Maxwelton, Richmond

Droving cattle near Julie Creek

Continuing our trip through Queensland in 2019.

We left Julia Creek and around 11 am stopped at a Rest Area for a cuppa.  As we were leaving Ron noticed a side road with some rusty cars etc. in the distant paddock,  so he decided to investigate as he likes to take photos of anything "rusty" and has a Facebook page with all his photos at Backroads Rust Downunder.

 With this in mind, we headed off and as we approached a couple of dogs came out barking and were looking as though they might jump the fence, so I quickly put my window up and suggested to Ron to keep going.  At the same time we got a call on our CB radio asking us what we were doing.  We were still on the road and in the car, so we answered and told the caller that we were wanting to take some photos of the rusty machinery etc. and would he mind.

  At this stage I was unsure how welcome we were but we continued to have a chat and we discovered that we were more than welcome and Lyle told us to come on in and he would show us around.  We took his instructions and found the entrance and he and his partner welcomed us and showed us around.

They had a large property and were in the process of "renovating" and were hoping to make it into a tourist destination with B&B style rooms, Backpacker accommodation and caravan park.

 They were living there without too many home comforts but they had great plans and were very happy to tell us what they were going to do.  After they showed us around the main building and some of the outbuildings and telling us some stories of the recent floods in the area and some of the problems they were having with the local council,  we took  some photos and said our goodbyes and were back on the road to Richmond.  I do hope they can overcome some of the problems they were facing and look forward to seeing their progress if we get up this way again.

In hindsight, we probably should not have gone down that road, as we had no idea who we were about to meet and what we would find, and also nobody else knew we were there and when we told the story to our adult children, they were a bit concerned at our risk taking as we only ever contact them around once a week and if we don't contact them they "might" contact us, but it's never on a regular basis, so we could have been "missing" for quite a while before anyone raised an alert.  Anyway, all was well, and we had some fun telling our story and it made us realise that perhaps we should be a bit more careful and keep in touch on a regular basis.

We arrived in Richmond, parked the van and had a nice walk around this pretty little town

.Situated on the Overlander’s Way halfway between Townsville and Mount Isa, the town is located on the bank of Queensland's longest river, the Flinders, and is known for its recreational Lake Fred Tritton and bougainvillea-lined streets, parks and gardens.

We were surprised to see how much effort the town had put into making it such a lovely place for tourists.

Kronosaurus Korner

Bougainvillea lined streets

Lunch break at  Lake Fred Tritton

 Lake Fred Tritton is conveniently located at the edge of town. With a 1.2 kilometre circumference and a maximum depth of eight metres, Lake Fred Tritton allows visitors and locals the opportunity to enjoy a wide range of water sports.

We stopped at the lake for lunch