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| Intact skeleton of Kronosaurus queenslandicus, Richmond, Qld |
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| Horseshoe Bay, Bowen, still the prettiest beach around |
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| An emerging icthyosaur, with Canadian researcher who discovered it |
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| Kronosaurus queenslandicus - recreation of 10 metre giant marine reptile |
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| Queensland's biggest windmill (we think) |
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| Lucky it was Sunday - Charters Towers |
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| Comfort Stop, Home Hill, a great overnighter |
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| Morning tea, Grey's Bay, Bowen |
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| Reputed to be the best view of Mt Isa - in the rearview mirror! |
We finished the
last blog waiting for 6 new tyres to arrive overnight from Townsville, which
they duly did. After a wheel balance we
left Mt Isa behind (apologies for the rude caption, but that’s an Australian
joke), only to have to return pronto to have the tyres rebalanced – why is it
so hard to get it right? Perhaps we’ll
skip that day and start the blog a day later!
We overnighted at
an excellent roadside stop with only a couple of other caravans and a ute –
lots of road trains during the night but they’re never much of a problem. It’s surprising what you get used to.
The next town
along the way was Julia Creek, which is a very attractive and neat town. We weren’t in a hurry, so we stopped for a
quiet stroll down the street, and found surprisingly good coffee at the local
Foodland. While we were sitting outside
sipping, a crocodile of local kindergarteners wound by with their male
teacher. It was a delight seeing such
beautiful and beautifully behaved children; I suspect their teacher was the
reason. He had a lovely way with them
and we were mightily impressed.
Even travelling
slowly, we reached Richmond that night and stopped at the local caravan park at
Lake Fred Tritton. Richmond is situated
on the southern bank of the longest river in Queensland, the Flinders (named after You-Know-Who). The shire itself covers an area roughly the
size of Belgium! Richmond is also well
known for its dinosaur and marine fossil heritage. 100 million years ago the area around
Richmond was covered by an extensive inland sea approximately forty metres
deep. The warm, shallow and lime-rich
sediment was ideal for fossil preservation.
The managers of the caravan park recommended that we have a look at the
Kronosaurus Korner, which we passed on the way in, so off we went, not
expecting much, but found there a fabulous collection of dinosaur and marine
reptile fossils, with a fully equipped preparation facility with a viewing
window (pity the poor researchers!) KK houses Australia’s best-preserved dinosaur
and marine reptile fossils. Visitors are
provided with personal audio-guides, so it’s possible to spend as much or as
little time as you choose viewing each exhibit. They have a wonderful
collection of Icthyosaurs, Kronosaurus, turtles and ammonites. While I was peering through the lab window one
of the Canadian volunteers invited me in to view their work on a baby
Ichthyosaurus which they found locally and are lovingly rescuing
from its stone tomb. I’ve changed my
mind about Geology – next life I would like to be a Palaeontologist! We spent the whole afternoon at Krono Korner
and will possibly return at some time to try our hand at bone fossicking.
Of course,
Richmond is only one part of the triangle of the dinosaur trail, which also incorporates
Hughenden and Winton, Hughenden being the home of the Muttaburrasaurus. Definitely worth another visit.
At this stage we
were keen to get to Mackay to see our new great-grand bab(ies) – one born 3
weeks earlier and one due next week, so we kept driving. We stopped at Charters Towers for a break,
and to have a look around. It’s full of
beautifully preserved buildings with a One Square Mile heritage walking trail
which takes you to all the heritage buildings in town. We had coffee in the old Stock Exchange
Arcade, and were startled to hear a great rending and tearing at the end of the
open arcade. A beautiful old tree had
just suddenly given up its life and fallen over, taking a chain wire fence with
it. Lucky it was Sunday morning and
there were no cars (or people) in the car park is all I can say!
So from Charters
Towers we high tailed it to Home Hill which has provided an interesting “Comfort
Stop” for travellers, converting the road running alongside the now disused
station into an overnight stop, complete with showers, toilets and camp
kitchen. It’s a very impressive (and cunning)
way of getting travellers to stay the night, and no doubt helps the local
businesses as well. Well done Home Hill!
We could have
made Mackay the next day, but as we had been driving long days for quite some
time, we decided to stop overnight at Prosperpine, only about 1 ½ hours drive
from Mackay. Proserpine also has the
wondrous Colour Me Crazy (an Aladdin's cave of treasures), which is always worth an hour or two – an additional
incentive to stop. Unbelievably we
experienced the first rain we’ve had since we left Adelaide – and of course I
had a line full of washing hanging out! We
were planning on sneaking in to Mackay but Ingrid rang the morning we left and
of course we couldn’t keep it a secret!
So here we are
for the foreseeable future, waiting for the birth of Libbee and Wade’s baby
next Tuesday, and enjoying cuddles with Chris and Brittney’s baby boy, Sylar,
as an added bonus. We hope to be able to
help out where needed, and will stay around here for the next month. There may not be much of general interest to
report until we start to head south again in October, but we’ll post whenever
something exciting or interesting occurs.
