Day 2 Charters Towers

We had a leisurely start of the day. Our plan was to leave a bit earlier so I did not go for a bike ride.

Our trip took us into the CBD to firstly refuel the Mazda BT50. The fuel consumption has improved a bit due to the terrain becoming a little flatter as we departed the Atherton Tablelands. It has been more rolling with only very gentle hills to climb.

After refuelling, we moved along the street and parked opposite the Post Office. Prue went to the Polky Café and ordered our usual fare, cappuccinos and toast. I went to the Post Office to collect a small parcel sent from Ballina.

Following our morning coffees, we set off for Ravenswood.  It was a nice drive on a good road. We passed through a variety of  types of land forms from hilly to gentle rolling land. Most of the way there was plenty of timber. We encountered a few bos indicus cattle of various types and mostly looking for a green pick near the road edges.

It was a trip of about an hour mostly due to having to stop at several lots of road works. This has been a feature up here that there appears to be a lot of road improvement happening both on the coastal highway as well as inland.

On arrival in Ravenswood, we had hoped to visit the museum but the lady who runs it was unable to open due to ill health. So we walked along what was originally the main street. There are a large number of markers with a description of either the building or  ruins or the location. Most of the remaining buildings give us an idea as to what may have been there. Fortunately there are a lot of photos available to fill in the gaps.

After we had walked and taken in the feeling of the village, we decided we would have a counter lunch at the Imperial Hotel which is one of two in this small village. Apparently, there were around 50 pubs in the busy days. Some were little more than tents while some also had  girls available for 'entertainment'!

The Imperial Hotel is reputed to have a ghost. After we had our lunch, we spoke to one of the English backpackers who is working there. She says she has had moments that have made her nervous. She did say Room 12A was a room that supposedly had a person murdered there. The decor is from a past era.

After our lunch, we walked back to the Mazda. The we did a drive around some of the streets. On the way, we visited the Mine lookout. It was very windy and dust from the open cut mine was blowing around. We could see some of the rehabilitation of the mine as well as ongoing mining. We drove around the perimeter of the mine but could not see much more.

As we departed we looked at an original miners cottage that had been lived in until the 1980s after having been lived in for over 100 years. It was very basic corrugated iron cladding and roof and very primitive windows. The floor was originally dirt but it had been concreted at some later stage. The family consisted of 19 children and their parents. There appeared to be only 2 bedrooms and the kitchen and a small shed along with an out door toilet. So primitive but people lived in this and worse.

We drove back to Charters Towers. As we entered the town we turned to the north and did a quick visit to the Aerodrome. There is history everywhere in this part of the world. Even a gun sighting location that was used by aircraft to sight their guns. The aircraft was tied town in the flight attitude and adjustments made if required.

Note the flood height on the tower!

Then we drove to the Burdekin weir. It is the source of water for Charters Towers. Originally it was built over a century ago and was increased as recently as 1996 to attempt to drought proof the town.  It is also used for recreation and we observed several anglers there.

After returning to the Caravan Park we discovered another Kimberley Karavan located not far from us. It is Don and Evelyn from Bright in Victoria. They know quite a few of the other Kimberley owners that we know too.

We had an early dinner before going up to Tower Hill Lookout to take in the "Ghosts after Dark". We had a presenter tell us about the area and a bit of its history. Then there was a 3 projector vision to watch complete with apparitions of people who helped make the history of the area. It makes the history seem more realistic.

So ended another great day.