5TH JULY 2013 -  FLINDERS HIGHWAY,  QUEENSLAND AUSTRALIA

 Sorry to leave Julia Creek as I found it relaxing in the sun, but hit the road we must – still places to visit on our way back down to the Sunshine Coast. We are taking it day by day on where to go & what to see trying to avoid going over the same routes as previously. Today we are heading down part of the ‘Dinosaur Trail’ – yes I did say Dinosaur. There is a lot of evidence in this area of Australia of those ancient creatures having lived here. Unfortunately the road surface is poor today with lots of humps & bumps – most unusual. Richmond is the first town on the trail with a big tourist attraction called Krontasaurus Corner with a giant statue to greet visitors as they arrive in the town. The dinosaurs in this area were all marine creatures, though in other areas they were land species. There is evidence at Winton of a stampede with very visible footprints on the rocks there, probably when the meteor hit the earth & killed all the living creatures of that time. Unfortunately I don’t think we’ll manage to get there as I have been told it is amazing.

Dinasaur at Hughenden

 

Onto Hughenden with another beautiful big dinosaur statue. Here we stayed in another council provided RV base. There is a funny story attached to this one. It is necessary to have a permit from the Info centre which we duly did. Paid our $6 for one night & were told to go to the local showgrounds (shown the exact spot on the map provided), where we would see several other vans which had arrived that morning. On arrival there we couldn’t see any vans so continued around behind some buildings & there they were. We noticed they were all hooked up to power & water & thought ‘Wow, this is a good deal’, so of course set ourselves up likewise. Within about 1/2 an hour up comes a council man asking who gave us permission to camp there at which we produced our permit. ‘Oh no’ says he – ‘you can’t camp here. You’re supposed to be back in the carpark outside the showgrounds’. After explaining that we had been specifically told to come into the showgrounds, he & we decided they needed better signage & the information staff needed to be a bit more specific. He was very nice about it & didn’t blame any of us so it all ended up as quite a joke & all 4 vans had to pack up & move. As it was we managed to get near the only tree for shade which was on the boundary fence. Again we had a really nice ride round their local bike trails & I even managed a haircut my first for a long time. Feel human again now. Left after our one night to head to Porcupine Gorge about 70kms away which had to be booked at Info Centre again. Duly arrived to find someone on our site & no one in the van. Waited for about an hour & had a cuppa, still no one, so we parked in another site & went off to do the gorge walk before it got too hot. A big steep walk down to the bottom of the gorge with amazing white sandstone rocks which looked like waves. We wonder if they were once under the sea? It was quite an intrepid little journey exploring down there, with lovely pools of water here & there, some quite busy with fish about 6 inches long. The main feature is a very large red cliff face which looks like a pyramid, with a very nice clear but cold pool at it’s base. After our long walk in the heat we were glad to have a dip in it’s refreshing water, having had the foresight to wear our swimmers although we had the pool to ourselves. Then relaxed & ate our picnic lunch sitting on some fairly warm rocks to dry out before attempting the steep climb back to camp. Back at camp there was now someone parked behind us in the site we had stolen temporarily & still the squatters in our site, though this time they were in residence & Stu sorted it all out at last. So finally set up & relaxed in the shade & dinner over we have just had a wild animal making a lot of noise outside the van & though I shone the torch & saw eyes, couldn’t make out what it was. Disappointing.

Pyramid at Porcupine Gorge

 

7th – Overcast morning & slightly humid leaving Porcupine Gorge, temp 21deg at 7.30am. Lots of Brahmen cattle on the road including quite a few cute little calves which were a first. Again we are not entirely sure of our destination – footloose & fancy free! We may end up in a caravan park, the first in 10 days, so time to catch up with laundry etc. It has cost us $16 for those ten nights as we paid a small amount for the National Park & $6 for the RV park at Hughenden. It’s the longest stretch we have had all trip. The wedgies & cleanup crew are having a change of diet today as we saw a wild pig on the road, also saw a feral cat at roadkill, about the 4th in recent weeks. Have also seen roos, emus, horses, camels, eagles & crows, all within 1/2 an hour. By mid morning the clouds have lifted to the usual clear blue sky as we pass through several cute little ‘towns’ with barely more than a pub, but all tidy & with lots of character. Several still had the hitching rails for the horses outside & lots of saddles & memorabilia displayed.

Prairie Pub

 We ended the day at our 11th freebie in as many days where a pleasant warm evening was spent. We were invited to watch TV at a ‘neighbours’ who had satellite, specifically to watch auto racing for the afternoon but declined, not being a fan of that sport. He had it all set up under his awning & a few others joined them for the evening watching one of the Aussie ‘soaps’.  Woken by a few trains during the night as we were adjacent to the railway line.

 

Wed 8th – Another glorious morning after a warm night. Lovely countryside heading to Charters Towers with 100’s of QLD wattles roadside, glistening in the morning sun with little roadside grasses with seedheads tinged pink. The trees are lush and green & distant ranges are blue. We actually had to stop at a railway crossing for another of those long trains, hauling sulphuric acid to the mines I suspect. What it’s use would be I cannot say. We soon reach Charter’s Towers, a large historic town with beautiful buildings which have been well maintained or restored. Met up with a solo lady traveller from our nights freebie & had a coffee & a long chat with her. She comes from Newcastle NSW & travels every winter to QLD for the winter in her very nice large campervan. By noon the temp is 27deg as we head from Charters Towers towards Townsville, still undecided as to our destination. We came across a very large freebie which was not in our book which was some distance from the road, so decided to investigate. A big mistake as Stu took the wrong dirt track & ended up by the river with not much room to turn the van. By then two more vehicles had followed us down which made it worse. With lots of backing etc we once again got out of a tight spot, took the right turn & found a very large, barren & windy area with toilets only. Lots of vans who looked as if they had been there some time. It didn’t appeal at all to us but hunger beckoned so we lunched & set off again. About an hour later we investigated a little camping ground south of Townsville – looked rather run down but on investigation the ablution block was reasonably new & clean & it bordered a National Park & was cheap ($25) so decided to give it a go. It was owned & run by an 87 year old ex German man called Fred, very fit & looked more like 67. He had bought the land 20+ years ago with a dream of turning it into a resort. It has it’s own wetland plus another small lake he developed himself along with the many trees he planted. For some reason his dream didn’t eventuate & with age both he & the park have declined. Personally we think he started it too late in life with not enough capital. He informed us the 170 acres of land was worth over a million dollars but of course no-one is going to pay that, & as he said, what would he do with all that money now anyway. So he will probably continue on as he has done & make what he can. It was fairly quiet while we were there but we enjoyed it because of that & the park was alive with gorgeous little wallabies, plus the walk through the National Park which we took the next day. We could see the huge potential of it all & felt quite sad for the poor old guy who really was quite a sweetie.

The slide

Bottom of the Slide

 

Wallaby at Mountain View Lake Caravan Park

9th – Fairly windy this morning but lovely & warm, & a good morning to tackle the walk through the National Park. We were not impressed with the start of the track which took us through a weedy, grassy wilderness. We would not have contemplated walking through without the tractor width track that dear old Fred mows through it as the initial stages are on his land. Naturally we are conscious of snakes & make noise as we go along & it is not long before Stu spots one in sun at the side of the track. It moved of very quickly into the long grass & being behind Stu I did not see it, but apparently it was about a metre long. Within 5 minutes we had seen another 3, two very small babies & a medium sized one. Fairly unsettled by now we very bravely continued on as the long grass discontinued and it became more woodland. It took about an hour to reach the place we were seeking, about 5kms from the camp. A wonderful series of cascades & and rock pools & a gigantic ‘slide’ of wet rocks which ended in a large, clear pool at the bottom. Apparently many people do use it as a slide but it looked a bit dangerous to us. We were more enthralled by the oasis of native palms & other trees & the warmth, tranquillity & privacy – the perfect place for a ‘skinny dip’. The water was cool & refreshing & the rocks warm enough to dry out on while we had a snack & drink before setting off on the return journey. I found myself a long forked stick & dragged it along as we went, creating as much noise as possible, & luckily we didn’t spot any more local reptiles. On giving Fred a description of the large one he informed us it was an Eastern Brown snake, very venomous!!! I keep reminding myself that they are as worried about us as we are about them but hope I never have to test the theory. Adventure over, we headed into Townsville in the afternoon & wandered along the lovely long esplanade almost getting blown away. Stuart then took me out for dinner at a nice restaurant across from the water & we headed home in the dark, probably the first time we have done so in a long time. We headed off next morning for a new destination & had to say goodbye to all our little wallaby friends & all their little joeys with heads poking out of their pouches.



Waiting for the train