1 May 2012 - Dinosaur Trail Day 1 - Hughenden

We left Charters Towers and headed west towards Hughenden to commence “The Dinosaur Trail” which encompasses Hughenden, Richmond and Winton. There are a lot of other little towns along the way, but these are our primary targets in learning a little about the Eromonga sea and the fossils and bones of the creatures that once roamed this area.

Our first stop was at the Hughenden Visitor Centre where we got to meet Hughie, a 7 metre tall muttabuttasauras – wow. A board there provided some background

“The Hughenden area 100 million years ago, was on the edge of a shallow inland sea that extended from what is now the Gulf of Carpentaria through to South Australia. Australia was joined to Antarctica, but there were no polar ice caps at this time and the world climate was quite warm. Large marine reptiles called Icthyosaurus and Plesiosaurs swam in the inland sea while on land dinosaurs such as Muttaburrasaurus and the long necked Austrosaurus browsed on the vegetation amongst conifers, cycads and ferns. Most of the remains of Muttaburrasaurus came from two individuals. The first was found in 1962 near Muttaburra where it derives its name and the other in 1987 near Hughenden. Their bones were preserved because the carcases had been washed into the sea and became buried in the mud which protected them from destruction.'”

The centre also housed a superb kiddie corner, so the kids played with dinosaur jigsaws, models and read books while we watched a video on the history and formation of Porcupine Gorge – our next stop on our travels later today.

We had a look at the shearing shed to learn about the early days of shearing in the Hughenden area but the kids had had enough so it was time to head back out to the searing heat. Summer would definitely not to pleasant around here.

After lunch by the side of the Flinders River, we headed further into the Outback in search of our first “bush camp” in a while at Porcupine Gorge. Whilst we had pre-booked our campsite, on arrival we found it overrun with ants nests, so we moved to another site complete with picnic table. It was beautiful – the perfect spot to crack open a beer when the tent was up.

We had a quick walk to the check out the lookout to the Gorge, but with the sun close to setting settled for a quiet beer before dinner and an early night under the stars. How fabulous it is to be warm enough to have the tent windows opened all night and sleep under the Outback sky!