Wednesday 6^th June

We departed Hughenden and set sail for points East.

As a first for this blog, we have a competition. See the photo below.



We ran into, not literally, a large mining truck being carried on a semi – From a distance we thought it was a house as it was absolutely enormous and we certainly had to move off the road.

Out first stop was to turn of the highway at a place called Prairie and head for Koorinya Reserve, a little place near a creek. This was part of a station but was sold to the gov about 80 years ago. It is about a mile square in size. It is leased to the pony club people. It is a lovely campground with a live in caretaker. The adjacent billabong and gorge rivalled what we saw at Porcupine Gorge yesterday. It has a genuine racetrack 54km from the main road and the home of the Amateur Pony and Race Club with a real finishing post. I’m not sure if they had a photo finish setup. They have a giant race meeting in May and over a thousand people come from near and far for the races. They all stay at the racetrack and have various classes of accommodation, all brought with them. The races are restricted to horses who are wholly feed on grass and not grain and the like. The inside railing on the track was recently replaced at a cost of $60,000 and all done by volunteers. Quite an impressive set up – one for Joanne and Mark to visit. We had a cuppa (when don’t we) and talked to the caretaker who was firing up the wood powered hot water system for the 2 groups of campers who were arriving that day. After that we walked over to the billabong and it was absolutely beautiful – see the photos. Too good for the photos.

We headed back to Prairie for lunch but first we went to the pub to have a look around. The owner was out the back fixing up a dog run to keep his dog (rat like) and when he saw us he walked around and opened up the pub. We had a coffee and another couple who arrived after us had lunch at the pub.

The decorations were definitely unique as you can see from the photos. There were hats all over the ceiling and various stuffed animals on the wall.There was a footy tipping competition poster on the wall. All the locals participate. The pub and the school with 14 students was the main extent of the town.

We headed off for about 50 kms and came to Torrens Creek which had a pub/caravan park and a railway station. We had lunch in a little park. We discovered we are now in the tropics and desert uplands. We drove on and bi-sected a national park called The White Mountain. We stopped at a lookout which reminded us of the Blue Mountains.

 After that we headed off, heading East with no real destination in mind. We arrived at Pentland and decided that that was enough for the day. Charters Towers was another 100KM down the road so that will be for tomorrow.

We checked in and set up and wandered down the street, again we went to the pub. There was 1 person in the pub and she was just watching it for friends who had a medical appointment somewhere.

A bit before the rush hour?

“Na!”

What keeps the town alive

“Nothin’

“What’s the local industry? Sheep, Cattle…?”

“Na. Nothin’”

The conversation was sailing along at an unexpectedly fast rate – we were running out of small talk. At least she understood what we were saying – I think.

We might have a look at what the meals are for tea tonight.

“Na, sorry. The owners are not here and I have to go home later to feed the kids.”

The lilting sound of banjos are echoing through the gums and the sounds of squealing pigs are answering the banjo chords, Ah!!! Ain’t it grand.

A slight exaggeration there as the caravan park is very clean and inexpensive and the TV in the camp kitchen can get 3 channels which is 3 more than we can get in Fanda. They are all very friendly, and the lady in the caravan park could be Alfie Langer’s mother with the high pitched nasal twang. All in all another lovely day. I am a bit busy adding bits to the blog so unexpectedly Adrian is doing dinner! Love to all till tomoz.