More From Dinosaur Country

Winton, Hughenden and Richmond are all in the heart of dinosaur and fossil country and the roads between them are known as The Dinosaur Trail.  From Winton we've driven 212km to Hughenden which is on the Flinders Highway, the main road between Townsville on the coast and Mount Isa in the west.  We've booked into the Hughenden Allen Terry Caravan Park which has shady, grassy sites and is next door to the swimming pool.

As with many small towns, there's plenty to see here and our first day is spent exploring the town.  There are a lot of sculptures in the town, many with a prehistoric theme.  We saw the Ammonite Sculpture made from windmill parts, Leanneosaur, a life sized flying metal sculpture of a Queensland Pterosaur, 3 sculptures of metal pterosaurs, Darby the Dinosaur, a large wall sculpture and sculptures of metal fish made from washers and scrap metal.  In the centre of town is the Federation Rotunda which has 20ft windmills dated 1912 and 1916, at each end.  Nearby is a life sized replica of "Mutt", the Muttaburrasaurus.

The main tourist attraction in Hughenden is the Flinders Discovery Centre which has a display of fossils from the local area and around the world.  The centrepiece is "Hughie", a life sized skeletal replica of a Muttaburrasaurus.  There's also a light and sound show illustrating the formation of the nearby Porcupine Gorge.

Day 2 and we're in the car for the 110km drive to Richmond to visit Kronosaurus Korner.  This is a fantastic museum and is well worth a visit.  Outside the museum is a lifesized replica of a Kronosausus, which was a formidable sea predator.  We also saw Minmi, a small herbivorous dinosaur.

The informative audio tour provided explanations of when and where the fossils were discovered and how they were prepared for exhibition.  Many of the fossils are displayed in sand and some have been left in the sand/rock matrix as they were found.   We were able to see the fossil preparation area although no work was going on while we were there.  Some of the fossils on display are the most complete in the world. 

After our visit to Kronosaurus Korner we went fossil hunting at one of the fossil hunting sites just out of town.  It only took s few minutes for us to find some fossils in the rocks there.  Then is was back to Hughenden and a welcome swim to cool down.

Day 3 in Hughenden and it's raining.  A good thing we did our washing last night.  We woke up at about 4.30am to a spectacular sunrise with a bright orange sky.  A few hours later and we have steady rain which has persisted through the day.  After lunch the rain eased off and we decided to drive to nearby Porcupine Gorge.  This is a popular camping and picnic spot about 65kms from Hughenden on the road to Cairns. The Gorge is known as "Australia's Little Grand Canyon" and has been carved over the millennia by Porcupine Creek revealing layers of basalt and coloured sandstones.  The beautiful colours can be seen in the 120m high cliffs of the Gorge.

Tomorrow we're off to Charters Towers en route to Townsville.