Australia Visit -Day2/3-Out to Richmond

Day 2 (Saturday). Woke up around 3:30am to be on the road by four. We headed south and were through Innisfail as the light became obvious. We stopped in Cardwell for a sandwich and sat on the beach to overlook the sights and sounds of Hinchenbrook passage. The rainbow lorikeets were in full force in the blossoms and despite looking hard I couldn’t see any dugongs swimming about. We refueled in Townsville then headed west, first past Charters Towers and on to White Mountain National Park. We only stopped for a bit of a look and a photo or two but the place was quite scenic and was the shoreline of an ancient inland sea that stretched across most of western Queensland.

Mum and Dad standing at the overlook of White Mountains National Park.

We stopped in Hughenden at the bakery for pies but they’d just closed so we settled for fish and chips from a corner store. The fish was OK but sure wasn’t mackeral. It was a few more hours out to Paul’s place in Richmond though. My first impression of Richmond was certainly better than I’d imagined. It was much bigger and more vegetated than I’d thought. In fact, it sure looks good to me. Laura remembered me but Mitchell didn’t and he took a little time to warm up to me, however it didn’t take long and we were playing together as dad and Paul got on to getting stuff organized for the trip.

Looking towards the center of Richmond (west).

Looking out of Richmond (East).

Directly across the street from Paul's place.

A genuine Cobb & Co wagon, right in front of Paul's house. How cool is that?

In the evening Paul and I tried to put the boat in at Lake Fred Tritton but it was pretty windy making fishing quite difficult. We came home and then Paul took me out to show me the town. We saw a swag of wallabies so came home and grabbed the bow. We got to draw on a few but never closed the deal. Because it was late and we had a big drive ahead of us we called it off after an hour or so and headed home.

Day 3 (Sunday) – We didn’t really do much except get ready. The boat trailer needed some work and that took a big part of the day. I went with Kylie and mum to the store and stocked up on lollies and shared some with the kids. That made me an instant friend. I also got to try some pies from the local servo. Dinner was pizza and we just hung out and did very little.

Paul and Kylie's daughter Laura playing in the living room.

Paul and Kylie's son Mitchell hanging out in the backyard.