We searched the town for someone who could fix the air conditioner without success. Most businesses don't work on Saturdays and the one that does was not able to work on a "foreign" unit.
We drove to Winton.
The country around here is channel country along the rivers and Mitchell Grass plains in between. The land surprised us both having more trees than we had expected. Though the rainfall is low there are floods every few years.
As we drove along we saw lots of Black Kites and one pair of Bustards.
The caravan park runs a "What to see and do in Winton" session each evening and we were surprised at the apparent wealth of good things awaiting us. We decided to stay another day and take in the Waltzing Matilda Museum.
There are some really good things in the museum. The centrepiece is a billabong complete with Swagman, Squatter and Troopers three but it also has a ghost in the water telling how his song became the song of the nation. Well done and very effective.
There is much dispute as to the origins of "Waltzing Matilda" and many of the theories were set out in another area as well as fourteen versions of the song itself. There is a holographic thing which I found far too jingoistic and not a little self-consciously holographic.
QANTAS was said to be started in Winton though the Hudson Fyske memoir film seemed to indicate that Brisbane was the location and I suppose he would know as he one of the founders. We were amused at his comparison of the salaries of pilots then and now; 500 pounds p.a. ($1000) then and $25,000 p.a. now!.
We spent all of five minutes in the opal shop, did a little grocery shopping (even though this is Queensland, being a tourist town there are shops open on Sunday) an prepared to head off tomorrow.