The night was cold and the temperature in the caravan was 15 degrees when we got out of bed just after 6:30am. As we were free camping, we used the facilities in the caravan, so we didn’t have to open the door until around 8:00am.
Today was another long drive of 292klm initially on the Gregory Development Road to Charters Towers and then to Hughenden on the Flinders Highway.
Wanting to shop in Charters Towers, several members of the group left early. As has been the case in recent day, we left in a group of three with us taking the lead for the second day in a row. Today we planned to travel at a speed of 90kph, but this was put on hold as soon as we departed the free camp with kangaroos seen close to the road. One of our groups had a close encounter yesterday with a cow so caution was high on the agenda today.
We kept the speed down until Charters Towers where we stopped to refuel. Leaving Charters Towers, we joined the Flinders Highway for the 240k drive to our destination.
We saw the benefit of the heavy vehicle call points as we heard a wide load travelling towards us when it was about 10 minutes away. We had sufficient time to get out of the way. Thank you, CB radio.
We stopped for morning tea at a small town called Pentland and had real homemade food and what we believe were the best milkshakes so far on this trip.
We arrived at our destination just after 1:00pm and it didn’t take long to setup. Wanting to purchase some milk, we tried the local Foodworks shop only to see a lot of expired food on the shelves and no light milk. We also found out that our friends also have a stone chip in their windscreen. They will try for a repair in Winton.
Today another couple who are members of our branch joined us for our stay at Hughenden. They were on their way north and detoured to see us. We were all excited to see Di & Dallas and Dax, who is just over a year old and had grown into a very intelligent and playful dog.
We had a happy hour before attending a dinner provided by the local Lions club. They provide a meal at the caravan park every Sunday with a good variety of food to choose from. Mains are $15 each and deserts are $5. We also purchased a Christmas cake costing $15. We were more than happy to support this institution.
Returning to our caravan for the evening, we closed the door to keep the heat in and watched television to try to catch up on the news. With nothing planned for tomorrow, we slept well and set the alarm for a late wakeup.