After a full day of driving, tonight we’re resting our heads on the lands of the Koa people, the traditional owners and native title holders of this area around Winton, and extending to Corfield, Kynuna and Middleton. We pay our respects to the elders of the Koa people past, present and still to come.
We headed off from Magnetic Island early this morning, grabbing a chai and coffee (for Debbie and I) on the way to the ferry terminal at 7:30am. The ferry ride back over to the mainland was peaceful and honestly quite relaxing! The waters were thankfully nice and calm, and the weather at that time of the morning was cool and the sun was out. Perfect coastal winter weather! (Which we soon remembered, does not carry inland!)
We grabbed some petrol in Townsville and then quickly got on the road to Charters Towers – about an hour and a half west. We’d originally planned to stay a night in Charters Towers before the whole sunroof/windscreen thing happened that kept us in Mt Isa longer than anticipated, so it was good to at least briefly drop in. We barely went into town though – there’s a great rest area just on the outskirts that has a heap of information about the gold mining that is so core to Charters Towers, and so we paused there for some morning tea. We managed to find two mines on the list that Debbie’s great great grandfather managed in the late 1800s!
It was only a brief stop in Charters Towers though – we still had two lots of 2.5 hours to get through to Winton, and I was keen to try and get there by 5pm. Lunch was back at Hughenden again, after we were here a bit under a fortnight ago. We pulled into a really nice Rotary Park for some sandwiches, with a couple of bonus goodies from the bakery down the road as well. And it was here that we remembered that the beautiful winter coastal temperatures do not carry inland – it was a fairly warm 33º in Hughenden! But at least a lot of the humidity had faded.
Another 2.5 hours down the road and we arrived in Winton at about 5pm this arvo. We pulled into a lovely cottage just on the western side of town. We unpacked a little, and then I did a dash into town to try and pick up a few things. We’d grossly underestimated Winton – I think I thought it was a bigger town? Or at the very least, I’d been far too relaxed back on the coast and knowing that all your supplies are just down the road. There was very little at the supermarkets. Of course it’s not their fault. Not only was it basically the end of the day, but the Vision Splendid Outback Film Festival is on in Winton this week, and so the town is packed! It’s not that bad though – we have enough, and it might just have to be a bit of UHT milk on cereal for breakfast tomorrow til the milk delivery hits town tomorrow afternoon!
We’ve just arrived home from catching up with a group of wonderful friends for an impromptu dinner on the side of the road in Winton. They’re on a 10 day bus tour heading towards central Australia and just happened to be staying overnight in Winton as well! This morning Debbie happened to check their itinerary and noticed that, although they were on a travel day, where they had left from and where they were heading tomorrow seemed to cross over Winton. Of course I’m adoring this time with family, the extrovert in me absolutely adored seeing some friends and catching up. It was very special, and soul quenching. The kids were similar I think – they couldn’t stop talking and telling stories to anyone who would listen! It was awesome to hear about their trip so far and what’s to come for them as they seek to learn and hear from First Nations people.
