Day 30 Richmond

Day 30 Richmond

Where the heck is Richmond and why did we go there you say?

Well we've been very fluid with our plans for this journey. Despite advice to book ahead from a lady in Roma, who was horrified at our (apparent) lack of planning, we've rarely done so for any accommodation, preferring to just get going in the morning and see where we end up by about three in the afternoon. It's a plan (or lack of a plan depending how you look at it) that has worked for us so far.

Still, after speaking to our next door campers in Mt Isa who were headed towards Birdsville for the up-coming Birdsville Races, we thought better of heading back through Winton. There was likely to be a LOT of camping and caravanning travellers heading through Winton on their way to the races and accommodation and campsites (even the free ones) might be quite scarce.

So it was that we headed through Cloncurry towards Julia Creek instead. This turned out to be a very good move, for we saw increased traffic heading Winton-wards, while our path to Julia Creek was relatively traffic-free.

By three o'clock we were approaching the township of Richmond. The road quality from Julia Creek to Richmond was appalling. We bumped and graunched our way through potholes on road that seem to have been laid by someone in a drunken stupor. Time to call a halt for the day. Besides, this place looked rather nice and had a big dinosaur outside a museum called Kronosaurus Korner. Bonus!

Barb puts her head in for a scary look

Doesn't scare John

They had a nice café and shop at the museum too, though surprised
I wanted milk with my English breakfast tea.

Nice dinosaur

Now that's a dinosaur I didn't know about

When we found the caravan park we were further pleasantly surprised. It was a lovely grassy and shaded site located right beside a botanic park and lake. Quite idyllic. We quickly set up camp and headed into Kronosaurus Korner before it closed. Apparently Richmond is well known for its dinosaur and marine fossil heritage (well excuse me for not knowing this before now). 100 million years ago the area around Richmond was covered by an extensive inland sea some 40 metres deep. The warm shallow and lime-rich sediment was ideal for fossil preservation, so it has become one of the world's most significant fossil regions (duh! How did I miss this? I thought it was near Winton).
There are specimens of the giant predator Kronosaurus, the long-necked Eromangasaurus "Minmi" - Australia's best preserved dinosaur and "Penny" the Richmond Plesiosaur which is one of the best vertebrate fossils found anywhere in the world.

Well I'll be! There's even a palaeontologist on tap to show tourists through the displays or a self-guided audio tour. Garreth would be in dinosaur heaven here. I'm sure Bronte would love to come and dig for fossils too. There was a family with three small children next door to our campsite and they were very VERY excited about the prospect of digging for dinosaur bones and each had a little backpack on their back which contained two drinks and four different snacks (at least that's what the eldest girl proudly told me).

The tidy town of Richmond

The drapery store was just as I remembered Findlay's Drapery in Yeppoon

Lots of water sports and fishing here

There was even free entertainment at the caravan park

Love a freebie

Lake Fed Tritton, which we were camped near at the Richmond Lakeview Caravan Park, was recently completed as a recreation area with BBQs, water park, boat ramp and children's playground and a lovely paved walking path which winds through native gardens all around the perimeter of the lake.

The park overlooks the lake

Landscaped walkways around the lake

This would be a great place to bring kids and we were really glad that we stumbled upon it by accident Yay!