Charters Towers - June 2010

Back to the old way of doing the web site after the long version of Cape York. After the C.Y trip we did stay on in Cairns for a couple more days before heading south back to Townsville for our trip west for the much awaited Boulia camel races. We did stay at Kurrimine for a week and then it was on to Charters Towers.

 

We stayed at the Aussie Outback Cabin & Van Village which is the first park you will come to on the way into town travelling east to west. The park is a Big 4 but the weekly rates are quite good ($172 for our stay); most of the sites are a drive trough configuration and almost all have slabs. The park had plenty of room but one of the smallest swimming pools I have yet seen in a park; lucky if you could get 10 people in it.

 

The park has 2 amenities blocks but they did have a problem with hot water (lack of); it seemed there was issues with the water either being hot, lukewarm or cold. Park management did confirm they had had the issue looked at but had not been rectified during our stay, the other amenities block was okay but the location was nowhere near our section of the park.

 

Overall it was a nice place to stay but in saying that there are 3 other parks in town which may be a better option.

Nice drive trough sites and not too many overhanging branches.

The photo above is taken from Towers Hill; the secondary main street is shown running bottom to top of the photo, the actual main street runs from right to left and is where the clock tower of the post office can bee seen (center).

 

Gold was discovered on Towers Hill and it's 3 peaks in 1871; there are several storyboard's at the lookout which tell the history of the hill. In the evening a film is screened in the small amphitheatre called “Ghosts After Dark”.

This sign was spotted on Towers Hill; it may not be such a good place to roam around at night or for playing hopscotch.

One of the old WW2 bunkers on Towers Hill and soon to be Linda's new nursing home once I put in a new door and window.

 

Charters Towers has a lot of older buildings that have been restored and are very interesting to see both inside and out.

Above is the Northern Miner newspaper building; the newspaper was established in 1872.

The Charters Towers police station which is in the main street.

The post office of which the tower can bee seen in the photo taken from Towers Hill at the start of this post.

Wierry House above is one of the old Bank of N.S.W (1889) buildings; it now houses Century 21 Real Estate and is also an agency for the Bendigo Bank. 

Anyone want to buy a camouflaged caravan and 4 x 4; we spotted this on a property on our way out to the Burdekin Weir, it maybe a good buy if you want to be a “Weekend Warrior” and join Dad's Army. 

The old Charters Towers ambulance station is now a museum for a lot of the Q.A.T.B memorabilia; the place has some of the most interesting equipment and historical records. The cost is a massive $3 (my sort of entry price) and is well worth a visit.

One of the old ambulances; it even has the old stretchers in the back.

One of the rooms in the ambulance station; great place to have a few teeth extracted.

In case your eyes are not so good the visitors book has the entry of Mr & Mrs Alexandra Graham Bell; thought he might have rang, it would have been cheaper.

Spotted this letterbox on leaving Charters Towers for our next stop (Hughenden).

 

Hope you enjoyed this part of our trip; our next post will have Hughenden, Richmond & Julia Creek.

 

Until then stay safe and keep well.

 

Love & warm regards –  David & Linda –  The DavLin Rig

 

Cape York Final (Part 3) - Weipa to the Top & Thursday Island

Well this is the last post based on our Cape York trip; with being out of service (no power) for a time it has been almost impossible to update the site. We are now back in the land of the living (power, water and phone service) so time to get the last bit done.

Hope you enjoy our last leg of Cape York and beyond.

Arriving at Moreton Telegraph Station was like walking back in time; this was one of our overnight stops. The place runs on a huge generator. During the wet season anything of value is dragged on skids to high ground as most of the property goes underwater. The homestead is on stilts which sits just above the highest flood ever recorded.

Above are the bush showers; you have to hang on to the curtain at the same time as washing otherwise your private bits are not so private to other campers. The high flood mark is approximately where the base of the tank stand is.

Above is Bertiehough Homestead (Steve Irwin’s wildlife sanctuary).

The above photo was taken at Bramwell Station; this would have to be one of the biggest I have seen.

The sign at Bramwell Station advises you not to be late leaving otherwise you will miss the last Jardine River ferry and have to camp there.

Anyone want to buy a cheap caravan that needs some serious TLC; the story behind this is that it only made it part way on these roads so was dumped by the owners; the council has since pushed it off into the bush with a grader (out of sight out of mind). Most vans will not make it up to the top on these roads.

One of our overnight stops was at Fruit Bat & Twin Falls; really clean and tidy loo’s here but no shower facilities. The water in the falls is natural spring water from limestone and is crystal clear and beautiful to drink; also makes for a great shower to clean off the dust, we could have stayed for a few days here, the same water is also fed to taps in the camping area.

Some of the roads are not so good; minimum requirement is at least 4 wheel drive.

One of several river crossings on our way north.

The famous Jardine River ferry; cost for a 4 wheel drive with passengers is $88; although this seems expensive the ferry money also pays for a lot of the road upgrades for the council as the revenue from other sources is minimal. You can opt to cross in your own vehicle further downstream but beware because if you get stuck the river is heavily infested with crocodiles and the price for vehicle retrieval is very high (best pay the $88).

The above is the last 1500mt walk after a 1hr drive out of Bamaga to reach the top of Australia; the views from the point are amazing.

What we all at the end of the day came for was to reach the most northerly point on Australia's mainland; the sign that was here a few years ago was more interesting than the one shown but unfortunately someone decided to take it home (stole it).

The ones from our group that made it over the mountain track (moderately difficult) to the point for a picture.

Our last night of camping (wont be missed by me) was at Loyalty Beach, Bamaga. The next morning was our boat trip over to Thursday Island.

Whilst at the Bamaga Jetty waiting for our boat to TI this bloke caught this Barramundi on a hand line; no shortage of free feeds in this neck of the woods.

Above is us arriving at Thursday Island after the 1.5hr boat ride; it was a great trip with lots of commentary on the surrounding islands and the history of the region.

The view is from Green Hill Fort on Thursday Island

One of the 6’ guns at Green Hill Fort; they were placed in case of attack from foreign shores. The gun and mounts weigh 10 tonne and fired a 45kg projectile up to 8.5km; they were used in practice but never fired in anger.

The above is Australia's top pub; it is the furthermost north drinking hole that comes under Australia's rule. You cannot go any further north in Australia for a beer.

This little boat was a beauty; the timbers and furnishing was magnificent to see. This took us on the last leg of our journey (45 minutes) from Thursday Island to Horn Island for our plane trip back to Cairns.

The crystal clear waters of Thursday Island.

Our plane arriving at Horn Island; we departed at 3.20pm and arrived back in Cairns at 5.25pm.

We had a fantastic time and would highly recommend this to anyone who is thinking of doing Cape York; there are a number of companies that do these trips and Oz Tours that we went with were very good.

 

Linda & I would like to do this again but in our own vehicle maybe with others that are interested in doing a similar trip; by doing it on your own you are not restricted to set places for a set amount of time. There were places we would have liked to stay longer and see more of but being on a time-line tour you are restricted; on the other side of the coin if you don’t have the right vehicle or are worried about how you navigate the are then a tour would be a good option. Also remember if you drive up in your own car and did not like it you still have to turn around and get back (worth thinking about).

Hope you enjoyed our Cape York adventure and for us it was well worth the money and time invested.

I will be doing some further web updates as we headed west to Mount Isa and the Boulia camel races; the first I am hoping to get done this week.

Until then we do hope you are all well and those that are on the road are travelling safe.

Love and regards – David & Linda – The DavLin Rig

 

Cape York Part 2 - Cooktown To Weipa

Ah well back on to the Cape York trip; I will be trying to keep the reading to a minimum based on the amount of pictures in this blog. I know what your thinking, Dave never can keep things brief but I’ll give it a try. Hoping you enjoy the below post. 

The above is a serpentine feature at Cooktown marina/harbour; the top is all done in half inch mosaic tiles in the Aboriginal style colours, the snake is raised and runs down the center of each of the sections (not sure if it is visible on the blog).

One of three sisters of the Wujal Wujal tribe that guide you to the falls of the same name; they are very interesting to listen to as they are very knowledgeable on the area and the flora & fauna.

The Wujal Wujal falls are quite spectacular; the river they run into is half freshwater and half saltwater, crocs do roam these waters but only in the saltwater sections of the river. 

On another of our stops we met up with a real character named Willie from Gurrubbi Tours; Willie had a great sense of humor but also a vast knowledge of bush tucker and bush remedies and what different plants can be used for. Above a bunch of leaves is rubbed down to small pieces, water is then added to produce a soap that is a great moisturiser. 

Willie also introduced us to several spots in the area that had Aboriginal rock art; it was also explained what the pictures meant and why they were made.

This was one of the most unusual hills Lin & I had ever seen; it is a mass of black rocks hence it’s name “Black Mountain”, it does have a few trees that have managed to grow and survive. The hill became as a result of molten rock exposing itself and evolving into fractured granite, this has supposedly taken place over 260 million years.

The local indigenous people are very frightened of the hill as on occasions the rocks get that hot they become unstable and explode (bad karma).

As the sign says it is Laura General Store; beers here were $5.00 each. One of the couples on the tour after being told the price each asked how much it would be for a six pack to take away, the reply from the girl behind the bar was “you may not be smart but surely you know that 6 x $5 = $30”. The couple left empty handed. 

The old “Laura Lock-Up”, not used today. 

I had to check the lock up out, by gee it brought back memories of my days in Bogga Road & Pentridge. 

Taken at the Hann River Roadhouse; it shows all the distances to places from the roadhouse, we at this point were 592km from the top.

One of the Hann River Roadhouse residents; if you are unsure which is the resident it is the short bird on 2 legs with an odd looking head, I suppose thats still left you guessing. 

Not all of the roads are like the one above, we did see a lot of graders and the like on our way. We were told the wide roads were done to accommodate mining if it should happen; seems this may be on the books as a lot of mining exploration is taking place, wide roads such as these are not necessary unless it is a requirement for future mine traffic.

The above sign is shown on the end of a large fuel tank at Musgrave Station, once again it is adorned with the distances as a constant reminder how much longer we have to go on the bloody bus. 

Musgrave Station homestead and general store. 

Another one of our lunch stops on the banks of a river; no swimming allowed here, although no crocs have ever been sighted it is not worth the risk. We were told it would be safe as the water is shallow and clear, 2 of the things crocs don’t like.  

The stop we made had this unique loo; you may not be able to read the name on the gutter rail but it is called “The WindyLoo”, named because of the gap at the bottom which acts as ventilation.

The above is the most northerly set of traffic lights you will see; they are situated as you enter Weipa to control traffic crossing the haul truck road for Weipa mine site. The lights are monitored by camera & operated from the mine control house; big fines here if you run the gauntlet. 

Weipa loading facility for Bauxite; this is loaded on to ships and sent to Gladstone for processing into alumina powder, some of the powder is converted into billets at Boyne Island but most is exported to overseas countries.

Weipa hotel bottle shop; take a note of the prices and believe it or not this was the cheapest seen since leaving Cooktown.

Hope you have enjoyed the read and I did not ramble on too much; I will start work on the next episode from Boulia (the camel races) and hopefully post up again in a week or so.

Hoping you are all keeping well and those that are travelling are doing it safely.

Love & warm regards to all – David & Linda – The DavLin Rig