Qld Outback Tour - Combo Waterhole - McKinley Pub

Whose that there with Sue?

After packing up and driving all around Winton looking for a petrol bowser which either a) worked or b) had unleaded fuel, we were forced by stress to find a coffee shop. The one thing which has changed dramatically since our last trip into the outback ten years ago, is the availability of pretty reasonable coffee places. We had little trouble finding one in the main street - Spun Yarn Cafe - and not only enjoyed a good hot chocolate but also an interesting conversation with a young man intent on getting things moving in Winton, especially in live entertainment.

We left him to it, after passing on the name of Fanny Lumsden, who is already touring in outback Qld.

It was another easy morning drive, with one stop beside some mesas which rose suddenly from a dead flat landscape. Lunch was at Combo Waterhole ... well, in the carpark from which the walking track goes to Combo. We were unable to do the walk as a big mob of cattle entirely filled the area of the first finger of the Diamantina River, through which the track passed. The horsemen had so much trouble settling them there, we weren't game to disturb them. We had seen it 23 years ago with the kids and from the sign boards not much had changed.

Now that's a knife

We arrived at McKinley mid afternoon and booked into the caravan park which is part of the Walkabout Creek Hotel, famed for its part in Crocodile Dundee. The hotel has been moved since the kids saw it in 1995 and since it was used in the film. It was discovered in 1998 that it needed restumping, so the owner took the opportunity of moving it from its original location down a sidestreet, to a prominent spot on the highway.

The new owners of four years - Frank and Deb - are reviving the place and every Saturday night they have a pizza night and award a free beer to anyone who wears a Hawaiian shirt. Frank had bought the business when passing through on holiday and was annoyed at how long it took to get a drink. With a long flowing white beard, a disarming smile and a sense of humour as dry as the surrounding plains, he's almost a natural as a publican, yet Walkabout Creek is his first.

We spent an hour or so chatting with them and getting in some practice before the evening and soaking up the atmosphere. My fame had spread before me and as each family member walked into the bar, I was introduced as the bloke with all of the Hawaiian shirts. A bus load of oldies arrived about 4pm and within fifteen minutes, Frank had told most of them and they were coming up for a chat!

The memorabilia on the walls - including a signed self portrait by Rolf Harris penned in 1988 and now hung in a frame with bars across the face - always reminds you that you are in "that"pub but it takes more than that to make a successful business in the middle of nowhere and that's what they've done.

Click for today's photos

The evening itself was a bit of a fizzer. Despite having a full caravan park (about 25 vans), only a few of the visitors came into the pub, which soon filled up with locals. Apart from Frank and his daughter, I was the only one in a Hawaiian shirt. Just like home really but I did get my free beer. Sue entered the pool competition, loosing in the first round to Deb. Tiring and after enough beer, I was not disappointed. The place, however, was full of locals, a good thing to see on a Saturday night.

Cloncurry or The Curry (according to locals) tomorrow.