Dugald River or McKinlay

Haven't been to Dugald.

Went to McKinlay once. There's not a lot there, so I wouldn't worry about it being packed.

We popped into the "Walkabout Creek" hotel. Mr Dundee wasn't in, and the barman and the locals all looked at us as if saying "what are you doin here?". Not quite what I expected from a tourist spot. This was a few years ago, so you may get lucky.

If you were interested in seeing "nothing" take the road N/E toward Julia Creek.

If you are coming up from Winton, and had the time, I'd go via Boulia.

My 2 cents worth, just keep going staight past the Mckinley pub, it lost all it's charm when they shifted it and the owner has the personality of a robbers dog.

Thanks for the replies

Austravel,

I would think that if you camped at McKinlay it would be ok.McKinlay was a staging place for Cobb & Co, there are still some original buildings there and it's just another little outback town trying to survive. It might have cashed in on the Crocodile Dundee movie, but the pub is still interesting to have a look at.

I've looked at the map to check out Dugald River but was just wondering why you were thinking of stopping there? Is there a camp spot there that you know of? Kajabbi is not that far from where the Dugald River crosses the Burketown Road and that's an interesting spot and you can camp there.

Just out of Cloncurry you could camp at Corella Dam, I think you still can. You could then take the road that follows the Leichardt River to Lake Julius and Kajabbi and rejoin the highway to Burketown that way.

Also if you wanted an interesting drive you can go from the Old Hamilton Ruins on the Kennedy Development Road north through Selwyn and Kuridala to Cloncurry..or there is a branch road that takes you to McKinlay. We enjoyed our travels through there and intend to go back that way again this August. I think there is a road just 15kms west of Middleton that will connect up with that road as well.

It all depends on where you're coming from...there are lots of interesting roads that are off the main highway. For eg the Windorah/Winton road that takes you past Lark Quarry and then you can head across to Old Cork Station then to the Kennedy Dev Road near Cawnpore Look Out.

If you're travelling on the highway, then we stopped one night at the Kynuna Blue Heeler hotel and their campground was very good and the meal at the pub was ok too.

Viv