Hughendon 7th april
Any campsite that had no access to recreational running water is on an uphill struggle in the outback in my view !. The river running through the town was completely dry and they lived off borehole supplies.
We rolled up in the show ground campsite , set down the van and were greeted by the caretaker. She informed us that we had to have contained toilet and showers and our grey water had to be contained too. Luckily the van complied. She warned us that the whistling kites had a nest above us in the only tree on the site and the parents were prone to attacking anyone near them . She then added that since the fledging had been active this had happened less. Now Kate was a little more hesitant than normal about the suggestion of a walk up to the local hotel for a G&T but thirst overcame avian fear . We didn’t get an aerial display.
We passed this old hotel that unfortunately shut down in 2004 . It is an amazing old building and i would have loved to have a peek and a pot inside .
We returned after a good look round Hughenden which only has 1700 residents but is really nice little town . This is Kate and her no2 fan !
Its a 35 foot diameter comet wind powered water pump that used to service the bore in town.
We also inspected the burke and wills related tree. This specimen was from one for the parties searching for the lost expedition.
Of even more interest was that this same tree was where mum and dad Kite were feeding their fledgelings , underneath the tree was a smorgasbord of kitish treats. Bits of birds and frogskins -Kites obviously don’t like the taste of frogskin as they had stripped the skeletons bare and left the wrapper !
We had a walk round the show ground itself and sat and watched the sunset.
Great sunrise out of the caravan window then a walk round the outskirts of the town, empty the caravan toilet into the shire dump point , water tank refill , diesel purchase , latte loading and we are off !
