visitors were due the next day, this time it was my Mum and Dad. As they had not yet done the new Age of Dinosaurs Centre, we organised to meet them there and do it together before returning to my Aunty and Uncle’s place. We just happened to time it perfectly that as we came out onto the highway my parents drove past. Poor mum was trying to communicate with me by UHF radio but she didn’t know what channel and I didn’t think to check my mobile for any messages. Eventually we worked it out!

This was the last attraction on our Dinosaur trail and I think we had saved the best for last. We were a little late for the 9am tour but as no one else had turned up they rushed us down to the second location to start the tour. We were blown away with the stories the tour guide told us and the displays. There are still so many bones and other items that are yet to be examined and they are finding more each year. The display of the petrified wood was impressive, especially when he told us it was just a branch of a big tree! There was also an interesting story of how a meteor had landed around Winton and how a grazier was able to locate it after talking to people within the shire about what they had seen that night. Apparently it was a bright light and a sonic boom as it slammed into the earth and it was not much larger than our webber BBQ! Finding this meteor would have been like looking for a needle in a haystack.

I told Hamish to look like he was running away.

Friendly looking creature.

As you can see my two were very interested.

Dad had even bought along a piece of fossilised bone that had been in his family for ages. He didn’t know where it came from or even if it was fossilised bone, however they took a look at it for him and agreed that it was once bone and most likely vertebrae of a water dinosaur. However they asked to keep it so they could send it away for further testing to confirm if it actually was or not.

Checking out Dad's bone.

The workshop.

The centre is located at the top of a jump up and has fantastic views out over the country side. It would be the place to go to take some wonderful photos of storms rolling in or the town at night as you can see it in the distance. After our tour completed we had some morning tea at the café and the kids managed to score some souvenirs out of Grandma (thanks Mum) before heading back to Wando.

It was great to be able to show Mum and Dad our new home and also off load some of the extra stuff that we have realised we didn’t need since leaving home. There wasn’t a lot but the 3^rd row of seats from the car was probably the biggest. It just freed up some room in the boot of the car to store items better. I managed to get rid of a box full of stuff; I did try to get rid of more but was not successful in my attempt (Jason’s tennis shoes and racquet will continue their tour of Australia). I also off loaded some toys as with Hamish’s birthday fast approaching I need to make room for the new ones along with the Prep Mathematics box that Mum and Dad had brought across for us.

The afternoon was spent catching up with family but also packing up to head off the next day. As they hadn’t been able to identify our electric brakes issue without the caravan attached, they had asked us to bring it back in on Friday morning with the caravan, so we wanted to be there right on their opening time in order to give them enough time to fix the issue and for us to then get to McKinlay. We really enjoyed our last night at Wando with a BBQ before retreating to bed.

Rounding up goats in the nude as you do.

Now trying to throw water on them.

If Mum doesn't listen I will just call Grandma.

The aim to get away early didn’t really work. It seems to be that we forgot to tell the kids that we wanted to leave early and of course they slept in. We did eventually get on the road but not without a few quick family snaps. Thank you everyone who made the trip to come and see us and a big thank you to all at Wando for letting us plug in, feeding us and sharing the pool with the kids. We really enjoyed our time with you all.