We had
a leisurely start to the day by visiting the information centre and the
adjoining “Flinders Discovery Centre”. It housed the following skeletal
Muttaburrasaurus, built from recast dinosaur bones. It was quite impressive.
Muttaburrasaurus was discovered by a Muttaburra grazier, Douglas Langdon, in
1963 and they only lived in this part of the world.
Muttaburrasaurus (above & below)
Another
(fully clothed) version resides in the main street but you can only publish so
many versions of the same thing.
After
strolling an informative “eco” walk we visited the old cemetery where only one
grave remains – and it was left for religious reasons. Quite a sad story.
We
then had an “optic” of the locally famous Coolabah tree which marks the camp of
explorers Richard Walker and William Landsborough, who were looking for the
unfortunate people on the Burke & Wills expedition.
Coolabah
Tree & Replica of Marker
Our
next stop was the Mt Walker lookout which provides 360 degree views. The view
below looks over Hughenden from about 12 km away.
View towards
Hughenden from Mt Walker
The road up to the lookout was quite steep, as is testified by the photo below:
Day 9
– Tuesday 28 July 2015
We
enjoyed some ham rolls and coffee then set off on the 1.5 km walk, down the
very rocky slope. It was a cautious walk but well worth the effort. Again I
will let the photos tell the story.
Lois,
Shirley, David & Chris at the bottom of the Gorge
“The
Pyramid”
It
took us about 35 minutes to get down and about 45 minutes to get up, although I
suspect the time-keepers watch stopped for some time on the way back. All four
of us enjoyed a cold drink – only one of them was alcoholic (with a white
foaming head). I drove.
We
shared dinner of pasta and damper.
Day 10
– Wednesday 29 July 2015
We
broke camp and headed off to Charters Towers, arriving before lunch.
Charters
Towers was the another Australian gold rush town and for a while it was so
important that the price of gold for the world was set here. It also had its
own stock exchange for some time and had “’a call of the card” three time each
day.
Charters
Towers is proud of its architectural heritage and is a leading Australian city
at maintaining its old buildings. I include photos of just two of them.
We visited “Molly’s” the Irish pub, for some quality control and then went a walk in a local park and admired the local colour and art work.
Chris,
David, Shirley & Lois having Date Scones
It was
not long to wait before the busker appeared with his guitar, sang a few (mostly
sad) songs, then announced that dinner as ready. Bangers and mash and
veges and bread for $10 was very good – particularly by the campfire with good
friends and good red.
The
music continued during and after dinner.
Day 11
– Thursday 30 July 2015
Once
again David and Lois deserted us and went their own way, complete with a
few left over scones and cream from yesterday. So we wandered
around, did some shopping, checked out a couple of historical sites – and had a
slow day. After lunch we visited Burdekin Weir which has a lovely picnic
ground and lots of water birds seeking lunch.
Burdekin
Weir
It was a slow evening – and that was good.
Day 12
– Friday 31 July 2015
It was
another enjoyable slow day, catching up with mundane activities like reading,
coffee, emails and the like.
We
heard the story (and witnessed the end result) of a caravan that had flipped
onto its side then flipped back on to its wheels again. The caravan (a
write off) has one side that looks like it has been dragged down a sealed
road. The car (not a write off) had two ruined rear tyres. Two very
lucky people were able to replace car tyres and drive home to the mid-NSW coast
– minus a caravan. The caravan is parked about 50 metres from where I
write this story.
We finished the day with camp cooked pizza (in a proper pizza oven) somewhere the campfire and the musician. The hosts teased our palates with sweet pizzas like nutella and marshmallows, then white chocolate and marshmallows. It was quite pleasant to watch the full moon rise behind the musician.
The light
at the peak of the building is actually the full moon
The boss of the show cooked 96 pizzas, then swallowed a cold beer (from my fridge) in seconds. As seems to be the trend this trip we were last to go home – all 20 metres.
Pizza Oven
Day 13
– Saturday 1 August 2015
Jourama
Falls
We
left Charters Towers in a leisurely manner after taking the caravan through a
car wash. We bypassed Townsville and went in search of a beach spot or a
National Park (NP). It was 3160 km after leaving home that we first saw the
beach – at Saunders Park beach – to no avail. The first few places we tried
were beach sites and either closed or full – although all would have been
excellent for a night or two. Note Toomulla Beach and Balgal Beach for future
reference.
As it
became late morning Shirley found a place that sold magnificent mango smoothies
– the first of our trip.
The
navigator was working overtime and proposed a visit to Jourama Falls camping
area in a NP 39 km south of Ingham. We paid our few dollars and headed into the
dark dark woods. Well, not that dark, but lots of woods.
After
3 km of dirt road we found the campsite and it was just what we wanted – bird
sounds, lovely trees, bush turkeys and a 4km walk to the “falls”. Excellent
amenities except power and water – and the shower was cold water. The falls are
very impressive but water over the falls was little beyond a small stream. We
were assured that the temperature of the water was excellent. It was probably
the first stop we have had where the average age of visitiors was less than
retirement age.
The
following photo shows our place of relaxation.
Jourama
Falls Campsite
Dinner
was cooked on the free BBQs, as we were not allowed to light a fire. I got
chatting to a couple from California. They are doing a 7 month circuit of
Australia in a hired van and love it – the country and the people. They were
confused when approached by an Aussie (somewhere) who thanked them for saving
our bacon in WW2 – as the US couple had not known that American troops came to
Australia in WW2.
Day 14
– Sunday 2 August 2015
We
broke camp and moved about 25 km into Ingham and stopped at the RV camp beside
the Tyto Information Centre. Tyto is also a magnificent 90 hectare wetlands,
named after an owl of the same name. The following photo provides the view from
the back of our caravan.
Tyto
Wetlands (Ingham)
It
just so happened that there was an Italian Festival happening about 300 metres
from where the Kelly rig was parked. So we paid our money and did things
Italian, as in food, coffee and music. It was an OK couple of hours. We
wandered back to camp where we rested and listened to the Italian music from
our comfortable chairs.
After
polishing off our Italian afternoon tea (with Kelly coffee) we strolled around
the 4 km wetlands walk. We saw a lot more birds than would pose for my camera,
but I trust the idea comes across.
Tomorrow we hope to walk on the beach.
At the end of two weeks we are averaging 227 km per day and camp site costs of $26 per day. The first value will come down and the second value is about to go up, when we hit the coast.
This
Post is complete.
Last updated at 2:30 pm Monday 3 August 2015.
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