It’s fair to say Thursday was an eventful day I won’t forget in a hurry.
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It was a day I was looking forward to for a couple of reasons and while it lived up to expectations it was the unexpected things that make the day live long in the memory.
The plan was to drive from Isa to Boulia for the plesiosaur unveiling and then go to Julia Creek for the Dirt N Dust weekend.
The first half went according to plan.
The young boy in me was looking forward to the dinosaur experience though as those knowledgeable about these things reminded me the plesiosaur that now graces Stonehouse Museum in Boulia is not a dinosaur which were land animals – it is a marine creature that lived over 100 million years ago in the inland sea which flooded the area at the time.
The plesiosaur – named Percy by a local schoolgirl in a competition – was an astonishing find by “Dinosaur” Dick Suter and learning more about Dick I wished I knew about him before his death 2013, he truly was a local legend.
But after admiring the marine fossils, it was time to set off cross country to Julia Creek and here is where things went wrong.
It was entirely my fault – local advice was to head north via Hamilton to McKinlay using the Cannington Mine road.
But on the map I saw a tempting short cut to Kynuna which would allow me admire the Cawnpore Lookout and stop in at the Middleton pub.
Here the publican cast doubt on my plan and also noted the road had a lot of gates.
I counted about 15 gates in all – 10 of which needed to be opened and closed and the journey was taking a lot longer than I anticipated though the road wasn’t too bad.
After almost two hours I stumbled upon a farmhouse where I admitted to a man there I was lost and I asked him was I close to Kynuna.
“You are 30km north of Middleton, mate,” he advised me.
I admit I may have swore at this point.
He pointed me back to Middletown (via three more gates) and this time I raced into Winton and then drive in the dark another three hours to Julia Creek five hours and one dead kangaroo later. Lesson learned: Don’t ignore local advice. DB