Today was to be the shortest sector of our trip east to the coast. Hughenden, one of the three outback Queensland towns on the 'dinosuar trail' (the others are Winton and Richmond...'been there done that') was our destination. We were to spend two days here, to see what was on offer and to have a break from travelling.
A mere doddle of just over 100 kms found us cruising into the somewhat barren outskirts of Hughenden. The dreadful drought which has plagued outback Queensland over several years was taking its toll throughout the countryside as we had already seen in the past few days.
One obvious effect of this, apart from the dessicated grazing lands and emaciated cattle, was the road-kill. It was horrific. Between Julia Creek and Richmond, for example, we gave up counting the dead kangaroos on the side of the highway at 150. Many of these were in clusters, cleaned up by thundering road-trains as they munched on the green pick at the edge of the highway, grass nurtured by the run off from the occasional shower. And from all we could gather, things will become worse before they get better. Rain is desperately needed throughout all of outback Queensland.
Things became decidedly greener looking as we made our way into the divided road which leads to the main town intersection
at the Grand Hotel corner. Sadly this magnificent old building is in a state of significant decline and no longer operates as a pub. We did hear some local talk of a restoration project, but nothing seems to be on the immediate horizon, and from what we saw there is much to be done.
Directly opposite 'The Grand', standing proudly in its own well kept gardens, is another Hughenden landmark. 'Mutt' is a life sized statue of a muttaburrasaurus, a dinosaur which roamed the Hughenden area 100 million years ago. Many fossilised bones are still being discovered here and around the towns on the dinosaur trail.
Here the Flinders Highway makes a right hand turn and we dutifully did the same. A short
distance east through this part of the town, which is actually the far end of the main CBD,
and we turned off again to the right to travel the kilometre or so towards our park
where we soon pulled up at the entrance.
After checking in and making our way down our row to our allotted site we were in for a surprise....it was already occupied. We had previously read that the sites here could be tight, but this was over the top!
After a quick trip back to the office, a red face or two (the folk on the site we had been given had decided to extend) we started again, this time with more success.
For those arriving early, these diagonally arranged sites can be entered as a 'drive-thru', but for later arrivals it is a case of backing in as usual, and this requires considerable care. The back to back arrangements here leave very little room for error, and even less between vans. I was more than usually quick to provide 'another set of eyes' as our back neighbour manoeuvred into position, and on this occasion I didn't care if he was offended or not (fortunately he wasn't).
The ablution facilities here at the Allen Terry Caravan park are adequate
as are those in the quite new camp kitchen.
Apart from the caravan sites, this park also houses accommodation for local workers in the form of modern dongas and some obviously original quarters.
Live music seemed to be the order of the day for this part of our journey. On arrival we had been told of the performance planned for this afternoon in the camp kitchen. Nothing ventured, as they say......we wandered across at the appointed hour to join the few others who were similarly inclined.
Despite their best efforts, 'The Boat People' (so named because when not travelling as minstrels they live on a yacht) did not hold our attention for too long and after a 'decent interval'
we made our way back to our camp and set up for evening drinks and a tasty BBQ on our narrow strip of lawn.
I had finally realised that there is no earthly need to break out a table when using our Baby Q. Why I had persisted with that habit for so long is now a mystery, and as a consequence of a well overdue injection of common sense and practicality, I now use this marvellous little cooker much more when staying somewhere short term.
As a quick postscript to our stay in the Hughenden Caravan Park, I can report that the Black Panther took to his new surrounds quick smart, but as usual, notwithstanding this unexpected display of his agility,
he had again muddled his ambitions and capabilities. The roosting birds were completely safe.
Throughout the afternoon a steady trickle of travellers had arrived. By evening the park was almost at capacity.
Many were merely over-nighting, but we had one more to go.....tomorrow was the day to achieve our ambition to explore the town of Hughenden before continuing our dash to the coast.
No comments:
Post a Comment