Now I don't know about you, but this sign has been sending shivers down my spine for days. I mean who the heck wants to meet up with a Car eating Cow. All my life I've thought that cows were pretty mellow animals. Apparently not throughout the Northern Territory and Queensland. The funny thing is, once you are on the alert for car eating cows, cows seem to pop up everywhere. Well......... even Rock Cows it seems. As I spotted some cows on the side of the road grazing and gently braked to ensure we didn't startle them only to find out it was a group of cow shaped/coloured rocks just pretending to be car eating cows. The good thing is they didn't eat the car so all is well. A little further on we spotted some cows being herded along the side of a paddock - fenced in much to our relief.
Off the highway we turned to McKinlay although by this time clearly Shane was a bit bored.
Just outside McKinlay we spotted this near the McKinlay Race Club and Shane snapped a picture on the move. I think he won!
Now of course McKinlay has a pub - it used to be the Federal Hotel. That was until someone decided it was a great place to film a movie which just happened to end up being one of the most iconic Australian movies of all time - Crocodile Dundee. The Federal Hotel has since that time been known as the Walkabout Creek Hotel and sports a couple of the vehicles used in the movie as well as a wall of candid photos taken during the filming.
Before filling up with fuel, we took a bit of a drive around McKinlay itself and wound up at the tiny visitor information room (it just didn't qualify as a building!) and talked for a while to a lovely young lass who told us she lived on a station about 30km east of the township and who couldn't possibly leave McKinlay (with its population of 20 - reference McKinlay Shire Council website which states it has a total of 1000 in its entire shire of 41,000km). She found the city far too crowded with people!!! I guess if you are used to 20 people, any city would be crowded. We asked her a little of the history of the town and why the pub was called the Walkabout Creek hotel - was there a Walkabout Creek nearby or was it just made up - and her response was "It was in the movie". Uh huh.......
During our conversation she told us how McKinlay Council was originally located in McKinlay but when the railroad route was changed the Council uprooted and moved to Julia Creek. I asked which building in town was the Council Chambers and was informed that they took the building too! Damn Council!!!
On our esteemed visitor info person's advice we continued on to Kynuna before heading north again to Julia Creek making a total of about 420km for the day. Along the way we stopped at a few locations to take photos and I couldn't help but notice how dry the area was even this early in the dry season. You would have to say that this isn't a good sign for the beginning of August.
Arriving in Julia Creek one of the first things I noticed was the big sign indicating a 6pm closing time for the local supermarket. My - didn't that take me back a few years. The other thing I found absolutely awesome - central parking down the main street, a bit like Bromfield Street at home, but not JUST central parking - UNDERCOVER central parking.
Our stopover for the night was one of the caravan parks in Julia Creek which was pleasant enough and had very cheap laundry fees which I took good advantage of while I had the chance. Although as it turned out it didn't work out quite as cheap as I had hoped. Realising I didn't have enough $1 coins to complete all the washing I had, Shane ventured over to the office with $6 worth of 50 cent coins in an effort to exchange them. The lady owner took the coins and said she would drop the $1's over shortly. She did come over about 3/4 hour later and started to count them out for me, but Scheppi being the big brave man dog that he is came rushing out of the caravan barking and while I settled him down and he did his big stupid man-dog grovelling for a pat, the lady completely forgot the coins, patted the dog, and went on about her day. It wasn't until about 15 minutes later when I went to look for the coins I realised she hadn't given them to me. Shane phoned her as the office was now closed, but she was adamant she had given them to me. I don't think so!!!!!!!!!!
We met a lovely couple who owned this massive big rig and have been on the road for 6 years living in it. I don't think I have ever seen anything quite so big but if you are going to be on the road for 6 years I think you would need all the comforts of home! What a life!!!!
It's not like I didn't already know this - but Facebook is creepy. I actually find it quite unnerving to log in and see Facebook displaying "Welcome to............" wherever it is that I happen to be right at the moment. I'm sorry Facebook - stop stalking me!
And so tonight was a milestone on its own merit. I have had this packet of Cheddar Shapes stashed in the caravan for months. No - not the new and improved Cheddar Shapes - but a packet of the original version. It was a very sad moment to open them and know that we would never have another packet (thank you for nothing Arnotts!) And I probably would have saved them a little longer too but the only thing more tragic than Arnotts not making the original recipe any more would have been allowing these babies to go out of date. So we ate half the packet and savoured every tiny bite.
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