6th May 2018–Charters Towers (again)

Distance: 525 km
Fuel: 58 L

I had seriously thought about returning south via the coast ie Innisfail to Townsville but the combination of possible rain and the coastal traffic on a public holiday made me rethink the idea.

At the moment I am several days ahead of my schedule because I had allowed two stops between Charters Towers and Atherton in each direction. On previous journeys I have stopped at Undara Lava Tubes but on this occasion, while I did take a break at Mt Garnet on the way north and Greenvale on the way south, neither places have any great interest or reason to stop overnight.

Today’s trip was a long drive but I was listening to an audio book “The Handmaids Tale” which passed the time pleasantly enough and I always enjoy the bush winding passed.

Ravenshoe and its wind farm was its usual windy, soggy self:

…but the weather improved no end past Mt Garnet.

There are probably less than 10km of single lane road now on the whole of the Great Inland Way.

1st May 2918–Mareeba

Distance: 561 km
Fuel: 60 L

Today was to be a long drive. There are really no stops until Mt Garnet unless you go to the Undara Lava Tubes but I have visited them twice in the last 5 years, including last year so that was not practical. ,There are virtually no rest areas on this road either – the only place.s are left over sites from past roadbuilding/repair.

>>>Click Here to Revisit Lava Tubes<<<

The drive from Charters Towers was fairly uneventful except for occasional encounters with the local wild life.

[googlemaps https://www.youtube.com/embed/amqj8s-PkNo” frameborder=”0″ allow=”autoplay; encrypted-media” allowfullscreen>

When I first visited the Undara Lava Tubes over five years ago the road north of Charters Towers was mostly single lane.

Now there are only a few km of single lane road left.

The weather was beautiful until I reached Mt Garnet where I stopped for fuel – ironically the cheapest since leaving home – from then on it was getting noticeably cloudier as I drove.

By the time I arrived at Ravenshoe it was pouring with rain, I stopped and had a look at the forecast; not good! This is almost exactly what happened when I drove from Undara to Cairns five years ago – the weather was appalling all the way to Atherton where it continued raining.

BTW I think Ravenshoe is the highest town in Queensland.

Decided to push on to Mareeba where the forecast was not so bad. Arrived at the Tropical (?) Tableland Caravan Park at 3pm. It had been a long drive and the skies where still threatening.

In the event it did rain for a while when I was getting fuel but as sunset approached small patches of blue sky appeared – I hope this is an omen for tomorrow and my drive to Cooktown.

30th April 2018–Charters Towers

Distance: 393 km
Fuel: 39 L

Went for a walk after breakfast to the main street of Clermont and bought bread at the local bakery .

No rush to leave because there are no stops on this journey except Belyando Crossing roadhouse if I get a sudden urge for expensive food or fuel (it is the middle of nowhere – approximately 170km north of Clermont and 220km south of Charters Towers). The only other land marks are turn offs to stations (farms) and mines.

Pretty easy drive – one hard application of brakes to allow two kangaroos cross the road. I tried to save the video of the dopey things but ended up ejecting the memory card by mistake.

Sad smile Bumpy road!

I did stop at Belyando Crossing and I did pay $6 for a packet of chicken nuggets. It is the least interesting roadhouse in Australia that I have been to; small selection of food, a caravan park and some picnic tables. Unfortunately there was a parked road train with a load of cattle and the picnic tables were down wind of it.

Arrived at Charters Towers after 1pm, set up and went for drive round town. Took the inevitable drive up Tower Hill , went past the Stock Exchange and other historic buildings but only spent an hour looking about before returning to the caravan park. I was only here last June so there was little that was new – except for a concrete walking track up Tower Hill perhaps; I don’t remember it being there before.

Really only needed fuel.

To see more of Charters Towers >>>Click Here<<< and >>>Here<<< for lots of pictures and notes about my last visit.

18th June 2017–Charters Towers to Capella

Distance: 429 km
Fuel: 46 L

Fog! Woke up to a thick fog, visibility was down to less than 50m however by the time I was ready to leave at 8am you could see the end of an adjacent paddock. For the first 30km of the drive it was still pretty thick fog.

Almost suddenly I was driving in sunshine, the clouds disappeared rapidly and it was horizon to horizon blue skies which remained for the rest of the journey.

On the way south I passed hundreds of caravans and trailers going north, “hundreds” is not an exaggeration I counted 30 in one 12 minute period. I can understand now why someone said that on 1st July the parks put their fees up to $50 a night with all that traffic.

Nearing Clermont I passed the Clermont Coal Mine with its conveyer belt running for km beside the road and its enormous spoil heap stretching along the other side of the road.

I had intended to stop at Clermont tonight but because there were few opportunities to stop on the road it was still reasonably early when I arrived so I only stopped to fill up with fuel before driving on to Capella another 60km further south.

Capella is a small town of less than 1000 people but it has a caravan park. It is Sunday and the town is dead except for the pub which was surrounded by utes and as noisy as anything. I bought a 6 pack of beer and had a quick schooner there.

17th June 2017–Charters Towers

Distance: 59 km

Slept until 6.30am this morning. There was a lot of dew so I used it to clean the car windscreen, lights etc before washing yesterday’s clothes. I think I should have enough clothes to get me home now.

Because it is Saturday decided to go out to the Burdekin Weir first thing before the families get out to the picnic ground there. This is the source of Charters Towers drinking water. The original weir was built in 1902 but has been raised to its current level to increase the water available when the population increased dramatically during the Second World War.

This is a half scale model of the old and new weir.

On the way back to town I detoured past the Columbia Mine Poppet Head.

Followed that by a trip to the Zara Clark Museum. Strange place – absolutely jammed with stuff and vaguely organised into ‘rooms’ with a theme. Spent quite a time there because it covered anything from transport, communications, Flying Doctor, home furnishing to mining and agriculture. There was the occasional exhibit which reminded me of my grandmother’s and great aunt’s homes (the reason why I rarely visit country museums) but overall it was interesting.

The museum was very close to the centre of town so I retraced my steps to follow parts of the self guided walk that I missed yesterday.

I visited the Miners Cottage which was from the same school of curatorship as the museum. Room after room of objects piled upon each other, this however was a private collection with even less organisation and explanation than the Museum. The owner was a prospector who used a metal detector which he demonstrated – it can tell the difference between gold and iron. I had no idea.

Made a return trip to Towers Hill to have a walk to Clark’s Gold mine which I had missed yesterday. To be honest it was not a great miss.

Followed this up with a bit of shopping (postcards and biscuits) before returning to the caravan park in the middle of the afternoon.

Took down the gazebo as the sun went behind the trees, there is dew in the morning and I don’t want to pack it up wet; besides taking it down is a time saver in the morning.

At about 5.30pm decided that I needed a curry so drove to the Charters Towers Indian restaurant.

I had intended to eat there but when I entered it was one of those places designed for takeaway only – absolutely no atmosphere, flouro lighting, plastic tablecloths, bare tables, hard chairs etc so ordered take away. When it arrived (20 mins later) drove back to my site, got out the paper plates and had a delicious Rogan Josh with Nan bread – far more than I could eat. Had to throw half away but for $22.20 who cares?

Moving on tomorrow. This is really the start of the dash for home, I expect to be there by Thursday or Friday – crossing NSW will only take a couple of days I hope because it will be too cold to hang about.

16th June 2017–Undara to Charters Towers

Distance: 408 km
Fuel: 57 L

At 8am I was at the Undara Lodge buying ice having all ready packed up to leave, by quarter past I was on the road.

The road has improved a lot since I was last on it over 5 years ago then it was mostly single lane whereas now is is mostly two lanes with probably less that 10 km of single lane road.

There were very few parking areas on the road other than trucks bays adjacent to the road. The rare parking areas seemed crowded so I didn’t stop, even the roadhouses were a detour off the main road so I just kept going.

Because of this I arrived at the caravan park just before 1pm, checked in and found my site. The lady in the office gave me a map of the town and pointed out the Tourist Information Office and Towers Hill which she said should not be missed.

There was also some shopping I had to do so once settled in I was off first to the tourist office to get a self guided walk of the town centre most of which I saw while I parked and had a quick look round.

I then drove to the Towers Hill which over looks the town. Not only is it a lookout it also has a lot of historical significance it is where gold was first discovered which lead to the town becoming one of the richest in the country even having its own stock market. This wealth is reflected in some of its old buildings seen above.

During WWII Charters Towers was the base for US and Australian bombers taking part in the Battle of the Coral Sea just off nearby Townsville. The flight path for the heavily laden bombers taking off was over Towers Hill which necessitated the demolition of the tall chimney of the Pyrites Works on the hill. The rubble is still there, as are many bunkers used to store armaments.