Richmond to Hughenden

Got our tyres late in the day and decided we just couldnt stay another day here, there is simply nothing here.    Boring.    As it turns out, I couldnt even buy the lucky Powerball ticket, even though I tried.    The young guys at the mechanics were terrific.  Took them more than two hours to fit up our tyres, charged us $80, didnt charge for getting rid of the old ones, which is what every other tyre service we have dealt with has done.     Off to Highenden.    The countryside is bleak.   Flat desolate and crying out for rain.   Almost no stock in any of the paddocks and not even the slightest bit of growth, even weeds.   Arrived in Hughenden to a magnificent sunset,  camped up and finally relaxed.  The new tyres working a treat.   Ended up spending 3 nights here, even though there is very little to do & see.   Its all about dinosaurs here once again.   Checked out all the dinosaur bones & fossils, toured the town, visited a small market, chatted with the locals and went out to see Porcupine Gorge.    The Gorge is 27 kms. long and you can take it in from viewing platforms high above or take a 2.5km walk down and into the Gorge.   Its amazing to find greenery out here when you have driven thru dry and dusty paddocks for miles. Very litle water at the moment and it wasnt interesting enough to bother getting excited about.

Barn Find. 

Another dry river bed

 Large search going on out here for a missing local man.  Been missing from his property for 8 days now.  Helicopters, police cars, horses and quad bikes out looking for him.   Its very hot during the day here, but cool at night.   Still its inhospitable country, and no-one knows what he was wearing or had with him and where he headed off to.  The local police we spoke to, said that if he has gone missing in the Gorge, it will be almost impossible for him to be spotted, even from overhead. Sad for his family and I hope he is found one way or the other soon.    We had a sunset happy hour at one of the lookouts with a local cattle station owner.   He hasnt had rain for two years and even though he can pump up water from a bore (23 hours per day) he simply cannot feed his bulls.   He had just sent off the very last of his 3000 cattle.  Left with a handful of cows and one goat, which couldnt fit on the last of the trucks.    Again a very sad situation to be in.   He was very chatty and seemed to be a happy man regardless.    After driving thru this country, we can sympathise