Thursday 7^th June Charters Towers

Had a good sleep in Pentland though it was pretty cold in the morning. Nice little park with clean amenities. Before we left we drove and saw the town dam. Just close to the park and more like a wetlands with lots of birdlife. It was near a creek and a local told us that it floods.

We headed off and the rail line was beside us the whole time. We have seen many freight trains and the carriages are covered. Apparently they are full of coal. The trains have 66 carriages and driving at 80KPH we were faster then the train!

The vegetation changed rapidly. First it was quite thick with trees and lot of water by the side of the road and we forever seemed to be crossing small waterways. Then all of a sudden we had vast plains with stunted trees and very sandy soil. Then once again thicker and denser vegetation.

We only had a short drive of about an hour. We have been very vigilant when driving and very aware of road trains and either slow down, or as yesterday, pull off altogether.  Today the road was a little more winding (usually dead straight) and we had this truck hurtling towards us and luckily we stopped because he had a slightly wider load then normal. Anyway we got to Charters Towers and went straight to the information place. They were very friendly and helpful. We found out there are 2 school reunions in town and some sort of car meet. We had no accommodation booked so thought we should go and book in to a park.

As we came into town we saw a McDonalds! Ah civilisation. The first for quite a few weeks.

After booking in we headed back to town to have our stone chip repaired. We went for a walk and discovered an antique/junk shop. We picked up the van and went back to town for a walk around. This was a very wealthy area with gold mines. There were 63 pubs at one stage. Many have been converted to places such as the library, Big Rooster, car dealership and some kept as hotels. There are many large and lovely old buildings dating back to late 1800’s. This town had its own stock exchange in the late 1800’s. It is now an arcade in the style of the Strand Arcade in Sydney. Beautiful arched glass ceiling and tiled floor with mosaics. Some of the buildings have a touch of Art Deco about them as well.

The church is in the middle of town with a big bell tower that we need to investigate the significance of. There are 2 weekend masses! We are overwhelmed with choice! We enjoyed our walk around.

We came back to the park and then went for a ride. It is about 2 kms back into town.

We had dinner here at the park as it was $10 a head for a BBQ and the money went to The Flying Doctor service. There was a bush poet who was not as good as the people in Winton, come to think of it she was not as good as ALL the people in Winton or all the dogs and cats as well.

This is a park where some people spend months. It is certainly warmer and we woke up in the night hot not cold for a change.

We met some lovely English people at dinner. They will be in Australia for 12 months to see their 2 sons who now live here and they have bought a small van to go looking around Aus. He was a military photographer and she was a school secretary. We sat around the fire and chatted . The BBQ was yummy and generous. There is also a fundraising morning tea fri morn.

Friday 8^th June Charters Towers

Yesterday was beautiful and sunny. We decided to visit the only intact mining battery in Aus. This is where all the rock was bought to be crushed and gold extracted. The guide was very comprehensive in his explanations. There were also 2 holographic displays, one on a little waterfall, which were very good. Filled up my washing line again.

Holographic video display at Venus Battery

In the afternoon went back into town to look around and do some shopping. Came back and caught up with the English people before dinner in the camp kitchen. There were also people from Cairns so we were able to talk to them about Cairns where we are headed.

Saturday 9^th June Charters Towers

View from the hill overlooking Charters Towers

We have had a lovely morning. Headed into town and bought some rolls and headed up to the local lookout on the hill overlooking the town.

Fabulous view all around. Able to see mountains in the east towards coast and then plains. As always many more trees then we expected. We met two people who are in town for 100 year celebration of local high school. One was a man [old codger] who was 80 and left here in 1949. He had been to school here. Then went to Towsville to work on railway for 40 years. He was lovely and had lots to share with us. His job was to record weights of freight carriages and also the numbers and letters on the carriages. He was called an under number-er. He said it sounded too much like under-taker and didn’t always impress girls he went out with! He was with a carer (who hails from Liverpool NSW) who bought him to town for the celebrations. He has a brother who is 90 and the carer takes him to visit 3 times a week. Another lady had been to school here in the 80s and her father had been the Mayor. She was saying that in the 70s many shops were closing down. Things look pretty good now and that is down to the mines. Another man we spoke to said he has been on the road for 15 years [has no permanent home] and he said the towns have embraced the tourists over the years. They might offer some cheap accommodation so you might stay longer and spend your money there e.g. food, fuel rather then somewhere else.

Next we headed out to the weir about 17 kms out of town. We passed some lovely homes on larger blocks on the way out. The weir was first built in 1902 and upgraded in 1996. It is a pretty area with space to water ski etc and have picnics and BBQs. The water was flowing over the weir and rushing over rocks. The river is the Burdekin river, supposedly the second most important river system in Australia. The downstream side of the weir was very wide and had some massive pelicans looking for lunch. There were fences all around but some kids had gone down for a swim anyway. They told me it was pretty cold. Weather is beautiful and warm! We had lunch there.

Weir over the Burdekin River

On the way back I had to stop and take a photo of a station name. It was called Drinkastuubiehere Downs!

Now relaxing and looking forward to tonight’s BBQ.