Julia Creek to Hughenden

Nice hot showers this morning in comparison to yesterday.

Sunrise at Julia Creek

Two things struck us as we headed East along the Flinders Highway from Julia Creek:

1. The amount of roadkill was astronomical compared to most other places we had been.  Mainly kangaroos and a wild pig or two.  Unlike other places there does not seem to be any effort to remove the bodies from the roadside.
2. The quite despicable state of the roads – despite some positive comments yesterday today was a different matter.  There were pot-holes down to the gravel; patches on patches on patches; dips, bumps and ruts; and even the newly surfaced roads were bumpy as.  There does not appear to be any attempt to actually fill in pot-holes or smooth out lumps and bumps before new bitumen is poured, so it’s just up and down all the way, and extremely tiring.  As a result we have to drive more slowly through boring flat country-side.  The only good thing is that maybe our fuel consumption will improve.

As a matter of interest, we are driving the heavily promoted Overland Way, which goes from Tennant Creek to Townsville (or vice versa).  It started off as the Barkly Highway then changed its name to Flinders Highway at Cloncurry. We’re crossing our fingers that the roads will be in better condition tomorrow as we get closer to Townsville.

Our morning coffee stop was at the Maxwelton Rest Area which was nicely set up for an overnight stop but would only fit in 10 vans or so, at a squeeze.

Decisions Decisions

Bad Roads & Neverending Train

We stopped at Richmond for lunch at Kronosaurus Korner, the local tourist information centre which features a couple of dinosaurs outside and a great dinosaur museum/display inside.  We had lunch at the Moon Rock Café and Bakery at KK, bought some fresh bread, and then went for a short walk around town.  A butcher had a sign claiming to have the best award winning beef sausages in Queensland so we bought some and later had them for dinner.  And they were excellent!

Arriving at Richmond

Welcome to Richmond

Dinosaur at Kronosaurus Korner

Smaller Dinosaur

From Richmond we continued on to Hughenden and set up the fiver at the Allen Terry Caravan Park in plenty of time to unhitch and drive into town for a good look around.

Hughenden has something of a dinosaur theme with several dinosaur sculptures in the main street as well as an amazing tribute to Comet brand windmills.

Arriving at Hughenden

Dinosaur Sculpture

Dinosaur Sculpture

Thirsty Dinosaur at Hughenden

Windmill Feature at Hughenden

Afternoon tea was a lime spider and an iced coffee at the FJ Holden Café – and the proprietor really is Mr FJ Holden!

FJ Holden Cafe

Inside the FJ Holden Cafe

Inside the FJ Holden Cafe

During our walk Ann found an old fashioned drapery shop which had some quilting fabrics, and she was very excited to find some fabric that she had been looking for for some time!  We returned to the caravan park for a cuppa and an interesting chat to our next door neighbours.  They are heading in the opposite direction to us and it is always great to swap notes with other travellers as to where they have been and where they recommend.

As it was getting dark we wished our neighbours “good night” and I cooked our beef sausages on the fiver’s BBQ for dinner.

Sunset at Allen Terry Caravan Park

Still living the dream!