The Cardwell caravan park boasts the only restaurant that is open in the evening. I had walked the dogs about 3kms to the jetty and back. There is a lovely path along the waterfront back far enough from the water's edge to hopefully be out of range of crocs.
After feeding the hounds I put them in their crates and joined Anita at the restaurant. There was a long wait for the food as the place was very busy. After more than half an hour we were still waiting for dinner when dog number 2 entered the restaurant, ears pinned back and on a mission. He had gone around to the front of the restaurant, past the diners on the terrace and through the open doors. I quickly grabbed hold of him and took him out, much to the amusement of the couple seated next to us.
The restaurant was over 200m from our van and the dogs had not been there. We had gone into the restaurant through the main door which was kept closed, so he must have trekked around the building in search of his protector. Fortunately the staff in the restaurant and most of the other diners were oblivious to his brief appearance.
I expected to find he had scratched his way out of the crate, but the flap was wide open meaning I had forgotten to zip him in! I had done that once before, leaving the flap unzipped on the crate of dog number 1, but she stayed put all night not interested in leaving the comfort of her bed.
We drove from Charters Towers to Cardwell where we spent 2 nights looking out towards Hinchinbrook Island.
I drove to Innisfail where I met up with one of my nephews and my 3 year old great niece whose only interest was the party she was going to later that day in Mareeba!
We have now turned south and are heading home. Last night we stopped at the weirdly named Gunna Go caravan park south of Bowen. All of the caravan parks in Bowen were either full or do not allow dogs so we bypassed that town and added it to our list of places to go on our next trip north. Our next 2 nights will be in Rockhampton.
This friendly town once boast having 65 pubs during the height of a gold mining boom. Many lovely historic buildings have survived including the Stock Exchange Arcade. There really was a stock exchange here until 1916 when it closed following the decline in gold mining.
The old department store is now a Target store but the original stained glass windows are all intact.
We stopped for lunch at Hughenden at the quirky FJ Cafe. Food and coffee were both good and great value.
Richmond was our first overnight stop after leaving Mount Isa. The caravan park had no powered sites so we opted for the free RV park. There was more room than in the crowded caravan park even though the only facilities were potable water and a dump site.
The main attraction in Richmond is dinasaur and other fossils. The information centre has this large statue of a Kronosaurus. Squillions of years ago the area around Richmond was a sea so many of the fossils are of fish.
The unusual round rocks at the RV park are known as moon rocks. Every 2 years there is a moon rock throwing competition during the fossil festival.
