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HUGHENDEN
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Mutt is a replica of the Muttaburrasaurus Langdoni, a giant herbivore that roamed the shores of the historic Eromanga sea.
Hughenden is the start of Dinosaur Country. Many dinosaur fossels have been found around Hughenden. This little town has a lot going for it.
The information centre was pretty cool to look around. You can go through the museum here with lots of info on dinosaurs including a life size replica. That will set you back $20 per adult. We didn't bother with that as there was plenty of other stuff to keep us entertained in the streets of Hughenden.
The Federation Rotunda or Windmill Rotunda as the locals call it was made from 20 windmills that a local farmer donated from his property. It was made as an Australian Centenary Federation Celebration to commemorate when 6 Australian States came together and formed one nation.
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| Leanneosaur |
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| Darby Dinosaur |
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| Federation Rotunda |
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WATER TANK ART
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Hughenden has not 1, but 2 water tanks with art on them. They are both nice.
Both were painted by the same people, The Zookeeper and Drapl and both were completed in June 2021. The boy playing with dinosaurs on the big tank was completed in just 5 days. Amazing.
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STREETS OF HUGHENDEN
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As with most little country townships, the buildings certainly have charactor. The FJ Holden Cafe captured our interest, along with the pretty cool looking Post Office. Aparently the FJ Holden Cafe has all sorts of Holden memoribilia including my racing hero, Peter Brock. I read this afterwoods. Shame we didn't go in.
We did, however go into the Lolly and Ice-Cream shop and bought ourselves a huge cone. When the second bubblegum icecream scoop was placed precariously on top of the one already on my cone, I didn't think I would be able to carry it out of the shop, let alone get throught it, but I did.
Thank goodness it wasn't summer.
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WIRILLA WINDMILL
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This windmill holds pride of place at the end of the main street in Hughenden.
It is number 11 of only 15 of these 35 foot Comet Windmills made.
It was donated from Wirilla Station and erected in 2008.
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HUGHENDEN LAKE
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Hughenden Lake is quite big. You can swim here, do water sports and there are plenty of ducks and bird life.
There is a path right the way around.
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TERRY ALLEN CARAVAN PARK
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We stayed at this basic Caravan Park close to town and next door to the public swimming pool.
As I said, it is basic, but has dive through sites that are nice and level, and friendly staff. I would normally give it a Google 3 star review, but in this instance I have given it 4 stars and that is because the washing machines are just $3. That in itself deserves another star!
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HUGHENDEN PUBS
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Sightseeing can be thirsty work, so we found ourselves at both Pubs in town.
The Great Western is nothing much on the outside and not real much on the inside either. In fact we were not really impressed with the Great Western at all, especially when I spied that Parrots are not allowed in the Pub. Tookie would not be impressed.
The Royal, on the other hand looked pretty neat and inviting from the outside and the inside was nice as well, including this unique pool table.
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PORCUPINE GORGE
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Porcupine Gorge anyone? Ahhh... Nope, don't bother!
We drove for 45 minutes, then we walked, and we walked and we walked, through high grass and with the sun beating down on our backs.... just to see a big hole in the ground and cracks in the rock and a bit of water.
See my video below.
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ROAD TO THE GORGE
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ROAD TO HUGHENDEN
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Getting to Hughenden was in itself a story.
We had to make a big 3 hour deviation out of our way and through Charters Towers because the direct road, the Kenndy Development way was closed in a few places. See the reason why in the photo below and check out Map 1.
Anyway, the road through Charters Towers was pot holed and still had road works going on due to recent flooding, so we had to take care.
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FLETCHER CREEK
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We stopped for a cuppa and biscuits at this lovely place just before Charters Towers. This was a nice surprise. It isn't listed on Google for some reason but there is free camping both sides of this river and there were quite a few vans here. I found it on Wiki Camps.
So now you know a nice spot to free camp if you are in this area.
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MAPS
So as I said before, it takes 45 minutes to get from Hughenden to Porcupine Gorge. By the way, you can camp there. We saw quite a few set up complete with their own fire pit at every camp site.
Anyway, as you can see from the map below, how things change quickly. They must have had more rain because you now have to make a detour through Prarie to get there as the road we went on has now since been closed.
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VIDEO TO COME
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