While we're staying on the Cassowary Coast we've done a day trip to Paronella Park, near Mena Falls. This award winning attraction was built by Jose Paronella and was completed in the early 1930s and opened to the public in 1935. It was the culmination of a labour of love and fulfilment of a dream. Although the buildings are now mostly ruins we were able to spend several hours wandering through the gardens. Entry to the park is valid for 2 years and entitles us to a night in the attached caravan park, so there's plenty of incentive to go back. The park was the first hydro-powered system in Queensland - and it's still wholly hydro-powered, 80 years later.
We had a 45 minute tour which explained all about the park, its history and its owners. We saw the Grand Staircase, with its 47 steps and the change rooms used for the heated spa baths. We saw the micro-bats which live in one of the tunnels - they only weigh 5-6 grams and are about the size of a small mouse.
Recent rains have left the nearby Mena Falls in full flow. The fish in Mena Creek are always looking for food, as are the turtles and eels.
Our last evening in Hughenden was spent watching the sunset from Mount Walker over a glass of wine. There are many lookouts at this high spot just 10km from Hughenden. We returned to the caravan to find the town in darkness due to a power outage. Not a problem for us though with our solar power and gas. In the morning the corellas flew in for a shower under the sprinklers.
The next morning we hitched up and drove north along the Kennedy Developmental Road. Most of the road is unsealed and it is in good condition so we made better time than we expected. We stopped for lunch at The Oasis Roadhouse, just north of The Lynd Junction, where we had delicious burgers. There's a caravan park at the roadhouse which looked quite nice with plenty of grass after the recent rains, although very few trees for shade. We decided to continue on towards the Atherton Tablelands and we picked up the Savannah Way near the Undara Volcanic Park with its lava tubes. We'll be coming back this way in a few months and will do the tourist bit then. We continued along the Kennedy Highway through Mount Garnet and past the Innot Hot Springs to the Archer Creek Rest Area about 25kms west of Ravenshoe. This is a lovely free camp with plenty of grassy space for us. Although it's a 24 hour limit, some campers stay for several days. There used to be two camp areas, one near the road and another close to the river. The lower, river site now has no vehicular access because the river is prone to flooding - not good if you're in a caravan!
After a night in this lovely spot we drove down the escarpment through the misty mountains to Innisfail, on the coast. The last time we were in the coastal plain was mid-february, about 6 weeks ago. We're visiting family at Wongaling Beach, camping in their front yard for a few days, where we can compete with the local wildlife for space. This cassowary has taken a liking to the almost ripe passionfruit growing on a fence.
The nearby town of Tully has the honour of being Australia's wettest town - with a record annual rainfall of 7.93 metres (yes metres) in 1950. The Golden Rainboot with its green tree frog tells the story. We picnicked at nearby Aligator's Nest Rest Area.
The area around the Cassowary Coast and north to Cairns has many sugar cane and banana farms. Many of these farms have been deeply affected by recent cyclones - Larry in 2005 and Yasi in 2011.
We left Cloncurry after our visit to the museum and our next stop is Julia Creek. We would have stayed here a couple of days but the only attraction open is at the Information Centre - even the pub was not serving lunch! Anyway we were able to spend an hour at the very informative audio-visual displays in air-conditioned comfort. As well as the a-v displays about the area and life in Julia Creek, the areas claim to fame is that it is home to the endangered dunnart, a small insectivorous marsupial about the size of a large mouse. These nocturnal mammals look even cuter with their large eyes. There's a good free camp at Julia Creek, although the ground is a bit soft at the moment following recent rain.
Another 150km along the Flinders Highway and we're in Richmond on Australia's Dinosaur Trail. We were last here in December 2012 for just a day. This time we'll have a leisurely few days.
A visit to Kronosaurus Korner is a must-do in Richmond. The displays of marine fossils are top class. The audio tour is very informative. We saw kronosaurus, pleiosaur, plesiosaur, ichthyosaur, ammonites, turtles and many other fossils. Highlights are the almost complete plesiosaur, about 98% complete, Australia's largest fish fossil and the 7m long kronosaurus queenslandicus.
With it's 2m long head and teeth up to 30cm long, what did kronosaurus eat? - Anything it liked!
Robert was able to revisit his favourite dinosaur, minmi paravertebra.
We were able to do some fossil fossicking at the nearby quarry and found plenty of fossilised fish scales and some bones we think might be from the fin/paddle of an ichthyosaur. We're waiting for the palaeontologist to get back to us.
After our few days in Richmond we continued along the Dinosaur Trail to Hughenden. We enjoyed our few days here in 2012. We've had a visit to the museum to see the reproduction skeleton of muttaburrasaurus and some of the well presented fossils and a cooling swim at the pool.
Our base at the moment is Townsville. The largest city in North Queensland. We're camped on our daughter's nature strip. It's always great to catch up with the kids and grandkids. We walked on the mudflats at Bushland Beach - a great place for the dogs to get a run and splash in the sea - and had a picnic lunch before wandering around the local markets.
