Charters Towers and Emerald

 

The gold mining past of Charters Towers can be seen everywhere in and around this town, from the lavish old buildings dotted along the crooked streets to the old gold mines and poppet heads in the surrounding areas. Charters Towers had one of the first regional stock exchanges in Australia and the building is a grand structure in the centre of town.

 

 

 

 

 

 

A large hill overlooking the town shows the scars of old gold mines, a pyrite works and World War II bunkers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

From Charters Towers we drove to Ravenswood about 80km southeast. Ravenswood was once a thriving gold mining town but when mining became too difficult using the old methods the town became a virtual ghost town in the late 1900’s. Modern mining companies have re-commenced mining and the town is being revived as an historic tourist town. Many of the old buildings are still in good condition and the history is displayed on signs around the streets.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

White Blow, on the outskirts of Ravenswood, is a huge quartz rock rising majestically from the ground. It is very unusual as quartz is usually found as veins not large lumps. As we returned to Charters Towers we stopped at the Macrossan Bridge which spans the Burdekin River and saw the flood level sign post. The highest recorded level was 21.79 metres in 1946.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From Charters Towers we followed the Gregory Developmental Road to our lunch stop at Belyando Crossing, a roadhouse with expensive fuel and a motel/caravan park. After lunch we continued southwards to Clermont for one night and then on to Emerald the next day.

Emerald is a thriving country town with good services and shopping. The weather is extremely hot for this time of year, high 30’s. The town has some interesting street art, a heritage listed Railway Station and a giant easel displaying a huge copy of Van Gogh’s “Sunflowers” painting as this was a major sunflower growing area. Several pieces of 250 million year old fossilised wood are displayed outside the Emerald Town Hall.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The district now produces sorghum, cotton, other grains and fruit with irrigation available from Lake Maraboon. The lake was created in 1972 with the construction of Fairbairn Dam. We had a picnic at the lake which is a popular recreational facility.

 

 

 

 

 

 

A trip to the nearby Sapphire Gemfields towns of Anakie, Sapphire and Rubyvale was very interesting. We visited an underground mine at Rubyvale and all towns are dotted with gemshops and galleries. Small dwellings are occupied by full-time and part-time fossickers and many travellers in caravans, tents and trailers also try their luck at finding a treasure. We crossed the Tropic of Capricorn again, half way between Sapphire and Rubyvale and discovered a very remote bottle shop which seemed to be doing a roaring trade. Many ‘quirky’ sites can be seen in these remote areas.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ingham and Townsville

Ingham was our next destination. The Italian connection in the town is reflected in the business names, street signs and the two cemeteries. The new cemetery has hundreds of ornate headstones and mausoleums.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Several days were spent visiting beaches and small towns in the district in the continuing hope that we might also see a cassowary or two. Lucinda, a small seaside town has the longest service jetty in the southern hemisphere. At a length of 5.76km it follows the curved contour of the earth. It is the largest bulk sugar loading facility in the world.

 

 

 

 

 

 

A lovely day trip was taken to Wallaman Falls via Trebonne where we stopped to photograph what we thought was a disused Post Office. We were greeted by the postmistress who was sorting the mail ready for the one hour a day opening. She told us that she has been running the Post Office for something like 32 years and her grandmother did for 57 years before her. Wallaman Falls, Australia’s largest single drop waterfall was a great place for a picnic lunch with a breathtakingly beautiful view. Much of Ingham was devastated by cyclone “Yasi” in February 2011 and evidence of this could be seen as we drove to Broadwater Park. The rainforest, camp grounds and picnic areas bear the scars but are recovering well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our next base was at Townsville. This is a sprawling city with a very large army, RAAF and university population.

The most dominant feature of the city is Castle Hill which provides a 360^o view from the coast to the mountains and hills of the Great Dividing Range to the west. The hill is very popular with fitness enthusiasts who run up and down the steep tracks.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Strand is a great area to spend a day. The 2.5km esplanade area has gardens for picnics, playgrounds and water playground for children, a rock pool for safe swimming, beach areas and many eating establishments within a short walk. We spent much of the day wandering along the shady area viewing the interesting and creative sculptures and designs of a beach art competition.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Strand is also close to many of the old buildings which date back to the era when Townsville was a thriving shipping port. Jupiter’s Casino can be seen from The Strand and The Museum of Tropical Queensland with its tropical fish aquarium and coral reef display is close by.

We also visited the Military Museum which is being enlarged to accommodate the huge collection of memorabilia from the city’s involvement in several wars, especially World War II.