Wilsons on the road: Friday 1 March 2013 - Bladensburg National Park (near Winton)

Friday 1 March 2013 - Bladensburg National Park (near Winton)

After a quick breakfast and packing up, we left Longreach Tourist Park yesterday morning. Glenn dropped Yasmin and I at the Longreach School of Distance Education and he and Sienna did a bit of shopping (new camping table). The school was fascinating – especially because there were actually kids there! Once a term (or so) they hold clusters, when the kids and their carers/mums come into town and stay (there’s accommodation at the school) and they do lots of fun and social activities. The girl giving us the tour kept apologising for the ‘noise’. Normally, she said, it’s almost dead-quiet and here I am thinking how civilised and well-behaved the kids are!

We then drove on to Winton, where we stopped and picked up a map from the information centre and took the girls to a playground to let off some steam. We then drove to a picnic spot which was pretty ordinary as far as lunch stops go. It was pretty much dirt, a bit of water and no shaded tables. We inhaled our lunch and made for Bladensburg National Park, about 30km out of town.

It was about 3:30 in the afternoon when we arrived, stinking hot (not sure what it actually was but the forecast was around 38 degrees) and only a faint breeze was blowing. Glenn rigged up a shade cover first while I tried to entertain and distract two hot, cranky, tired girls. After we were set up, we cooled off in the creek, ate an early dinner and turned in for the night. It was the hottest one we’ve experienced so far (predicted to drop to only 26 degrees early in the morning). Both girls woke up crying at different times, drenched in sweat. We slept with every fly open, the fans on flat out and no sheets but still couldn’t get cool.

Today, Friday, dawned clear and obviously warm – it was forecast as the hottest of the week, about 39 degrees. There was a bit of a breeze around but it didn’t take long to get hot. We made sure the girls drank plenty of water and they spent hours playing in an esky full of creek water with a few plastic tubs from the kitchen drawer. Sometimes kids drive you bonkers, and then other times you just sit back and marvel at how imaginative they are at playing with only a few basic household things! We also went for numerous dips in the creek (when the breeze picked up and you walked around with wet swimmers on, it was almost like being in air conditioning!) and even had a shower of rain come through in the afternoon.

The creek has a rope swing set up, which Glenn fearlessly tried out. Yasmin was half-keen, but it was a bit awkward for her to do on her own. After watching me do it a few times, she held onto my shoulders and we did it together. She thought it was great (and I enjoyed feeling like a kid again too)! Despite the heat, it’s a pretty good spot here. We have the whole area to ourselves and can cool off whenever we need to. There’s plenty of wildlife – a young goanna did the rounds early this morning, then a great big one came through a little bit later; roos; grass parrots; blue-claw in the creek (Glenn set a pot – they’re vegetarian, nothing there with spag bol but got a few when he used vegie scraps); bugs galore at night; big ants; flies everywhere and a wriggly mini snake thing came through our feet tonight after dinner.

Although it was so hot, we managed to keep cool enough and have a fun, relaxing day. We didn’t aim to do anything too adventurous, although I did get the pantry re-sorted after an ant infestation in Longreach and Glenn got a little fire going this morning and then made a delicious bread, using wholemeal spelt flour and the camp oven. Every day the girls seem to get a little more adept at coping with our new way of life, which is a relief. Even though Yasmin didn’t have a sleep today, she didn’t turn into Evil Devil Spawn at bedtime. Sienna loves having the freedom to walk wherever she pleases, but is still very clingy with Glenn. I suggested he get a hip-rest surgically attached so he can just rest her there on a permanent basis.