TOD Tour 2.0 Day 14 - Barcaldine to Winton

A good angle on the
Wellshot Hotel

Barcaldine to Winton: 341 kms (trip 2315 kms)

We continued west along a new highway - the Landsborough - as far as Longreach, which was only a whistle stop on this tour. Having seen its attractions in a three day stop in 2018, it was just a few groceries and on towards Winton.

Notable on the first leg to Longreach was morning tea in Ilfracombe. This small village, which has been known for many years for its display of farm implements that line the highway as it zips through town, was a curio we encountered on the QOT 2018. Change has hit the place since, with the destruction of the old general store and cafe. It had featured wide verandahs on which to enjoy a cuppa and take in the vista of the farm equipment but since our last visit, it has burned to the ground in a fire caused by an electrical fault in the ceiling cavity. The fire started as they were serving, with customers enjoying the verandah. No one was injured but the loss proved too much and the owners didn't rebuild.

In place of this lost coffee spot, the ever industrious people at the Wellshot Hotel have opened a hole in the wall from which they serve a good cuppa and a mean hot chocolate, among other things. The Wellshot is a place of great character and undoubtedly, greater characters. The bar is a hoot, with its display of hats, funny signs and joke photo opportunities. As was the case the last time we were here, the bar staff were young, Irish and full of fun. On the ceiling, there is currently thousands of dollars, soon to be cleared and given to charity. The deal is, you take a note from your wallet and a two dollar coin. They add a large drawing pin and scrunch it up to a ball shape. They throw it up to the ceiling where it sticks and the note slowly unfurls. If you catch the two dollar coin as it falls from the note, you get a free beer.

There is just so much imagination and dry outback humour at the Wellshot. Its a hackneyed saying but it truly is a must see.

After Longreach, its a 180kms northwest to Winton: pretty much flat, pretty much straight.

We booked in to the Tattersalls Hotel Caravan Park on what had become a warm afternoon. After setting up, it seemed obligatory I should have a Guinness at the bar or yet another colourful pub. Among its features are the flags of many nations attached to the ceiling.

The Royal Cinema

After dinner, we went to the Royal Cinema, the second oldest outdoor cinema in Australia (behind the Sun in Broome). Largely run as a family affair for much of its hundred year plus life, its currently leased by a not for profit who conduct tours and have evenings when they recreate the feel of the cinema in the 1960's. Sling back canvas chairs are arranged over a concrete floor which once doubled as a roller skating rink when times were tough and multi channel free to air TV came to Winton. The back part of the cinema has a brick floor. The bricks were originally the facade of the next door building which burnt down. Winton has a rich history of fire catastrophe. Of course, by outdoor, I mean it has no roof or ceiling, just a blanket of stars. One wall of the cinema is a corrugated iron fence, probably 15 feet high in old terms but for a section, it has a further extension above that. It was put there to stop the cheapskates from the North Gregory Hotel watching the feature from the second story windows!

We were shown old glass advertising slides of Winton business of fifty years ago, projected using a carbon arc projector that was at least 80 years old. It works by bringing two electrified carbon rods together to make an arc between them and a light bright enough to project. The operator is constantly bringing the rods together as the carbon is eroded by the procedure.

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There was a cartoon and some highlights of old slapstick and that was the evening done. We had bought the kids here in 1995 to see The Jungle Book, so it was nice nostalgia.

Tomorrow dinosaurs.

Qld Outback Tour - Barcaldine/Ilfracombe/Longreach

Barcaldine to Longreach, 108kms, 10L/100kms

The Wellshot Hotel

A really fun day.

We left Barcaldine about 8:30 for the short drive to Longreach but decided to stop at Ilfracombe and what a good decision that turned out to be. After a cuppa at the General Store, a very tidy and hospitable establishment, we wandered up along a fence made entirely of vertical gidgee posts. In the process we passed the site of the former Railway Hotel, which had been in the hands of only three people. The death of the original owner saw the licence pass to his daughter. Our research fails us and we remember her only as "Sis" but remarkably, she remained the licensee of the hotel for 60 years from 1910. The new owners took over the licence in 1970 and lost the pub three years later when it went the way of many a Qld pub, burning down in 1973.

Hats at the Wellshot

Beside it is the infamous Wellshot Hotel, a place with so much character that its no wonder it has been named Qld's best pub often. Today, we met Chloe, a French Canadian native of Quebec currently in Australia to travel but who has been in Ilfracrome for the past three months. What a delightful person she was. The bar is full of the unexpected, from the cartoon murals painted high on one wall about events which have happened in and around town, to the big colourful mural at one end of the bar, to the collection of stockmen's hats which are on all the walls. There is even a pair of boots.

What strikes you most is the money on the ceiling: five, ten, twenty and even fifty dollar notes, hanging seemingly by magic from a ceiling of wooden boards; each note a donation to the local museum and in the dining room, a similar strange collection on the ceiling for Angelflight.

Money on the ceiling

It works this way.

You donate your note and Chloe puts a long shanked drawing pin through its centre. Behind the head she places a $2 coin and then she screws the note into a tight twist behind the coin. The parcel is then placed between your forefinger and index finger, sharp end and palm up. You propel the note to the ceiling where if successful, you may then wait for the note to unravel and the $2 to drop. If you catch it, you win a free beer.

I landed it and waited. When the coined dropped I was in the right spot, outside the line of the drop, let it fall into my palm and then just like Herschelle Gibbs, dropped my chance for legendary status. Only three have ever caught the falling coin.

Chloe

Great fun place and Chloe was a good sport. How she remains unattached was answered upon Sue's direct enquiry. She is waiting to marry a businessman. She'll wait a while in Ilfracombe.

Onto Longreach and we booked in to our park.

In the afternoon, we went in search of a new pair of boots. My old Redbacks died a few days into the trip and we had been told that T-Bone was the place to go. There we met our second impressive young laddy for the day, Jamie, who did an excellent job of getting me into a pair that suited me best. In the course of three quarters of an hour conversation she revealed her love of writing and desire to be published. What a wonderfully confident and articulate female to find in a place which for all of its history has been swamped in a dominant male culture. She was an exciting person to talk to and yet another example that books often have totally misleading covers. I hope she realises her writing dreams.

We managed to fit in a cuppa - again no decaf coffee - at The Secret Garden. A bit over one cup of Earl Gray from a tea bag cost $5 each. Missing Cafe 2340 and other cafes in Tamworth.

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This evening we had a few beers in the premises at the caravan park and listen to a local fellow sing some tunes. He was only average but had an interesting set list and had a lot of fun with his audience. Things don't have to always be all shine and sparkle or top quality if they are sincere.

Three nights here.