Heading up to Longreach

We travelled to Innaminka, Birdsville, Windorah, Isisford, Ilfracombe and Longreach in May sleeping in tent. Yes some nights were cool but days lovely. There was a great little caravan park in Ilfracombe and a wonderful collection of old tractors. We used Ilfracombe as our base for visiting Longreach. Interesting woolshed near Isisford too. We find you pick up plenty of tips on where to go along the way from others. Enjoy your travels!

Rod, I would say the days will be beautiful and the nights quite cool. The thing is once the day time temps drop, the coolness of the night won't be such a shock. At the moment, the days are high 20's and the nights needing a doona. The locals are predicting a cool winter thanks to the high rain falls.

Anthony (in Barcaldine)

We have travelled through there in July and it just means put flannelette sheets on the bed, take a hot water bottle or thermal underwear and you will be as warm ast toast. it is worth the effort, the days are wonderful and you will have a fantastic time
barb

Good sleeping gear and warm clothes for night time are essential for winter camping. But once you have that sorted, there's absolutely nothing to stop you from enjoying what this magnificent country has to offer!! We trekked around the red center last year from late June to early August, including the Simpson Desert, and the "cold" didn't bother us at all.

As mentioned above, Ilfricombe is an interesting town to visit, Longreach is "bigger" and quite a friendly town, as most of them are out there, Winton in my opinion is one of the best outback towns. It's a personal preference, but we enjoyed the Matilda Center at Winton more so than the Stockmans Hall of Fame at Longreach. More "earthy".... Lark Quarry is well worth the effort of visiting too. 110 k's or so outside of Winton on the Jundah Rd, it's the site of a dinosaur stampede many many millions of years ago. Very impressive.

Cheers

Brian

If you are staying on power each night then its electic blankets and fan heater. Warm as a bug in a etc etc. Days will be lovely but cool when the wind blows. Its the best time of the year to travel.

Can endorse earlier comments on Ilfracombe as a base for Longreach.Winton is fantastic - agree the Matidla Centre was more enjoyable than the Stockmans Hall of Fame, which was too commercial and expensive for my taste. Take in the little places on the way, like Blackall as you come from Charleville. Most parks have communal fires to keep warm in the evening (Iffracombe has a beauty) and thermals under your PJs work a treat. Enjoy - best time of year up there as the days are warm and dry.

Ditto to previous posts. I actually spent half a day in the Stockman's Hall of Fame and could have spent more. I loved it.

From Winton, go out to Lark Quarry to view the Dinosaur footprints. Enquire at the Matilda Centre and get your tickets to Lark Quarry from there. It is about 110k from Winton on a mostly dirt road with patches of sealed but it was maintained when we went through. You can even get a bus tour out there. It is a fascinating place. While out there consider driving out to Old Cork Station ruins on the banks of the Diamantina then drive back along the road from Old Cork Station along the Diamantinea River up to the Kennedy development Rd to Winton. A good days drive.

WBS

make sure you stay at illfracombe caravan park......

its is fantastic!!

G'day Rod, we used to live in Winton, and yes, it will be cold, but the days are nice. It is much better to travle then, than in the warmer months when you will also have to deal with storms etc..

Thanks to you all. Your responses have certainly sparked our enthusiasm. Got maps out and highlighted Ilfracombe. We are looking at coming back thru Stonehenge, Windorah, Quilpie (weather permitting). Definitely changing normal sleeping attire (T shirt/jocks) to something warmer. Oo roo

Rod,

Just allow a little extra time for the trip. Many of the roads even the black stuff are still rough after the flooding. Talking to a rep the other day and he said there were lots of rough patches, bumpy temporary repairs and plenty of stop/ go at repairs.

June is a few months away but there is lots of repairs to do and most Councils do not have the funds and are waiting for Govt assistance.

Don't let this put you off, many small towns are hurting badly and are in desperate need of the tourist dollar.

Take a look at blackall if you can beautiful town. Caravan Park has communal fire place and camp oven dinners!!! YUM

You have planned a great trip! Take your time, there's lots to see and do. Spend time around Ilfracombe - great outback pioneering stuff to see for free or just a small donation. We found the CPs in Longreach overcrowded and too expensive for their very ordinary facilities. Ilfracombe CP was fantastic. You might need to book ahead there as the word is apparently out!
Stonehenge is well worth a visit too. The campground is free - honesty box for power as I remember. We had the best pub dinner ever there with great company. After the rain the locals should all be pretty cheerful! Check the road - it was an excellent mostly gravel road 4 years ago but might be a bit muddy this year. Should be OK if you take it easy.
Don't miss Isisford. A great free campground (decent toilets and water). Fascinating dinasour museum as well as old woolshed.
Enjoy. Lynne

Kidmans Camp at North Bourke is a great caravan park to stay while you explore around Bourke. Evening Star Tourist Park, about 9km out of Charleville, on the Adavale road, is another great place to stay - it is newish, has well set out drive through sites and has much more space than the caravan parks in town.
I know opinions differ, but we loved the Hall of Fame in Longreach: spent an afternoon there and then got a pass out to go back the next day. Endorse what others have said about Winton, Lark Quarry, Old Cork.

hi rod, we done the trip your talking about a couple of years ago, we went from mannum home paddock to broken hill, tippoburra nocundra, quilpy, windorah, jundah, stonehenge, longreach towing a non off road caravan but going care fully. come home via the matilda highway. best trip i have done. loved stockmans, quantas museum as well as all the great camps on the way up and way home. best time of the year. just do it. your here for a good time, not a long time. cheers mm.

It is the only time of the year to go!!
Most other months it is too hot.
My teenage kids were swimming in the Diamantina Lakes a couple of hours west of Longreach/Winton in July 09.
Your coldest days will be closest to home, only warmer further north. Most places will have a 20degree diurnal range, so if you are concerned about being zero overnight, console yourself it will be 20 in the day.
Once you get north of Dubbo, you shouldn't get any of those dreary, cloudy, never warm up type of days you do in SE Australia in winter.

Plenty of people camp out in swags at that time of the year, they don't have the warmth of your caravan