Charters Towers

5/9/2018 Wednesday R & R had set up the camper near a couple of shipping containers that turned out to be refrigerated for the storage of roo meat for market.  The generators rumbled on and off and hummed all night.  It was quite different from the sounds of trucks and cars going by all night and it really was a little distracting.  It was 14*C at 6:30am when R & R woke and it promised to get to nearly thirty.  Humidity was high and it looked cloudy but not like it might rain.  R & R breakfasted, tidied up, sorted out the washing and packed down before filling up with fuel.  Then, RL headed 2kms west off the highway into the town of Clermont itself as one of the staff at BP had said that Hoods Lagoon was well worth a visit.  Indeed, it was!  Its pathways and bridges, windmill with rock and water fountain created a lovely environment for man and birds to enjoy.  There were water birds of many kinds including, black ibis, while ibis, pelicans, cormorants and several different ducks and geese.  Add to that, RL was able to fill the water tanks in the camper.  R & R went down town to see what was there as they had no maps or information.  They walked up and down the main street and were impressed with the pictorial representation of the town’s history in its murals.  Agricultural endeavours included crops like sunflower and cereals, sheep, wool and cattle while gold, copper and coal had all been worked in the area.  It was hard to believe that all three op shops that R & R saw were closed.  By 10:15am, RL was heading back to the Gregory Development Highway north towards Charters Towers nearly 400 kms away.  Sealing the section of road between Clermont and Charters was only completed in 1997.  Immediately the road veered round Prospect Hill on the one side with the Apsley State Forest on the western side.  For several kilometres the activity of the huge Clermont Coal Mine could be seen on the east and then on the west the conveyer belt ran coal to the Blair Athol Colliery and Dam a few kilometres inland. RL crossed over a bridge under which a rail line ran directly from the colliery to Mackay.  In between there was some scrubby cattle station country and some green cropping with a flock of emu.  Beyond that there was the Blair Athol State Forest and the Drummond Range which was undulating rather than hilly at 250m.  The Navigator indicated places where gold mining had been abandoned. R & R knew it would be a long day’s drive so they listened to “The Potato Factory” as they drove.  Much of the journey was similar, in that the undulating countryside ranged in level above sea, up and down, between 250m and 300m.  For the most part it was open cattle country, more or less scrubby or well treed and grassed.  RA noticed that beside scrub and mallee there were some larger gum trees with the coarse black bark about halfway up the trunk and wondered if they were brigalow.  In some higher places the soil was red, in others yellow and in a couple of flat areas the ploughed soil looked black and ready for growing cotton.  R & R did see two semi-trailers loaded with cotton heading south.  Shortly after Mazeppa National Park, R & R stopped in a rest area for a cup of coffee about 11:15am.  It was sad to see the amount of rubbish, plastic bottles and wrappers that were on the side of the road and had blown deep behind the fences.  R & R were back on the road in fifteen minutes and then drove through a very large national park called Nairana before arriving at Belyando Crossing and its roadhouse about 12:30pm.  R & R were surprised that in order to use their toilet, the traveller needed to patronize their shop or pay $2 for the code.  They thought they could hold out!  After that they passed Blackwood National Park which was only small, before stopping on the side of the road for lunch at 1:00pm.  Forty minutes later they set the Navigator for Cape River rest area and noticed bigger hills to the west up to 490m and to the east just below 400m.  At 2:30pm they arrived at their camp site, picked a spot and were set up having coffee by 3:00pm.  RL sent a SPOT message and had some quiet time while RA wrote the diary.  R & R both read for about an hour before they walked up and down the bitumen driveway of the rest area, for want of a better path to walk for exercise, in the cool of the afternoon before preparing dinner.  After dinner RA sorted through the maps and brochures and read a couple of magazines to have them ready to leave at a swap spot, be that at a caravan park or a rest area.  It was really warm but R & R had no way of knowing how warm … as there was no reception on their phone.

6/9/2018 Thursday R & R woke about 6:30am and because RL was keen to get going they breakfasted and packed down.  By 8:00am they were back on the Gregory Development Road heading north 112kms to Charters Towers.  Almost immediately, they passed Green Swamp with waterholes nearby and saw cattle feeding in scrubby country.  The trees were more and bigger, in the creek lines, with the road undulating between 225m and 250m.  R & R noticed ant hills for the first time in a while; the anthills were grey with yellow soil on the surface.  RA was keen to get to the end of “The Potato Factory” so they listened to the last couple of chapters as RL drove.  The sky above and all round was full of dark grey clouds and there were the hills of the Seventy Mile Range to the north east with Mt Windsor at 591m and Mt Farrenden 490m.  The last few kilometres into Charters Towers became more undulating with Tower Hill rising above the town and its sale yards and truck washdown facility.  Tower Hill had no less than eight towers on it.  By 9:30am R & R were parked near the information centre and ready for a town map and information about car and caravan service centres if there were any.  As the two service centres suggested were within walking distance, R & R left the Ute and walked down the main street taking in all the lovely old buildings including the front and back of the historic Stock Exchange Arcade built in 1888.  Both the vehicle and caravan service centres were too busy to fit the work in, and since neither was desperate, R & R were not too worried.  In the process, they popped into no less than four op shops, bought a couple of cowboy books at the library book sale, picked up a couple of grocery items and switched the phone from Optus to Telstra.  RL had been thinking about it and as they planned on being more remote, it made sense, as there was no doubt that Telstra had wider coverage.  The girl at Telstra had it all switched and going within five minutes of signing the contract which was a bonus.  It was 2:00pm before R & R were having late lunch back at the Ute.  Fortified they took the road to Townsville, past Macrossan Park over the Mosman River and on to Macrossan rest area about 20kms out.  Along the way they passed good cattle country where there were horses and a quarry.  They were set up and having coffee just after 3:00pm and had showers soon after.  About 4:30pm R & R were pawing over the maps making a general plan for the following week as they headed to the NT border.  RL put the Slim Dusty CD in the player which was actually working.  It did not always want to turn on, possibly a lose cable somewhere.  At 5:00pm RA worked on her ipad and then did diary while RL read for the best part of an hour.  They had just begun preparing tea when their dear friend, J, rang to see how everything was going.  R & R ate dinner and chatted with their daughter, S, before retiring.  R & R knew it was going to be a warm night so they slept with the windows open.  They also knew it was going to be quiet as the Macrossan rest area, alongside the Burdekin River, sits with its two bridges, one road (Flinders Highway) and the other rail, more than a kilometre apart.  R & R had picked a spot right in the middle.  All bidded well …for a good night’s sleep.

7/9/2018 Friday And … sleep well?  They did.  R & R woke about 6:15am to a warm 16*C with a promise of over 30*C.  After breakfast, RL helped RA proof read through a draft post.  Then they had to download the photos off RL’s camera before selecting some to compliment the post.  Shortly after 9:00am, RL rang his brother, S, and left a message before reading a while.  RA published the post. R & R did a search for caravan repairers near Mt Isa who may be able to do a brake and bearing job on the caravan and solve the latch problem.  RL removed the empty gas bottle and chatted with S, who had rung him back.  About 10:00am, R & R headed back into Charters Towers, stopping at Apex Park to look at the Droughtmaster and country music statues, on their way to the top of Tower Hill.  There they enjoyed the company of some fellow travellers, the fantastic view over the town and country side, watching a rock wallaby and the birds of prey taking advantage of the thermals, and learned a lot about the town, its history of gold mining and its connections with WWII.  Besides old mine shafts and the remains of the refinery chimney, the hill is littered with bunkers (29).  It was 12:30pm when R & R stopped at Centenary Park and walked around it to take in the statues and public art and enjoy the lovely cool breeze under the shade of the trees.  It was 34*C. They sat on the green grass, enjoying lunch and just letting the world go by.  By 1:30pm, R & R were back downtown to enquire about their phone account, put the gas bottle in for a refill, pop into Woolies for a couple of food items and buy a couple of screw top 600ml food containers.  R & R soak their oats for the following day as soon as they have been washed up after breakfast.  With the screw top closed, they are placed on a tea towel in the sink and remain there without spilling as they travel.  At 2:30pm, they were back at the camper for another quiet afternoon.  R & R had coffee and snacks, a cat nap, looked at maps, read emags, filled in the ipad numbers charts, read books and wrote some diary.  Some things R & R learned about Charters Towers include: Ludwig Leichardt camped close to Macrossan rest area in 1845 and Edward Cunningham took up Burdekin Downs as a pastoral lease in 1861, Charters Towers is 335m above sea level with Tower Hill rising to 420m, gold was first discovered in 1871 by Mosman, Clarke, Fraser and an aboriginal boy called Jupiter, the pyrites works which used a new method for gold extraction was able to rework old tailings as approximately 50% of the gold remained in the workings, Brown who was the manager of the works shot Haygarth, the chairman, in a rage and was hung for his crime, the Chinese who were many in numbers were much despised but Europeans benefited from their skills with fruit and vegetable growing and with herbal medicine, the deepest shaft was just under a kilometre deep, the 55m chimney of the pyrites works was destroyed in 1945 as it was a navigation hazard for military aircraft, during WWII thousands of US service personnel were stationed in Charters Towers and the use of coupons for food and clothing became a way of life,  About 5:00pm, R & R took a break from reading and writing to have a shower before it became much later.  S, R & R’s son, rang as was his habit for a Friday afternoon to give R & R a run down on his working week and their plans for the weekend.  After dinner RL read while RA looked at the maps and brochures before getting back to her book.  It had been a long day and it promised to be a warm night … but there would be no hurry in the morning.

8/9/2018 Saturday R & R slept well, and in a while, only getting out at 7:30am.  It was already 19*C.  Having breakfasted, RL decided to head back into Charters Towers in the morning rather than after lunch as he wanted to buy some fuel additive from Repco. Although it was tempting, R & R had agreed not to drive to Three Rivers Hotel at Greenvale (of Slim Dusty fame) 200kms to the north west as it was too far just for the sake of being able to say they had a drink at its hotel.  Similarly, with Dalrymple Dam, one of the largest dams in Queensland at four times the size of Sydney Harbour (similar in capacity to Fairbairn Dam that R & R had seen a few days before) and Burdekin Falls not quite as far but to the south east.  With both of those long excursions off the list, R & R thought to take a look at the Burdekin Weir and the Texas Longhorn ranch.  At 8:45am R & R headed into town.  Along the way, they stopped to look at the only remaining head stone from the Macrossan Cemetery belonging to a Cornelius Wetherley born in England and died at Macrossan in 1893 aged 21.  Next to it was a monument with a list of 35 others whose graves were known to be there.  Interestingly, the oldest of the recorded burials at Macrossan was 51 years and of the 35, 20 died as infants before the age of one.  RL stopped next at the Macrossan Bridge to read the marker.  The biggest known flood was recorded in 1946 at 21.79m.  The totem towered above R & R and it was almost incredulous to imagine that depth and volume of surging water. R & R bought the fuel additive before heading to the weir, which was about 13kms north of town on a good sealed road.  The first few kilometres were residential on large blocks of land and small farmlets into cattle station country.  The dam provides the city with its water supply and had picnic tables in a shady park.  There were signs warning of the dangers of walking/climbing down to the bottom of the overflow but R & R did so, carefully, and saw a family sitting almost in the middle while Dad threw out his line.  It really was quite a delightful sight with the temperature really warming up.  RA noted that the Brahman cattle had a curious way of looking as they observed people.  Their little piggy eyes, so low on their heads, meant they had to hold their heads quite high to look ahead, while their large ears drooped.  R & R headed nearly back into town before heading north on Gregory Development Road a couple of kilometres and then east about 5 kms to look at the Longhorn cattle enterprise.  They were just a little disappointed to find that although the gate was open, the shop and tours for viewing longhorn were not available on Saturdays.  They returned to Charters Towers and had a cup of coffee in Centenary Park before returning to the camper.  RA noticed a sign 1941-1982 Sellheim Army Camp along the way.  When they got back, shortly after noon, RL rang his brother, G, before he read while RA did some diary. About 1:00pm R & R contemplated lunch. As the conversation between G and RL had been interrupted by a knock at G’s door, G rang back and they chatted while eating lunch.  After, it was time for a cat nap though R & R were a bit restless as the day had surpassed its maximum of 33*C.  RL read while RA worked on the laptop.  Shortly after 4:00pm, despite the heat, R & R walked around Macrossan rest area and down to the near-dry river bed to look at the signs and the rail bridges.  They, the old, cut off at one end, and the new, were impressive structures, but R & R were not surprised that they needed to be, as they had seen the totem pole with the Burdekin River flood markings on it.  After that, they had their showers and hung the wash before heading into Charters Towers for 6:00pm Mass. By 7:15pm R & R had returned to the camper and were preparing dinner after which J, their son, rang so they were able to catch up with how his week went. Later, RL read and RA published the post they had been working on.  R & R had a plan for the coming week … to head straight across to the NT border … to Tennant Creek.