Bladensberg National Park - near Winton

1 - 2 August 2017

"Let's try to leave early" he said, so for once we did, pulling out of the driveway at about 7:30am. I know that is not early for some but for those of us who usually manage to get away by 9:00 - it was early.

We headed out of town along the Flinders Highway to Charters Towers, our first stop for an early morning tea at Macca's. That's becoming a bit of a ritual when we head this way. From Charters Towers we continued west to Hughenden. We stopped for morning tea at the rest area near the entrance to White Mountain National Park then continued on to Hughenden. We had considered making that our first overnight stop but decided to continue on - it was way too early to set up camp so we had a picnic lunch by the river and drove on to Winton.

When we arrived in Winton we made our usual stop at the Visitor Information Centre, currently in temporary accommodation after a devastating fire destroyed most of the Matilda Centre in mid-2015. We enquired about camping and were astounded that the volunteer didn't mention Bladensberg National Park, and when we asked specifically, she failed to mention that you must book online before you arrive as there is no phone signal out there. We knew all this of course as we had visited previously and often stay in national parks.

We walked down the street and found a spot to stop and make our campground booking - a beautiful camp spot for the princely sum of $6.35 per person per night. Once booked, we drove the 30 or so kilometres to Bough Shed Hole campground and set up for the night, right beside the river. Unfortunately, the river has been reduced to little more that a few puddles. It's a magic spot anyway.

Our first night camp at Bladensberg NP near Winton.

It's always a little awkward getting back into the swing of things and this is my excuse for not having more photos from this leg of the journey. The country was very dry and birds scarce on the way in to Bough Shed Hole. Around camp were White-plumed and Striped Honeyeaters, Grey Shrike-thrush, Australian Ringneck, Common Bronzewing and White-necked Herron (very common throughout our trip). In the morning I found a flock of White-browed, Masked and Black-faced Woodswallows in a flowering eucalypt on the far side of the creek. Unfortunately, there was a fence between me and them so I had to shoot from long distance. Mick.

Striped Honeyeater.

White-necked Herrons. These were probably waiting to take advantage of the drying waterholes to get an easy fish meal.

Masked Woodswallow

Black-faced Woodswallow

White-browed Woodswallow

After a pleasant night, and a leisurely start to the day we set off for our next stop - Boulia, travelling along "The Outback Way". This road is known as "Australia's Longest Shortcut" and is a coast to coast drive from Winton in Queensland to Laverton in WA. We were only going half way - to Central Australia.