#1: [23-Nov-10]

27-Sep-2010 -- After visiting 21S 142E in the morning we had some lunch in Richmond – the fossil capital of Australia and part of the "Dinosaur Triangle" with Winton and Hughenden.

The museum website can be found at Kronosaurus Korner

After buying some fuel we headed south towards Winton on a good bitumen road. There had been some rain recently and the clay black soil meant that care was needed going off road, as it soon turns to sticky mud. There were some storm clouds to the south but we hoped they would stay away long enough for the visit.

We had attempted this confluence about 4 years before and had visited Leslew Downs station to ask permission to visit the CP but the owner there had told us that the area was actually on another cattle station across the Winton road and we ran out of time. As we had forgotten which station he had said we first visited Clare Valley station and were then directed to Essex Downs.

The owner there gave us directions and we headed back to the turnoff to Lucindale and Leslew Downs stations, startling a small feral pig along the way. We turned south on a graded access track where large round bales of hay had been cut. After opening a few gates and crossing a dry shallow creek we were able to drive right up to the confluence.

The countryside was mostly open grassland with small trees and prickle bush along the creek beds. Apart from haymaking the land is used for raising cattle.

We took the necessary pictures and headed back to Richmond, this time disturbing a colony of feral cats near a dam. Feral cats, along with pigs and foxes are very destructive to wildlife and it was a bit surprising to find them in this fairly open grassland.

We continued the journey to Hughenden and had hoped to visit some more confluences but with widespread rain forecast decided to continue to the coast on our way home.