The dreaded bus from Longreach to Mt Isa

Years ago the train used to run north from Longreach to Winton and then on to Hughenden which was on the train line from Mt Isa in western Queensland to Townsville on the coast. Here is a link to a map which shows the location of the towns mentioned and the railway lines.

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Since the passenger train no longer runs, I had to take a bus from Longreach to Mt Isa. I am not too keen on buses and was not looking forward to this leg of the journey. The line is still occasionally used for freight.

 Walkway from the motel to the center of town.

 The ugliest school uniform I have ever seen. Click on the photo to see it in detail.

 Tropic of  Capricorn marker. Approximately half of Australia lies north of the tropic.

 Longreach train station.

 Queen Elizabeth and Prince Phillip each planted a tree in Longreach. The top photo is Prince Phillip's tree. To me it looks like the Queen's tree was doing better.

 The bus was due to leave from in front of this hotel.

One reason to get out of Longreach. This did not inspire confidence.

 The bus arrived on time and various packages were unloaded and loaded.

 So we headed north out of Longreach on to this seemingly endless plain.

On and on it went. The bus was definitely more bumpy than the train and I found it difficult to write notes.

Eventually we came to Winton and we stopped for about 30 minutes while the driver had a break.

 Winton claims to be the birthplace of the famous Aussie song, Waltzing Matilda. This is a statue of Banjo Patterson who wrote the poem.

The usual wide main street with a median strip down the middle.

 It's all go in Winton. These small country towns really try hard to make life more interesting for the residents.

Imaginative rubbish bin. The remains of dinosaurs have been found in the area.

One of the few remaining open air cinemas in the world.

Lunch was a meat pie and a milkshake. All very healthy, I can assure you.

 Out door dining at the pub.

 Entrance to the library.

I really went in to use their bathroom figuring that it would be cleaner than most and it was. It turned out to be a very good little library.

Marianne will enjoy this.

I suspect the library was better. Virtually every small town in Australia has public toilets.

Post Office boxes.

I took this photo just because the cart looked interesting, but now I find out that there is more to it than I ever dreamed. A message from my sister Anne follows:

There is no way I can be sure for your particular photo, but Mum knew that in Winton there was on display an old dray that had been driven by her great-uncle/guardian Herbert Young.

The last time I remember it being discussed was some time back in Indooroopilly when Ken Anderson and his wife were over one evening showing slides of an outback holiday. 

A photo of Young's dray in a main street in Winton, turned up on the screen and Mum was happy to see this piece of local history and talk about her connection with it.

Opals can be found in the area around Winton.

Back on to the endless plain. It was quite hot outside and I was glad the bus was air conditioned and I was on the side of the bus away from the sun.

 Occasionally there were some hills.

The driver stopped occasionally to take a break. I was very glad that he did so since driving long distances in the outback can result in drowsiness.

There had been some rain the night before, much to the surprise of the local residents.

 Toilet block at a rest area.

I was actually trying to capture the white in the clouds, but I managed to capture the ray of light as well.

Eventually the vegetation increased in size.

The train line from Mt Isa to Longreach. The next day, my train rolled down these tracks.

Unusual rock formation outside Cloncurry.

The Curry as it is known to locals.

There are some interesting buildings, but not too many. I suspect that most of the residents of this town were not very wealthy.

This house is not representative of the other houses in town. It just looked interesting.

Nicer looking old house.

So we headed west across the Cloncurry River.

It was now after 5pm and the afternoon sun was lighting the landscape with a golden glow.

The road passes through a range of hills that is incredibly beautiful. Unfortunately, the angle of the sun on the window made it difficult to take photos.

All I can say is that this was an incredible drive. I would love to do the drive in the opposite direction when the sun was behind me.

T
he bus arrived at Mt Isa just at dusk. To my surprise, I enjoyed the bus ride more than I anticipated. The driver was friendly and the scenery was spectacular at the end. By the way, the fare was $75.