Sweet Wayfaring

Porcupine Gorge is lovely they say, you mustn't miss it.  We decide to travel the 120kms round trip in the morning before my work for the day came in. It's a mini Grand Canyon the literature boasts. For one who has gazed in wonder at the real Grand Canyon or even the sweeping views of the Blue Mountains this is a micro grand canyon, a groove in the rock. But we didn't have time to go down into the Gorge and I'm told it is really quite good down there.  We'll have to go back another day.

Hughendon itself is a small unassuming town dominated by that giant windmill beside the dry sandy river.  It has a rather nice post office building but better still a Royal Hotel.

Hughendon is on the Dinosaur Trail, apparently there are lots of dinosaur fossils around these parts so we dutifully visited the dinosaur museum.

x The road is straight and land is dry.   It is the dry season but they apparently had a dry wet season so people are beginning to worry about drought again out here. As we push further west the trees give way to grasslands.

There was still no relief from the hoards of Grey Nomads.  The caravan parks were crowded with hundreds of vans.  I'm taking you further west tomorrow. We booked ahead to be sure to secure a spot.

If you started school in Queensland in the late 1950s (as I did) then you would have sat at a desk just like this - one equipped with slates and slate pencils.  You would almost certainly have carried a school 'port' like that on your back when you walked to school and it would have had a pencil case just like that nestled beside a sponge in a bottle of water and cleaning rag (for wiping your slate) and vegemite sandwiches wrapped in reusable greaseproof paper.  You would not have waved a plastic Aussie flag like that but you would have stood on parade each morning and put your hand over your heart as you looked at the flag and recited "I love my God, I serve my Queen and Country, I honour the flag and I shall cheerfully obey my country's laws". Then you would have stood to attention as the national anthem God Save the Queen was played before marching in line to your school room -- I think we were still very regimented from the war years. I had a lovely chat ...

I picked Gill Street because we had at last left the sea and fish dinners.  It is also the main street of the city with many impressive buildings showing the historic wealth of this city. This one made me smile.  How long is it since Ansett Airlines closed down? Hey that is another country town symbol for my list -- Target country stores. The Northern Miner lives on ... I saw a copy in one of the cafes.