HOME HILL When traveling north from Mackay to Townsville you expect to pass through Ayr on the way through. But as a surprise the significant small town of Home Hill signals a ‘not so fast’ interruption to that mind set. Home Hill is just over 10k from Ayr, but the mighty Burdekin Bridge/River seems to have fully distanced Home Hill from its near neighbor. Home Hill is a numbered streets and avenue town. Our only other town visited that adopted this practice has been Tauranga in NZ to this point in our travels. Home Hill was originally part of the Inkerman Downs Cattle Station and he cattle station was converted to sugar cane in 1911 and the town developed quite quickly. The town was originally going to be named Holme Hill after a battle in the Crimean War. However, the sign writer wasn't given a written spelling of the name and made an error when creating the sign that inevitably read "Welcome to Home Hill". Another mystery about the town name - the town is not built on a hill. It is on a fairly flat river delta. The nearest hill is about 10km away. The main attractions in Home Hill are the Burdekin Bridge and Inkerman Sugar Mill. The Museum detailing the history of the bridge is worth a good look. The Home Hill War Memorial is accorded acknowledgement at the RSL. The Churches at Home Hill are a mix of modern and practical. All of the Home Hill Hotels are ‘old’ buildings with many a story to relate. Great buildings these. Home Hill, with mysteries of name and street names is actually worth a stopover.