Hughenden

Hi everyone, after a 3 nights at Charters Towers we set off for Hughenden heading  west. We had 2 nights there & are now at Julia Creek, a little bit over halfway between Townsville & the NT border.  The countryside is amazing after being in the tropical rainforest areas, quite desolate & remote. There is roadkill, mainly 'roos every few hundred metres, easy to spot because of the birds picking at it.  Also we have seen quite a few feral cats doing the same, the birds fly off as we approach, but the cats don't move. There are stacks of roadtrains as well.  We bought a UHF radio, & tune into the truckies frequency, really entertaining.  Grae passed a couple of roadtrains yesterday, and I got on the radio before we passed them- "Roadtrain 786, caravan passing you"  Roadtrain answers "Copy that:, clear to pass"  I am desperate to say "copy that" to someone soon!  Below are a few photos around Hughenden, which is a very small outback town.

On the road from  Charters  Towers to Hughenden-lookout

That's us in the middle at the lookout

Roadkill 

I love this picture- roadtrain parked at side of road- I got Grae to park nose to nose with it to give a sense of how long these monsters are. As you can see, we are less then a third of it's length! Copy that!

Roadtrain leaving 

Federation Rotunda in Hughenden, made from 20 foot windmills dated 1912 & 1916.

Flinders River-Qld's longest river, 840 kms & flows into the Gulf of Carpentaria.  Named after Matthew Flinders by Lieutenant Stokes of HMS Beagle in1841

Full bodied replica of a Muttaburrasaurus

Muttaburrasauras skeleton

Fossil museum displays

The historic Coolabah tree

Hebrew Grave-the grave of Jeanette Tolano, who died in 1883, it is the only remaining grave from the old cemetery.  It was never relocated for spiritual reasons.

Jeanette's grave- died in childbirth

Pub at Prairie- about 40 kms east of Hughenden, population 50.

Inside the pub

On the dentists chair!

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Atherton

Hi, yesterday we visited the Crystal Caves. They are not real caves but are man-made under a crystal & fossil shop in the main St of Atherton. The fellow that owns it is apparently world renowned for his collection & display in the" caves" under the shops. He has embedded hundreds of different crystals in the walls & from the ceilings. There are tunnels & chambers everywhere. Visitors wear a headlamp as the lighting is very dim to show off the backlit stones. We thought it would be a kiddie-type thing but we loved it.

My crystal ball!

Polished crystals hanging from the ceiling

A waterfall inside one of the caves with crystals glowing in the background

World's largest crystal

We then visited a rain forest with a big volcanic crater 

Green pool at the bottom of the crater. A scuba diver once went way down in this a saw an eel so big he said it could have swallowed his scuba tanks whole.

Some of the fossils for sale, I bought this box in front which contains fossils from the Moroccan Sahara, millions of years old. Grae is now working out how to hang it safely in our van.

Port Douglass - Last Days

Hi everyone, we left Port Douglas yesterday, with extreme reluctance! We had such a good time there & beautiful weather.  I am posting a few last shots. We are now inland at Atherton, heading towards Darwin. A few days ago we had lunch at a nice restaurant at the Marina, these pictures are taken from our table on the balcony.

Low tide, Ginny walking out to sea!

Approx 300-400 metres out (full zoom on camera) didn't even get my bum wet! One of the better photos of me.

Main street Port Douglas

On the far bank, just to the right of the concrete block, a crocodile sunbaking in the river, about 2.2 metres long. This river 1km from our caravan park.

Court house hotel

Ginny under big tree, the roots dangling 3 metres from branches above