RICHMOND (4 - 8 JULY)

A lesson soon learnt in a life on the road is that one cannot have everything (most of the time).  Our delight in having secured one of the best spots in the Richmond caravan park,

with a wonderful view east over Lake Fred Tritton, has been soured over the past four days by constant, howling south-easterly winds.  Even the locals are moaning.  The delights of the warmth of Normanton are but a faded memory as we struggle to rise each morning in temperatures of 3 -4 degrees.  The daytime maxima of the mid 20's has been blunted by this wretched wind which has reached speeds of 30 knots with even higher gusts. 

But to the positives.  Lake Fred Tritton, an artificial construction of a circumference of some 1.2. kms, built in the early 2000's to provide for the recreational needs of the locals and visitors alike, provides a wonderful backdrop to the caravan park.  As I mentioned earlier, a good dose of Marshie crawling on our arrival has seen us placed on one of only two sites with a direct lake view by day and by night.

Whilst this has been a boon in one respect, it has its downside.  It provides me with a constant daily reminder that my dreams of piscatorial plunder, which had been nurtured by all the tourist information we had on Richmond, are shattered!  I am sure the lake is well stocked with barramundi, sooty grunter, sleepy cod and red claw (a fresh water crayfish...imagine a yabby on steroids) as all the blurb boasts, but sadly the condition of the lake has meant that there has been no contest between these denizens of the deep and your correspondent. 

Apart from the wind about which I have already grizzled, the bank of the lake currently supports a mass of thick aquatic weed around its entire circumference, in some places growing out 20 metres or so.  This has rendered impossible the ability to cast a lure or bait from shore, and our equipment does not include a tinnie.  I did have a crack at the red claw from a stubby jetty, but as this shot shows, I was rewinding the tie lines around empty traps. Efforts are obviously being made to eradicate this weed per medium of large, floating black mats designed to prevent any light reaching this aquatic curse, but there is still much to be done in this area.

We have noted that one of the features of Richmond is a certain sense of humour which obviously flourishes within the community.  One classic example of this (apart from signage...more of that later) can be found at Lake Fred Tritton.  On the eastern bank of the lake a small, rubber type pontoon extends into the water.  Immediately above this stands a sign  on which the rules of the 'hole in one' contest are published. 

The islet in front of the platform (which is actually the grave site of a stockman who died here in the late 1800's and whose grave was uncovered during construction of the lake...hence the name 'Dead Man's Island) houses a small angled platform with a hole in it.  This creates the entrance to a pipe below.  Believe it or not, this the 'the hole'

 

Local enquiries have confirmed that an annual contest actually takes place here to achieve a hole in one.  We just loved the warning on the sign that 'No practising is allowed'!

To matters of more import.  One of Richmond's serious claims to fame relates to the fossil finds of the surrounding area.  These have been significant.  A much publicised feature of the main street, 'Kronosauros Korner', houses not only the life size replica of the prehistoric beast after which it was named, but also a laboratory in which scientific work of world note is being undertaken.

Some interesting facts.  The lifesized monster past which Liz is walking (actually she was trying to gallop out of shot...she was afraid the caption might read 'Spot the Dinosaur') is over 12 metres long.  It was the largest of the plesiosaurs which splashed around in the ancient Eromanga Sea, and with teeth 30 cms long I needed no convincing that this was the top dog (fish) of its day.  It was air breathing and so would surface whale-like every so often whilst terrorising every other living creature with those fearsome jaws which measure over 7 metres (makes a Tyrannosaurus Rex look like an amateur).

One of its prey of the day was a smaller cousin. A skeleton of one of these has been found near Richmond. The 'Richmond Pliosaur' can lay claim to being the best preserved vertebrate skeleton in Australia certainly, if not the world.

Two 'fossil grounds' are to be found some 10 kms to the west of Richmond on which tourist fossicking is encouraged.  We visited the sites but did not indulge.  We did note, however, the sign on the long drop dunny on site.

This provides a great introduction to Richmond signs, which, we note, demonstrate a similar sense of humour as that which prompted the hole in one contest.

Two pre-arrival signs on the Julia Creek side of town advertise the fact that Richmond has a close relationship with the prehistoric past, one of which is seen below.

This tongue-in-cheek approach is continued at KKorner, where the signs directing folk to the appropriate loo read:

It is clear that the good folk of Richmond have maintained a wonderful sense of perspective, notwithstanding the scientific significance of their endeavours.

As the old ad used to say, "but wait, there's more."  Richmond can lay claim to another unique geological phenomenon, 'Moon Rocks'.  These come in all sizes from that of a golf ball to two tonne specimens.  They abound in the town.  Indeed the monument built to proclaim the completion of the Flinders Highway (which connects Cloncurry to Townsville) in this part of the world is constructed of these oddities.

The 'rocks' are in fact lumps of calcium carbonate, usually but not always circular in shape, which have formed in the ancient sediment peculiar to this region. They are not fossils in themselves, but often contain them, particularly those of shells.

With the exercise of a touch of ingenuity, one can ascribe another reason for the name 'Moon' rock. (isn't she a brick!).

The historical walk around Richmond, or put more correctly, up and down the surprisingly long main street, reveals some other gems.  One of these, the 'Cambridge Store', which is a re-creation of the store building which used to exist on the nearby Cambridge cattle station,

houses a multitude of items of historical interest.  Household items, milk separators, a two stand shearing site, diaries, account books and all manner of goods associated with station life of the time abound.  Of all these, two in particular caught my eye.

Could this be Australia's oldest example of graffiti?  This moon rock was found on the station property.  Apparently the carved names etc on it were done by bored drovers who wished to record their existence and location whilst idling time away around the evening camp fire.

 The second item of the many of interest which really grabbed my attention in this wonderfully constructed and maintained museum was the Cobb and Co stage coach.  Just imagine clattering miles and miles across the outback of Australia in this large-wheeled (and very poorly sprung) box.  Apparently the one seat next to the driver was highly prized as at least providing a good outlook and some fresh air.  To think that so much of the country was traversed by these vehicles for so long and of their critical place in the delivery of mail and passengers, does  place our modern life in some perspective.

A final note on the historical aspect of Richmond.  Liz and I are both afraid that we may have inadvertently offended some of the locals during our stroll of discovery.  Of some twenty or so buildings (described very well on plaques erected on their existing or previous sites), almost all of them were destroyed by fire.  It got to the point where we would skim through the information provided until we came to the word 'fire'.  By the end of our tour we found ourselves falling about with each successive sign.  We had noted a similar trait in both Longreach and Winton.  I know, wooden buildings and open fireplaces and all that...we prefer to imagine the phantom arsonist of the outback remains at large!  

Bougainvillea is another feature of Richmond.  The main street median strip is festooned with many differently coloured bushes, most of which have been trimmed into a neat shape.  A hedge of the same plant can also be found on the eastern side of the lake.  Unfortunately these photos do not do justice to what is a real asset to the streetscape.







Finally, we could not leave Richmond without commenting on the street bins.  You may recall that in Winton they were enclosed in a large dinosaur foot.  Not to be outdone, Richmond's bins sit neatly in the gaping jaws of the dreaded Kronosaurus. We can but speculate as to what awaits us in Hughenden, the third of the triumvirate of 'dinosaur trail' towns in the Qld outback!




   

Charters Towers beckons.  We extended our stay in Richmond by a day in an effort to escape the easterly winds on our journey towards the coast, but to no avail I suspect.  Hopefully a very early start will see us cover a goodly chunk of the 350 kms run before things become too boisterous.  Mind you, given that an excellent roaming troubadour, skilled on three different types of guitar and with a penchant for our sort of music, is playing here again tonight (he arrived yesterday), an early night may be difficult.  And would you believe....he hails from the Adelaide suburb of Blakeview!!