August 11 Hughenden

After an early rising we were away from Mt Isa at 7.00 am – the guy parked next door to us did even better, he was gone at 5.45 am! I hate to say it, because I love driving through the country, but today’s drive was boring. It was quite OK from Mt Isa to Cloncurry – hilly but interesting and especially so when the sun is shining on the side of the hill you’re looking at. From Cloncurry on, it was back to black soil plains, Mitchell grass, flat, dry and pretty much treeless. Just before reaching Hughenden the country became more undulating with a few bigger hills in the distance. The drive was made worse by the very strong head-wind. We should have been towing a petrol tanker. We used 80 L to travel 400 km which sounds bad but I felt much better when we stopped at Richmond and while talking to another couple discovered that they had used 70 L to travel 250 km! Richmond is another dinosaur town like Winton. Apart from its museum, which we didn’t visit, there is a beautiful man-made lake (Lake Fred Tritton). It’s surrounded by a fabulous picnic area and shelters complete with water feature, water cannons and fitness circuit. I can well imagine how popular it would be in summer. On arriving in Hughenden we were very impressed with the town – neat, clean and tidy; probably one of the nicest of the small towns (pop. 1600) we’ve visited. Water is not a problem judging by the green lawns, parks and nature strips. The caravan park is also quite nice. Hughenden is the third of the “dinosaur towns” but there are a couple of National Parks nearby we could have visited if we’d been here longer. Definitely a place worth coming back to. After a night’s rest we’ll get an early start again tomorrow so that we can have a look around Charters Towers before moving on to Townsville.