McKinlay - a sight for sore eyes.

Our start to this leg of our journey did not go to plan at all.  We arrived into Winton later than we had originally planned and when we pulled up to have the electric brakes looked at we were told it was beyond their expertise.  Whilst I am grateful for their attempts to help and honesty, this would have been good to know at the start of the week as we may have been able to duck across to Longreach to have it looked at.  Now with the van attached we had to make the decision to continue on the journey and hope someone in Mount Isa could fix it or go to Longreach which was only roughly 170km away in the hope someone there could fix it.  To make matters worse we realised that when we lost the electric brakes, the 12 volts for the fridge was also off.  So the fridge was not being cooled either.

We decided to continue to Mt Isa; our theory was that surely a bigger town there would definitely be someone there to fix it.  Due to our late start though it was already quite hot when we pulled out of Winton and unfortunately we lost our electric brakes not that far out of town.  It is quite scary being on the road when they aren’t working but Jason handled it well and obviously drove slower.  To make matters worse we had a strong head wind and two kids who got over it quite fast.  Our one saving grace was the countryside was flat and no real hills so the car could easily handle the breaking with the van attached.

Wide open spaces.

Now the distance between Winton and McKinlay is about 240km and there is one little town Kynuna that you can stop off along the way.  We pulled in there to have some lunch and in a hope that if we gave the car a break that the brakes might start working again.  It was an odd issue as the car temperature was fine and everything else would work but it seemed that if we towed in temperatures over 34 degrees it would stop working and once we pulled up at idle it would stop working as well!  Who knows but we needed to get it fixed.

The break at Kynuna was good to help calm my nerves a bit, as we all know I stress out easily.  The kids loved being able to run around and stretch out their legs and burn some energy.  We even saw the resident brolgas.  When we first drove into town we saw one at the pub but just assumed it was a statue.  Then as we went to leave there were two of them just walking around the roadhouse gardens and right near our car.

Friendly locals.

When we got back on the road we had our electric brakes again – yay, but all too soon they were gone again – arrggghhhh.  Mind you it was the middle of the day so I don’t know why I was hoping that we would have them.  So another slow trip into McKinlay, this time made even slower by the fact that there where what felt like a million whirly winds to avoid.  We had been told of stories where the big strong ones could blow a caravan off the road so naturally we wanted to respect and avoid these natural wonders.  At least they are easy to spot with all the dust they blow up and it was just a matter of slowing down until they had crossed the road ahead of us.

I have never been so grateful to see a pub in a small town in all my life when we arrived in McKinlay.  We checked into their little van park out the back, turned on the air-conditioner and just relaxed.  I hope to never have to do that again and I take my hat off to Jason who was doing all the driving.  The plan was that I was to start learning to drive with the van attached on these easier more deserted roads, but with the brake issue I had no intention of doing so.  That would have been crazy putting an inexperienced person behind the wheel.

For those of you who don’t know, the pub in McKinlay appeared in the Crocodile Dundee movie.  Now Mum had told me how she had heard on the radio that the pub had recently acquired the old tour bus from the Crocodile Dundee movie and she asked for Hamish to get a photo with it for her.  When we arrived though we couldn’t see it so of course I asked the publican about it.  She did confirm they had it but it is run down and they are going to try and fix it up so it was currently down at their place.  She did however tell me where their house was and that we were welcome to go and check it out.  I thought this was a lovely gesture but wasn’t necessary as in the end her husband arrived back at the pub and offered to bring it up and maybe take the kids for a spin.  However he just needed to check where the local cop was.

Whoops our van nearly blocks out the pub.

 

Well he didn’t have to look far; he was off duty and called in for a drink.  So needless to say the kids didn’t get their ride, but they were able to bring the truck up to the pub and everyone got to check it out.  I have to admit I was surprised the truck made it that distance based on its state, but that is the rustic charm of it, and I am grateful the new owners are going to get her back to her former state (which in the movie was still run down).  The kids enjoyed just running around the pub and playing with the dogs that the locals had tied up out the front of the pub.

 

Inside the pub.

The old tour bus.

The kids getting to sit on the out tour bus.

 



We enjoyed out afternoon at the pub, chatting to the locals and some truckies that had stopped for the night.  The town only has 15 people that live there, of which not everyone is always there.  Currently two people are away droving; others work in different towns but come back on the weekends and let’s not forget the backpackers who are working at the service station.  We felt so welcome and enjoyed some dinner at the pub before retreating to the caravan.  We needed to get up early to get to Mt Isa before it got too hot.

Playing out the back.

Fun with bubbles.