Red Dust to Rain

Intact skeleton of Kronosaurus queenslandicus, Richmond, Qld

Horseshoe Bay, Bowen, still the prettiest beach around

An emerging icthyosaur, with Canadian researcher who discovered it

Kronosaurus queenslandicus - recreation of 10 metre giant marine reptile

Queensland's biggest windmill (we think)

Lucky it was Sunday - Charters Towers

Comfort Stop, Home Hill, a great overnighter

Morning tea, Grey's Bay, Bowen

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.

If you would like any more info, visit www.kronosauruskorner.com.au.

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.