THE TOWN OF HUGHENDEN (10 JULY 2015)

Hughenden is not large. Population?  About 1,500 on a good day!  Built on the banks of the Flinders River, this town is the hub of the local sheep and cattle grazing industry, although as we have already discovered, things are grim for both at the moment. Rainfall in the area is notoriously fickle.  Despite the fact that when it flows, the Flinders is a pretty big stream, it is not a viable source of irrigation. You will see why shortly (unlike the Gascoyne in WA it does not flow underground!)

One of the town's greatest draw cards is the beautiful Porcupine Gorge, known widely as 'Australia's Little Grand Canyon'.  Only a short 60 kms drive north of Hughenden, the scenery here is stunning, as this shot courtesy of 'about-australia' shows.  We did not have time on this trip to include a sortie to this area on our agenda, but we visited friends in Brisbane who have 'done' the gorge....it is now firmly on our 'to do' list.

Of course, as becomes inescapably obvious as one drives into town, Hughenden is the third of the triumvirate of Queensland outback towns which form the so-called 'dinosaur trail'. The fossilised bones of the largest of Australia's prehistoric lizards, the muttaburrasaurus, were first discovered near the tiny town of Muttaburra (how odd), some 200 kms from Hughenden.  I find it a little quaint that towns like Hughenden claim 'the Mutt' as their own......Muttaburra is actually much closer to Longreach! 

But I suppose when the tourist dollar is of increasing importance to the local economies in these small outback towns, every bit of publicity helps. 

We had had our fill of old bones in our previous visits to Winton and Richmond, so for us it was a tour of the town only, which we began by parking at the northern end of Gray Street near the Flinders River where the huge landmark old Comet windmill stands as a reminder of days past.

This very large wind harness (11 metres high) is not quite as old as I first suspected. It was actually erected here in 1933 and is one of only eleven of its type to have been built. Its performance was as impressive as its appearance. In an average wind, this monster could pump out a staggering 11 million litres of water per day. 

As we wandered down to and across the river bridge, two things became immediately apparent.....firstly this is a wide river (when it flows) and at the moment it was bone dry.

But we could see some signs of green on the far bank,

the fine lawns of the Robert Gray Park, named, as could be expected, after a local luminary from the days of yore.

This is a linear park which assumes even more significance in these dry times. We were curious about the large red rocks which are an obvious feature. They can be found in groups

and standing individually. 

A closer look revealed that the small brass plaques on each commemorate the lives of past members of the Hughenden community, ranging from prominent citizens to local larrikins. Naturally I chose this one as an example!  What a lovely environment in which to present some of the town's history.

But the park has a practical side to it as well. Along this walking/jogging track

are numerous 'work out' stations which provide practical advice to those on the mission of improved physical fitness. We did ramble along the path for some distance, but I have to say our encounters with the various exercise stations evoked nothing but curiosity!  

Our exercise for the day was confined to a good walk and we were soon making our way back across the Flinders bridge to the main CBD .

At the town end of the bridge, opposite the windmill, are the modern Shire offices.

Directly across the road, in complete contrast, the impressive but sadly dowdy Masons Hall seemed to be crying out for a makeover.

A short walk north along Gray Street brought us to the intersection of Brodie Street, where, on one corner we found the Hughenden Post Office.

Liz had a need for the services therein, so in we went. Now it's not often I scramble for the camera inside an Australia Post premises, but these chairs did take my attention. They are certainly different. Just the thing to make a visiting stockman feel at home whilst waiting!

From post office steps we had a good view along Brodie Street which is really the hub of the Hughenden CBD.

As we wandered over we came across a further reminder that we were in dinosaur country....another of these street bins. We had first seen these in Winton three years or so ago and had spotted other versions in Richmond. There must have been a 'job lot' on the market at some stage!

It is actually difficult to get away from reminders of the pre-historic past in the Hughenden CBD. The wall on the local library building

is decorated with this skeletal art













which, on closer inspection proved to be very cleverly done. If you look carefully you will see that all the individual pieces are items which once had another use. The shovel and pulley stand out.












And if this were not enough, right next door is 'Mutt's' winged cousin, again constructed entirely of old bits and pieces. With all these reminders, and the exhibits and information to be found at the Flinders Discovery Centre (which we didn't visit), the good burghers of Hughenden are certainly doing all they can to encourage visitors to make the most of the area's dinosaur links.










But we only had time to see the town and move on. At the far end of Brodie Street, we did come across an operational pub (which had little external appeal for us)

and the local RSL right across the road.

In this same area stands the impressive Hughenden Entertainment Centre

and that's the limit of the CBD in this part of town. We did continue on to the end of the road













where we found the Hughenden show grounds, a patch of green at the far side of a dry Flinders River annabranch flood plain.







This was of some interest to us because this is an alternative camp ground in the town, but as you can see, it is completely devoid of any shade and totally exposed. Admittedly it is far cheaper, and there were a few vans here, but we decided we had made the right decision.









It was time to mosey back along the other side of Brodie Street














where the covered walkway in the centre of the road has been designed to cleverly incorporate the 'fan' of an old windmill.








As we walked back along this side of the street, this shop-front poster caught our eye. It provided some insight into the state of the local economy and the fact that the business folk of Hughenden were not going to capitulate without a fight.














On this same side of the street stands a Hughenden landmark.......The FJ Holden Cafe. We have yet to see a travel show or read an article about Hughenden in which this doesn't feature.

As expected, the interior is a hotchpotch of 50's and 60's memorabilia. An old jukebox, seventy-eight inch 'platters', a myriad of photos and the piece-de-resistance (which you can hopefully make out on the far wall....it's blue) the chopped off front end of an FJ Holden. We did not sample the wares on offer, but have been told they are up to scratch. Much as I hate to admit it, I felt completely at home in here....there was nothing on show I didn't immediately recognise!




By this stage we were happy that we had seen enough of this end of town so we stretched our legs again along Gray Street, past the local Lions club contribution to the street scape, and on back to 'Mutt's' corner.







Here, looking at the back end of the building, we confirmed that our first impressions of the state of the Grand Hotel had been correct. It is such a shame that this fine example of a large country hotel has been allowed to deteriorate to the extent it has. This is just the sort of place where we would have had breasted the bar with verve.











As we walked back to the other end of town to reclaim the Cruiser, I came across something I just had to share. It may not be immediately apparent, but I invite you to take a close look at the state of the fence just above the top right corner of this advertising sign......inspiring??? We liked to think that this had been the work of a jealous competitor , but we doubt it!






Far more impressive were the clipped hedges which line the footpath of the Flinders Highway (the western end of Gray Street) near the local Foodworks shop where we stopped for a small re-supply en route back to the park. 











Before returning to camp we did also stop for a quick look at the Hughenden railway station which is right across the road from the caravan park.









Given the proximity we were more than relieved that the cattle trucks lined up in the siding remained empty for the period of our stay. We have yet to come across a loaded one which presents a perfume one would want to bottle, quite aside from the racket of stamping hooves and bellows of indignant bovine protest. 








Adjacent to the caravan park is the 'fun' end of town. A covered skate park,











the local swimming pool, annoyingly empty and ergo closed (it was hot), 















and a basketball hoop are hard to miss. 

I never could determine if this wall had another purpose or whether it was pure advertising, but it was certainly striking.










Let me end our whistle-stop ramble around Hughenden with the entrance to the town pool where I was struck by two things. Firstly, it did seem an odd place to have erected the local 'Roll of Honour' memorial, standing in stark and somewhat incongruous isolation as it does (these are universally to be found in parks or garden surrounds or near the local RSL buildings).





The other thing which caught my eye was a notice near the pool entrance relating to the contact details of those from who enquiries about opening hours could be made.....who else but 'Rocket' and 'Sheep'......"Good on ya, cobber...no worries, mate".  Only in Oz?

So on that decidedly locally rustic note, we leave Hughenden, glad that we had taken the time to look around the town, impressed with most of what we had seen and keen to return to see more of the surrounds, particularly Porcupine Gorge. The two night rest had been most welcome, but it was now time to press on. The coast beckoned with increasing intensity.

BACK BRIEFLY TO THE DINOSAUR TRAIL - HUGHENDEN (9 -10 JULY 2015)

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.

WE MISS GOOD FRIENDS BY A WHISKER AND HEAD FOR THE COAST - TENNANT CREEK TO RICHMOND (6 - 8 JULY 2015)

The blog is about to change.  Now that we have completed our 'lap' of the country, our journey for some time from now on is to be over old ground, albeit in the opposite direction, east across the Barkly and Flinders Highways to the far north Queensland coast. Many of the towns through which we are about to travel have featured before. Given that I'm still madly trying to catch up with real time, I propose to compress it (time that is) in a literary sense for the next few months of our adventures.

After a couple of nights at Tennant Creek recovering from the combined effects of our serious socialising and many kilometres of fairly hard travelling (by our standards) it was time to move on. We were due at our 'winter quarters' at Kurrimine Beach on 13 July just over 1,700 kilometres distant.

But before we left Tennant Creek we received a phone call. It was our very close friends, the Siblys of Port Elliot, who, it transpired, had actually been driving behind us on the Stuart Highway as we approached Threeways. They were en route to Brisbane from Darwin, recognised our rig, but couldn't make immediate contact because their phone batteries were flat. Of course we had continued on into Tennant Creek whilst they refuelled and then turned east onto the Barkly Highway expecting to catch up with us. They were on a tight schedule and rang us a day later. We were all left to reflect on what would have been the most extraordinarily coincidental meeting of our entire travels to date if it were not for a flat phone battery. I can't even begin to do the 'probability' statistical calculation on this one. 




So with that incredible near miss still on our minds, we too/two (sorry...irresistible!) took to the Barkly. The free camp at Avon Downs was in our sights for our first stop-over. We knew from our previous sortie across The Barkly that this was a large and seemingly very well set up camp.








We also knew that these camps fill early.....we were determined to be there in the vanguard. And so we were, and managed to acquire a really pleasant patch.










By the time the afternoon sun was beating down, we somewhat smugly set up our chairs in the shade of the trees.










Max loved the spot....he even pretended for a while that he was actually a real hunter....we know better!











Our arrival at Avon Downs represented our last day in the Northern Territory. It is less than 100 kms from the border. Opposite the free camp is the Avon Downs Police Station










and an outbuilding on the verandah of which are all the makings for a free cuppa....a Driver Reviver centre at which weary travellers are able to help themselves to a refreshing brew. 








And that's about all there is to Avon Downs (apart from the very large cattle station of the same name).  I was a little peeved that my quest to have a yarn with the local copper went unrequited. He was out on patrol. But the sunset did not disappoint.










It was a cracker with colours only the outback can produce.












This had been a good start to our easterly pilgrimage, and we were on the road early again the next morning. The open flat expanses of the Barkly Tablelands had not changed.










An hour's driving and another milestone. We were back in the sunshine state after an absence of just under two years.













A refuelling stop in Camooweal, transit through Mount Isa,





and our second free campsite for the trip loomed. Fountain Springs is another roadside stop we had spotted whilst previously travelling between Cloncurry and 'The Isa'. 





As we pulled in and chose our resting place, we realised that our memories had let us down a little. This did not have quite the ambiance we recalled, but we made the most of it anyway,

as did many others by the end of the day. 

Fortunately none of those crowded in here for the night were in party mode.....that can be challenging at a free campsite were the only rules are those of convention and good manners, and sanctions against those who chose to flout common sense are severely limited. We had a very good sleep, and again were off at 'sparrows'.

Our destination for today was Julia Creek. As the far end of this outback town is a large campsite by the river. We knew it was popular and had decided that if it was too crowded we would toddle off to the town caravan park. 

As we crawled along through the narrow carriageway of Julia Creek's main street we were becoming increasingly concerned....the place was awash with caravans, camper trailers, mobile homes and 'whiz bangs', those horrible campers with the large sliding side doors which cannot be closed quietly (hence the nick-name).

This did not auger well and, as we soon discovered, was a true prediction of the state of the fee campsite. It was absolutely jammed. The only available sites were in mountain goat country.  This was not going to happen!

Back to town we went only to find that the Julia Creek Caravan Park was decidedly less than appealing, decidedly less. Time for Plan B, except at this stage we didn't have a Plan B! "Let's get creative, Lizzie. What are our alternatives?"  

Out came our trusty Camps 7 book, complete with all the notes Liz had entered, and after a quick leaf through the relevant pages we decided that the roadside stop at Maxwellton showed promise. So it was off again out onto the Flinders Highway and east across the dry flat plains.

A hundred kilometres later and more frustration. The Maxwellton rest area proved to be small, unshaded and right on the highway. It was ideal for a quick comfort stop (as was clearly evident when we arrived as you can see) but not for a comfortable overnight.

At least we were entertained as we now contemplated Plan C. As they do, this large flock of long billed corellas squawked and wheeled in a constant state of indecision for many minutes before finally heading out into the plains. They really are silly birds!

Notwithstanding our determination to spend time in different places on this passage across Queensland, Richmond, another 55 kms to the east, became the obvious choice. We were now well into the afternoon and driver and navigator were both feeling increasingly jaded. After our previous stay here of five days, we knew the Richmond Caravan Park and knew that we would be more than comfortable here, if we could get in at this late stage, that is...this is a very popular place on the shores of the large Lake Fred Triton. 

And so it was (crowded that is), but to our great relief a quick phone call reserved us the last possible drive-thu site in the park, a patch which is normally a park roadway, but mine hosts the redoubtable Pat and John Woodgate, who had returned here to manage the park after a two year absence, are nothing if not both wonderfully welcoming and practically accommodating as well. It was good to see them, and their huge wolfhound, Murphy, again.

We were all set in no time,

and there was no doubt that we had been lucky.....this park was indeed full.

As we wandered about, another spot of luck, from our perspective at least.....live music. So once again we joined others under the shade cloth (we had been entertained on two late afternoons during our last stay)

and listened to what the current Richmond resident minstrel had to offer. He was a more than passable troubadour. This as a good end to what had been a trying day.

It had also been good to again catch up with the Woodgates.  After they left Richmond previously they travelled extensively around the country and often wrote articles which appeared in various caravan magazines. We were more than surprised to find them back here, where they have taken a two year contract with the local Shire to manage the park.  It is in good hands.

Let me give you an example.  Friends, with whom we later caught up in Kurrimine Beach, stayed here en route to the coast. The  park itself was full, so they were directed to the overflow camp at the local oval with the assurance that others would later join them. This did not eventuate, so John came down later to check on our friends and ensure that they felt safe and comfortable.  Now that's the way to run a park!

Tomorrow would be a very easy day. We had previously planned to spend a couple of days in Hughenden, a town through which we merely passed on our last trip along the Flinders Highway. As a result of our extended travelling today this was to be  a mere 115 kilometre journey.