Campaspe River Rest Area

Once more we get on the road very early to avoid the high temperatures and gusty easterlies.

Made Hughenden for morning tea, refuelled, had a look at the RV camping area for possible future stays. The RV area is in The Showgrounds and looks very good, with green grass and well maintained facilities. There is a fee involved though. Made camp at The Campaspe River RA, 90 kms west of Charters Towers on the Flinders Highway. We have stayed here before and on this occasion we were able to camp in the exact same location, behind a huge mango tree that blocked out most of the highway noise. However, the downside was the extra long freight trains thundering past only 35 metres away ---- not too many of those though. I only heard two trains during the night, one, I thought was coming through the van door!

Photograph taken early morning, from beside the rail line looking towards our camp and the Flinders Highway beyond.

The rail trestle over the Campaspe River. The river bed does not have any water, only truck loads of sand!

More photographs of the Campaspe River here on a previous post.  http://avantouring.blogspot.com.au/2009/11/campaspe-river-rest-area-sat-7th-sun.html

Richmond RV Area

Up with the sun this morning at Julia Creek, planning an early departure to avoid the worst of the heat and the easterly winds as they pick up during the day.

Stopped at a roadside RA for morning tea and met a young couple from Richmond who had come out to clean the toilets and surrounds. Had a chat about important issues like road and weather conditions, types of vehicles for towing, brands of tyres to use and the tales of the influx of huge numbers of campers that arrive during the peak season of May through August.

The RV free camping area at Richmond consists of a gravelly paddock with no outlook what-so-ever but it does have a 'dump point' and is only one block north of the main street shopping area. An easy distance to walk in more normal temperatures.

It is too hot to get out with the camera on this visit. You can check back at this previous post for photos of Richmond.
 http://avantouring.blogspot.com.au/2009/11/richmond-thurs-5th-and-fri-6th-nov.html