Stones and bones – Hughenden the start of the Great Australian Dinosaur Trail 31 July - 2 Aug

Before we began this trip we bought a map (we are still using it in Cool George to track our travels).  To help the boys prepare for the trip we gave them flags to put on places they wanted to go.  Some obvious ones came up like seeing a crocodile, theme parks in the gold coast etc.  But one that seemed a long way away was to do Australia’s dinosaur trail.  Well here we are starting our great dinosaur adventure in Hughenden and what better way to start than with a visit with a Muttaburrasauras.

If you have read much of this blog (and if you have yay you!) you will know that I am a total self-confessed science nerd and pretty much always have been.  My favourite toy was my microscope and I loved reading about dinosaurs.  So I will admit that this leg of our trip was exciting for me as it was for the boys. 

As I was growing up Australian dinosaur fossils were few and far between.  That all changed in the 1980s and 1990s with dinosaurs being found in a number of places, including north central Queensland.  Back then this now dry land had an inland sea and the vegetation was lush and green and supported a myriad of dinosaurs.

We started with a visit to the Flinders Information Centre which has a collection of dinosaur material including a full size replica of a muttaburrasauras.  It also has a lot of information of the pastoral history of the area.

Porcupine Gorge

The other reason you come to Hughenden is that 60km up the road is Porcupine Gorge.  We could have done a day trip but we decided that this was another opportunity for a camping adventure so off we went.  The gorge is known as Australia’s little grand canyon, but that may be a bit of a stretch.  It is however, an amazing place, and after our very helpful DVD in the information centre we understood that it has been 600 million years in the making.  

From the camping area there is a steep walk to the bottom of the gorge where you can walk along the bottom towards the Pyramid.    

At the base of the Pyramid we had heard that there might be a place to swim – and fortunately for us there was a lovely swimming pool with a beach!  It should be said this walk is nice enough on the way down, but we may have had to stop a couple of times on the way up and definitely earned our cool drinks.

The camping was great here.  The moon came up well after sunset allowing us to do some lovely stargazing.

In the morning we were up early and did the walk along the rim. 

We stopped at a well known fossicking site on the way back to Hughenden – but no luck for us this day.

Mt Walker

We had just one more stop in Hughenden – Mount Walker boasts six lookouts scanning 360° and stand 478m above sea level. The view from here really shows the country we are now in.  Gone are the winding roads, hills and lush green countryside of the coast.  Here it is flat, dry and brown.  How different it is to be in the outback!