Hughenden

Wednesday, 2 September 2015

Very, very dry

Rail bridge over the Burdekin River

Poppet head at Charters Towers

Approaching Hughenden

Flinders River

Memorial stone

More memorial stones

Fish sculptures

A dripping windmill

Flying dinosaur

Not much green grass

After a very hot night, we were both up early this morning and were on the road before 8.00 am.  The further west we travelled, the higher the thermometer rose.  It was already 28 degrees by the time we arrived at Charters Towers about 9.30 am, after crossing the mighty Burdekin River; we had a short break to make a telephone call and change drivers before continuing towards Hughenden.  Today was also the first day we have encountered the large road trains this year – prime mover plus four trailers makes for a very long vehicle!  The lushness of the wet tropics has also been replaced by dry savannah, even just dry dirt at times.  We passed through a number of small towns, each with a school and a pub; no doubt these towns are the social hub for a much larger outlying area.  After changing drivers once again, we continued to the start of the dinosaur trail at Hughenden.

We are staying at the Alan Terry Caravan Park, having stayed in this council park previously and been more than happy with the friendliness of the staff and cleanliness of the amenities; a drive through site was a welcome surprise.  This afternoon, with the temperature hovering around 39 degrees, we set out (in the car, of course) to see the sights, and refuel.  The river is still dry, the dinosaurs are still here in abundance, and the ladies at the information centre were very helpful with our proposed plans for tomorrow.  The proposed plans were quickly revised once we discovered the road condition of our planned route to Winton via Richmond – we have decided to give Richmond a miss until another year.