Kingaroy

Am now in Kingaroy. The drive from Brisbane was beautiful with the countryside quite different from that I have traversed of late. Very green and much softer. Not sure that "soft" is a word used too often to describe landscape, but it suits, so for the moment will suffice. Not as much wildlife or livestock, but a couple of quaint little townships passed through. It is easy to see how when a by pass road is put in place some of the little rural villages are impacted. The other point of interest was that although Tarong Power Station and a mine were signposted, they must be located far enough off the road to be out of view. As for the fame of Bethany - the landholding of the Bjelke Petersen family, there is Bethany Rd, "to" Bethany and Bethany Bed and Breakfast signs. That said, while peanuts are well in evidence I have not yet been offered a pumpkin scone. Not a bad thing in my book.

I am beginning to get a feel for life in regional Queensland and would like to think that if the need ever arose I would not only fit in, but would thrive as a countrygirl. That said, it is easy to develop a fondness for some regional communities versus others. Goondiwindi rates as the most picturesque community I have visited so far, but Winton, Hughenden and Charleville all had elements I could relate to. My benchmark for being able to live somewhere remote seems to have developed into the basic requirement of having a bakery and a library. When you consider that I can cook quite well and that I always have a mountain of books on hand this is interesting. It must be more about the sense of place and heart within the community and perhaps this is why the library being the hub of the town and the smell of fresh baked bread appeals.

Still in Hughenden

Highlight for me so far has to be meeting Woofie. A white Irish Wolfhound, not only is he handsome, but placid too. Perfect combination in a dog and pretty essential for one that is 65kgs. He could walk me if he wanted too. Luckily for me his owner runs the library in town, given that is where we are based for the week it has been easy to steal him bright and early each morning. We walk for about an hour and both of us arrive back hot, sweaty and smiling. Word of warning - once this boy has a drink, stand clear.

One thing which is guaranteed is that this guy is certainly a talking point, a great way to meet the locals. That said, apparently I am currently classified as "fresh meat" a first for me. Might be enough to make me become a vegetarian.

The accommodation where we are is pretty basic. Apparently the posh Royal Motel Resort was booked out, as was the venue of choice for visiting Police officers, the Easi Rest. I do however have the most posh toilet seat in all of Hughenden. It is midnight blue with silver glitter. As for the room, no glitter, glam or gloss anywhere. Very basic, but clean.....and an improvement on Bedourie. I am still scarred from the Bedourie experience, except perhaps for the wonder of the night sky. This was incredible, and better even than the Cosmos Centre at Charleville. The Cosmos is in a $5million dollar building with a retractable roof. Worth a visit to view globula clusters through any one of three $30 000 telescopes, but again, for me the best experience was lying on the floor and looking directly at the night sky.

We are working through online databases today, then hope to get away this afternoon to visit Porcupine Gorge. More on that later. Suffice to say that I have the camera fully charged. Apparently the local name for this natural wonder is Hughenden's Little Grand Canyon. Will share photos as soon as I can.

Hughenden

Well, we made it through to Hughenden after spending the day in Julia Creek with Chris at the library. Can't speak highly enough of what Chris is achieving there with the local community. The rapport she has built up is obvious to see with a steady flow of visitors throughout the day. Some come on library business like the itinerant guy that borrows donations. Others pop in to say hi or pass on info. One came in for a dress fitting. Multiple skilled Chris really does make the library the centre of a small but passionate community. The building itself is bright and welcoming, and with two access points it would be hard to find an excuse to walk right by without stopping in. Jennie and I did training with the iPad and Daisy reader, then took Chris to lunch. Only challenge was that with it being Monday the best pub wasn't serving food. It should be noted though that there was a very friendly (and very round) Staffy that was quick to adopt me as it's personal patting machine. Once we realized there was no food to be had we redirected our steps to the other pub in town (got to love country towns and their penchants for multiple watering holes) and were able tom order lunch. The resident dog was not allowed inside, though he did smile nicely for his photo. Will share it at some stage. A good addition to my "dogs of Western Queensland" portfolio. Under normal circumstances my lunch would have rated a 9 out of 10. Unfortunately the chef drowned the salad with salt and pepper squid in some mayonnaise styled goop rendering the meal almost inedible. Such a shame. We took this as a sign and packed our training gear and headed off to Hughenden. With a trip of approx three hours we decided to break our journey at Richmond. Being safe long distance drivers we stretched our legs, had a look around and changed drivers. Biggest disappointment for me was that Tourist Radio station 88.0 FM had talked up a visit to Kronosaur Korner as being a "must see" in Richmond with cakes with fresh cream being the major draw card. Only thing was that when we arrived at 3.30pm the Moon Rock Cafe was closing and we had to leave without cream cakes or a cold drink. The local IGA had neither Coke nor Gatorade so it was lucky I knew how to find my way back to the BP. One bonus of having Jennie navigate is that we do a tourof town trying tof find where we are going so we soon do a lap of the entire town. Better leave it there. At the Council Chambers for the day so lots to do.