We have been in Richmond since Wednesday 21st, generally having a quiet time.. This replica of a Kronosaurus Dinosaur is on display outside the Information centre which is where we first went to find out what Richmond has to offer, thought it might like a look at my couple of dogasauruses!!. The info centre is called Kronosaurus Korner and has a huge display of Fossils from around the area.
I took a bit of time having a walk around the little town and was impressed with the gardens and how tidy the place is. There are some lovely old buildings in the town and this is one of them, the Federal Palace Hotel, amongst other quaint shops and the lovely gardens, there were bougainvillea, roses and hibiscus, to name a few and they were in full flower which I thought was pretty impressive in all this dry country side.
There are Kangaroos by the dozen in the paddocks around where we are camped and Dot and Dash thought they were in "Doggy chase Roo", heaven, but they backed off a little with really big ones, 'specially when one jumped clean over Dot, gave her a bit of a start and wasn't sure which way to go, chase it? or leave it go?, she decided on the latter, didn't stop them from keeping an alert eye out from the safety of camp and they had a ball chasing the smaller ones, when I let them.
We had a neat time in Richmond but all good things must end, eventually. We headed off again this morning for Hughenden. Had a rest stop for morning tea about 11am, I caught sight of some more Emus on the roadside, a couple of them minding their own business. The road travelled along side the rail track for some time and a Train travelling in the opposite direction gave me a cheap thrill when we got a big wave and a long sound of the horn as we passed, (only in the outback?).
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We arrived in Hughenden around lunchtime and found the local free camp to spend the night. The camp site is not much, just a dust bowl and no rubbish tins or anything.
Went for a walk with dogs to the Flinders River, dry like all the creeks and rivers around here, as you can see in the photo. The Flinders river is Queensland's longest, extending 840 km and this is only a small part of it for sure.
We decided Hughenden didn't have much going for it, only stayed for the night
Sunday 25th
We got a late start from Hughenden, travelling 44km arriving in Prairie at about 11am where we found the Pub still closed. The Proprietor said hello and were we looking for somewhere to camp? upon confirmation of this fact he said "the camp ground is around the back and the gate is open, Jim could be in charge of the camp as we were first here!! ( ha ha how easy is it to be boss?) and when we had set up we should come have a drink". So this is what we did. This is the Pub Terrace, it is full of Memorabilia from days gone by, it is an Original Nostalgic Queensland Pub. The dining room is something to be seen, a really nostalgic setting with chandeliers and big old furniture, it took my fancy that's for sure, I loved it.
The camp site out back is a small paddock fenced off from the rest of the countryside, the whole area is full of old machinery, the front of the pub has old horse saddles on hitching rails from old days when horses were the only mode of travel. It is surely something to see.
On the side of one of the walls of the pub is this Mural of Cobb and Co. Coaches. This area used to be the main horse change centre for the Cobb and Co. way back when!
Went for a walk with the pups in the afternoon and discovered this nice park, the windmill is a 35 foot Comet, it is huge and a great landmark for the area I reckon.
There are all sorts of live stock here, a Buffalo, Alpaca, which belong to the pub as pets, also sheep, horses, cattle, dogs, chickens & roosters, and deer. We saw a red deer wandering along the highway, tame as anything.
We had a great evening at Prairie and found out about a Nature reserve 54 km south of here which we are going to go have a look at tomorrow.
Monday 26th
We are going to Kooroorinya Falls Nature Reserve this morning. There is a 2km horse racing track there and a camping area, bush style camping only $10 per night. The "Oakley Amateur Picnic Race Club" hold a race meeting there once a year and it is, by all accounts, a great weekend in May with 600 odd people attending, the rest of the year it is only a camping area with the falls being a pretty
sight when the creek is flowing. Unfortunately it isn't flowing now, but it's a sight to see anyway. Dot and Dash are standing on the edge of the canyon with the fall at the back, its pretty high up from here.
This photo is from the top of the fall looking back over the camp ground, our bus is at the back in the middle.
We had a glorious 4 nights here, only a couple of other campers each day. We spent our time eating, sleeping and having a drink in the afternoon and evening. On the last day, Thursday we had the place to ourselves which was probably just as well, as we found ourselves sitting under the star lit sky singing "Catch a falling Star" Ohhh!! way to go.
This is me beside a sign some-one put up, pointing out the places to go on race day, all good fun, our camp site was here, beside a fire place, I spent each evening cooking our meal on it.
Friday 30th
We were getting to a stage where we needed to replenish the larder and drinks, so have travelled back to Prairie today and I took Jimny into Hughenden to do the shopping, leaving Jim to look after Dot and Dash in the bus. This is the pet Buffalo at the Prairie pub.
Spent another night here and will stay 'til the end of the month,-oh! that's tomorrow.
Saturday 31st
Another month gone by, have had a nice day here at Prairie today and not sure where we will head tomorrow, find out in the next instalment of "My Story".
Having a ball, laughing a lot, taking care of each other. Life is full of love.
See ya soon.
