The Village of Richmond Western Queensland Australia

Richmond Qeensland a quiet town about 550k west of Townsville, the area is largely made up of Cattle and not so much  sheep.

Finish line Richmond Race track




Grandstand at Richmond Race track

 


 Richmond has been a place that we have visited many times since coming to North Queensland over 35 years ago. After passing through the town many itmes I attended the Richmond Field days at the Race course, This  is a great social event as well as being a great place to do Business.



Fossil display

 Some of the other attractions in this area is the Fossil festival which will be held in 2011 in May, this should be a great weekend, as Richmond is well known for its displays of the ancient fossils that are found in the area.

Federal Palace Hotel

One of the many things that always amaze me in these outback towns is the old and historic buildings that have survived especially the hotels, unfortunately there is only one of the old hotels left in Richmond as the Old Mud Hut hotel was destroyed by fire as so many are, a few years ago and the Federal  Palace hotel is the only one left, the old Mud Hut was replaced by a new structure and even though the atmosphere of the old style Pub is missing it is still a great place to have a quiet beer or a feed as is The Fed.

Lake Fred Tritton

Local kids at the water park

One of the things that the locals have done well is to build their lake, water for this lake  is pumped from the Flinders river which is one of the longest rivers in Australia and this fabulous water park has helped transform this town.
Many water sports are now possible as well the lake has been stocked with fish, a lot of towns and cities start up these projects and they just sit unused but not in Richmond, there is always activity around the water park day and night.
The lake is named after a local identity, Fred Tritton, Fred was a larger than life character in every sense of the word, I met Fred a few times and stayed at the family property on a couple of visits to the field days, I do not think that there would be much that this man would not have a crack at, he was good for the town and I think the lake is well named.

Old building Richmond

Abandoned home

As I said at the start these old western towns are full of history and the architecture of the past remains in many froms, foom old hotels to the buildings that were used for business to some old remnants of the types of houses that the western pioneers lived in.
 <><>

<>

<><>

Corrigated iron home



 Western has its own style of living very practical homes and business buildings from the older style right through to the modern, there are many variations of this in Richmond and I have included a few from our collection, more are available on our web site http://www.photography-village.com/

CWA house

Like most small western towns Richmond has its share of social meeting places for locals, like the Local branch's of the CWA and RSL as well as a well kept Bowls club.

I think that at the moment this area is as green as I have seen it at this time of the year there has been rain most of the way out this trip and I have seen some good size storms brewing in the distance and all the creeks are flowing.
Well I am moving on tonight to a place called Rosebud Station where I hope to photograph some of the left over artifacts from an mining area that was dominated by the Chinese, these people were some of the most inovative miners in their time, I am looking forward to the adventure.

Poor Gazza

As you can see from our previous posts we have this beautifull Blue dog called Gazza, he is the sort of friend that every dog owner would want he does not have a mean bone in his body.
last week a couple of dogs broke through our back fence and savaged him so badly that he spent a week in the vet's hospital, it was a sad time.
Unfortunately on Tuesday this week we were told that because of the severe damage to the tendons and blood vessels in his right rear leg it would have to be taken, so now poor Gazza has only three legs and we feel so sorry for him.
Any of our friends who know him will understand how we feel as he was such an active dog, there have been so many friends of Gazza's dropping in or phoning that Jacki and I have been onverwhelmed "Thank's"

Mt Isa to Birdsville

http://www.photography-village.com/

Gazza the guard dog

Micky the navigator

This is a part of a trip that Jacky and I did in August 2010, as usual we had the regular addons Gazza the watch dog and his nemisis our bird who was deligated as navigator, and who let us down later in the trip, I think she spent to much time  trying to look good and not enough time looking at the map.

This part starts at Mt Isa in western Queensland, In the winter months the Isa as it is known is a great  place to visit,  the night time temps get down in to the low single figures and the daytime is in the high teens to the mid 20's, and for most of this season the weather is magnificent.

This trip for us was to be a camping holiday we traveled to the Isa on business and the plan was to head down through Boulia to Birdsville then to Roma to visit my daugher and family and then travel to the Northern rivers in New South Wales for a week then home to Townsville a trip of over 3,000klm.

Dusky Morehen at Mt Isa

We stayed at Coconut Grove van park, this is an excellent park our site was right on the bank of a creek that divided the park from an indistrial area, the park owners have done a great job of cleaning up this creek on their property and the creek at least this part of it is the home to many water birds.

We had a couple of days to look around the Isa and take some pics, this is a mining town and the whole city of Mt Isa is there to service this industry. The town itself has an atmosphere that is only found in a mining comunity and is dominated by the mine, this is an old mine and has changed hands quite a few times, having said that this is a mine that is constantly being modernised and is a leader in some of the technology that makes the mining industry so strong in Australia.

There are several lookouts around the city and always worth having a look and taking a couple of shots.

Mt Isa from look out

Because of the location Mt Isa has to rely on the transport industry,  and if there is one area that the Queensland Government has let the Isa down it is with the level of maintenance that is put in to the roads,  in to and around the city, considering the amount of revenue that is generated by the mines in this area the level of money put back in to the area is at best piss poor, one day we might get a Government that not only puts back an amount of money that is in proportion to what is gets from an area,  but puts some protection measures in place so that some of the land in this country is kept from mining developers.  

I was watching a program on the idiot box last week about the land aquisition that is happening in Western Australia, and the program showed an area that was ablolutely beautifull, and there is going to be a Liquified gass plant put on the shores of this magnificent area and one of the people that were interviewed who was argueing for the area to be mined stated that the resorces underground were similar in size and content to Mt Isa, well if any one needs incentive to stop this they should go to the Isa and to Broken Hill and have a look at what it will look like in 10years time.

Mt Isa Mountain sunset

The Photo labeled "sunset on Mt Isa Mountains" should be a lesson because I took that photo 6months ago and already a large part of the range is already under mine construction, now I am not a "Greenie" but I appreciate this country in all its facets, from the harsh country around the Isa to the clear blue waters of our off shore islands  and especially our magnificent Rainforests, and I am begining to believe that if we dont get out and see this beautifull country soon,  then a Government will sell it,  some other country will  mine it,  and it will be gone.

Well I got that off my chest, enough of my raving, we left the Isa and headed South through Bourke and on to our first camp site, there is a lot of nothing in this area but a lot to see, so many birds and because of the big wet season that has benifeted this country plenty of wild flowers and water.

Sulleman creek camp site

Our campsite was at Sulleman creek, we arived mid afternoon and set about getting organised, I put a couple of Yabby pots in and got a fire going, pretty easy thanks to someone called "The Naked Nomads" who kindly stacked up enough wood to get the fire going and left a note, saying that this was their habit and trusted that the reciepient of the gift would do the same, which we did, but with our cloths on.

Bill with sticky shoes

Pacific Heron Suelliman creek

We have some great pics of this area, lots of birds and terrific scenery, including a trick shot by Jacky, which is a reflection and has not been altered.

Sunrise Suelliman creek

The wild life especially the birds at this spot were everywere, the family of Herons that had made their home here hardly had to move to get a feed at one stage there were 7 of these birds on the one small tree.

Sunset at Sulllema

Within a 5min walk from our camp there were  a family of eagles, countless parrots and honey eaters, Kites, and Falcons, the ever present Corellas and Emu, I tried to get close to a family of Brolgas but the country is so open that they would have none of it.

The road to Birdsville

This was a great camp and we reluctantly left mid morning and headed off to Bedourie, I was surprised at how good the road was after all the rain that this area had, so we made pretty good time.

There are so many things to stop and see,  the wild flowers were just starting to bloom and the colours of the landscape were changing so often,  I suppose that the thing that surprised me most was that we were driving through the edge of a couple of deserts and because of the amount of rain that the area has had and is still continuing to have the vegitation realy disguised the harshness of these areas.

Water birds Eyre creek

Every creek had water and every where that there was water there were birds.
We traveled an area called "Hillary plains" as flat as a tack and stones as far as you could see, then it was time to find a camp for the night, by this time the breeze had turned to a wind and the temperature had taken a dive and the land was not showing any signs of having a place that we could shelter just a flat plain with hills in the distance but as the light was fading we needed something to serve as a wind break.

Nightime camp spot

Finally a fair sized hill with a road leading over the top, and at the back out of the wind a fair camp site with a great views

We left our camp about mid morning when it started to warm up and

headed towards Birdsville.

We started to run into a couple of stretches of dirt and before long were on the red rocky soil that we had been expecting. There were plenty of photo oportunities, wild flowers and horses, birds and we were getting in to the sandy areas of the Simpson, Jacky has been getting into  her Macro Photography and is getting some great shots.

Desert wildflower

We camped this night at Carcooya Bore, this is an historic sit as the origonal bore was put down in the late 1800s and is still a major source of water for the area, like most artesian water the temperature as it comes out of the ground is over 90deg and on this afternoon when the temperature was about 10deg we were not unhappy to be camping near water that we dis not even have to heat up.

The water is surprisingly soft when you use it to wash with it leaves you feeling very refreshed and your hair or to be precice Jackies, because she has some and I dont is very soft.

The birds were everywhere and the baby Budgies, had just started to leave the nest, and they were everywhere, we had a family just a few meters from our tent and they were not worried by us at all.

Mother Budgie feeding one of her chicks

Zebra finch's

there were also hundreds of Zebra Finch around and they were camped in the bush over the bore drain I suppose so that the steam kept them warm.

Near the bore is another historic site, it is the origonal Carcoory homestead built in the late 1800s and was at one stage the home of the Kidman family untill it was abandoned in about 1920 because of drought, this must have been a hard area to bring up a family, when you enter the home you can get the feel of how difficult the task of raising children would have been, the rooms are very small and with only a window for ventilation in the summer it would have been stifiling.
The bulding has been made from local stone and rendered with a mixture of lime and sand, but even though this home is obviously an historic site the grubs of this world that cannot resist seeing their name plastered over any surface that they can find have made a mess of the walls and anything else that they could deface.

Carcoory homestead fireplace

We stayed the night at the bore and moved on to Birdsville, Jacky managed to find a piece of road that had some water over it and changed the colour of the ute from white to red in about 5seconds.
There is not a lot in Birdsville except four wheel drives towing camper trailers and vans, if you go there and end up at the bakery stay with the plain pies and you will be fairly safe, but dont get the impression that because of the size of the town that there is no culture, we managed to find an art gallery among other things.
Well this is where we depart from our trip for a while, I will put up the next part of our holiday from Birdsville to New South wales shortly.

Art Gallery

The transport

Cheers.

If you are interested in any of the photos or any others from our trip go to.
http://www.photography-village.com/

Trip to Magnetic Island

Picnic bay Magnetic Island

Magnetic Island rocks

Well as this is my first Blog I thought that I would start at home, just a bit about the "Traveling Photographers".
http://www.photography-village.com/

There are four of us, my partner Jackie and our friends Niagre and Graeme and of course me, we all have different interests but the common denominator is we are all avid Photographers. This trip came about when Graeme's sister Jackie and her husband David who were on a visit from N.Z. were looking around North Queensland and Niagre and Graeme suggested that the family go over to Magnetic Island, and as it so happened we were going over as well with my Jackie's brother Mike who was visiting from Babinda further up north to get a break from the weather, for those who don't know Babinda is often the wettest town in Australia and Mike is often looking for a dry bit of land.

We decided to take our vehicles over so that we had a bit more freedom, and let me tell you that this is an expensive exercise, I can fly to Brisbane (that's over a thousand  klms away) for about the same price as the 8klm ferry ride to Magnetic isle.
It has been a while since my last real visit to this beautiful part of Australia and I don't know why we don't do this more often. There is a lot of history about this island James Cook sailed close and named the Island because he thought that the rocks on the island were effecting his compass, I dont think this was the case but there are plenty of rocks on this island.
 The boat used to land at Picnic Bay which is now a very quiet part of the Island, unfortunately for those that have not been there before or have seen Picnic bay as it used to be there is a lot of vacant commercial property a feeling of an area in need of a boost, I suppose that this is the price that a place like Magnetic Island has to pay when Developers get their hands on it.
Don't get me wrong Picnic Bay is I think one of the most beautiful parts of the Island and I have some very good memories of this place when it was the main stopping off point when the Hayles ferries docked there, I don't know why something cannot be done with the old jetty I am sure there is potential there, every time I look down the length of this fabulous land mark I am taken back to days sitting outside the Picnic Bay Hotel on a clear and calm day watching the old Hayles ferry coming across the clear blue waters of the bay with the locals coming down to greet friends of visitors or pick up freight.
What a change over at the new terminal there is a new Marina with a new drab Grey painted steel and concrete ferry terminal surrounded by some of the most ugly buildings that have absolutely nothing in common with a tropical paradise.
But if you can avoid this for the rest of your stay then you get to see a great destination,  where there are some great places to stay and some of the restaurants are excellent. We stayed at picnic bay and Graeme and the family stayed a Alma Bay, on Saturday we did the usual drive around which does not take all that long as the road from Picnic at one end to Horseshoe bay at the other is only about 11klms.
Horseshoe Bay has changed as well with a fair splattering of modern accommodation and it seems that there has been at least some effort put in to keeping with the atmosphere of the island, but a few pluses with an art gallery with some quality work and a couple of cafes.
We dawdled around for a while and went out to West Point, this is at the end of a dirt road which can get a bit rough at times and if you rent a vehicle on the island most wont let you take them over this road. We stayed at the Tropical Palms Inn, http://www.tropicalpalmsinn.com.au/ and David has small 4x4 vehicles for hire and if you want a comfortable afordable place to stay then this is a good start.
Any way we went to West point for the sunset and it was average but got a couple of good pics, then back to the Motel for a couple of drinks in the nice quiet BBQ area and then off to the Picnic Bay Hotel for Dinner and a couple more drinkys.  Good tucker (meal) at the hotel right on the water loking over the bay with the jetty lit up, it does not get much better.
Graeme and his family dined over near Arcadia and by all accounts the meal was very good and the visitors got to share the experience with some of the Island wild life and when we caught up with them on Sunday were wrapped.
 Well Sunday started with a barbque breakfast at Tropic Palms and then on to a bit of sight seeing around the many fantastic bays that are available, lunch at a park on the waterfront and then on to the barge bound for home.
I think that we will be back on the Island again soon

<><><>Young bay West point<>

<>

<><><><>

Jetty at night