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Published: September 22nd 2011
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As if to confirm we had made the right decision to move on, Saturday 17th September greeted us very early with the noise of kiddies cycling and shouting. Clearly their parents have no respect for the comfort of others (you can’t blame the kids) as they were let loose before 6:30am and seemingly with no supervision at all. Multiply that three or four times and you may realise why we thought it a good idea to “head for the hills” today. Traditionally, this school holiday period means a seaside holiday and with the weather forecast promising perfect seaside conditions it is not surprising that places like Rollingstone cater so obviously for young families. It influenced our thoughts about destinations today and we were convinced that an inland location would be more suited to us for a while. So we decided to bypass Townsville, a place we really enjoyed a month or so ago, and to head for Charters Towers - a place we’ve been to before but which we’ve never really explored. It’s about 150 kilometers inland and has a history of gold mining. We thought it was unlikely to be the sort of place that would be inundated with young
families so we made our way through Townsville and onto the Flinders Highway. We made excellent time and stopped at the very good Reid River rest area for our mid-morning cuppa. The facilities in the rest area looked excellent and if we were to do any “free-camping” these were just the sort of facilities we would like. We were joined by a fellow who has just emigrated here from New Zealand. He was not happy with the way things are progressing in NZ – his negative observations surprised us. He was struggling to get work there but had picked up a job in Mackay within two days of being there.
Our onward journey to Charters Towers was very straightforward and we took a chance by choosing a Top Tourist park on the edge of the town. The chance paid off as we were able to book a very pleasant site which included “en suite” facilities for just $34 per night – a bargain. It was peaceful, pretty with many trees and shrubs, had good sized sites and without a single shouting, cycling child in sight! Because of our prompt start it was still quite early when we had set
up so we drifted into town looking for a café for some lunch. We found one – The Cookhouse - that was doing roast dinners so we both went for roast chicken which was excellent. Afterwards we strolled to the Information Centre and picked up some details of local attractions. We also found time to drive to the Towers Lookout which gave a brilliant view of the city. A film about the gold mining history of Charters Towers is shown every night in an amphitheatre at the top of Towers Hill and at a modest charge. We promised ourselves we would see the film before we moved on to our next destination but I hadn’t been feeling 100% during the last few days and still didn’t feel brilliant so I didn’t fancy going there that evening. Back at the caravan I had a snooze and Graham just relaxed away the rest of the afternoon and following our roast dinners, a simple supper was the order of the day. Having showered in our own, private facilities, Graham watched Ireland upset Australia in the rugby World Cup before we turned in for a relatively early night.
Whilst in the Information Centre
yesterday we had “hired” a CD and map detailing a historic driving tour of Charters Towers. So today, Sunday 18th September, we made that our main aim. Charters Towers is steeped in gold mining history - on Christmas Eve 1871 a 12 year old Aboriginal boy, Jupiter Mossman was on Towers Hill with a group of prospectors when he found the first nugget of gold. At its prime it was a thriving city that boasted countless “period” buildings of the day and had a population of over 30,000 (today it’s less than 10,000). We found out that the city was affectionately known as 'The World', as it was said that anything one might desire could be had in the 'Towers', leaving no reason to travel elsewhere.The Post Office, Town Hall, Hospital, Ambulance Station, Theatre, Newspaper Headquarters and others all still stand today in their splendid beauty. They even had a Stock Exchange Arcade which is now a craft shopping and restaurant area. They are all part of the tour along with some of the homes of the wealthier mine owners and the “social clubs” they established along with the many successful businessmen of the area. One of the early stops
was outside a rather grand looking house – we knew that now it was owned by a local religious group but it was formally the residence of Fredrick Pfeifer. Fredrick was part owner of the town’s most successful gold mine ‘Day’s Dawn’. He arrived in the town in 1874 and pitched his tent near the entrance to the mine and later built this house on the same site. I went up to the entrance of the house just to have a quick look but was immediately greeted by a very friendly chap. He ushered me inside and began showing me round even though there was a meeting taking place. Graham caught me up before long and we were treated to an extensive tour. Fredrick had built a very impressive house but he was quite a philanthropist and gave large amounts of money away to townspeople in need. Both the old and the new cemeteries were also part of the tour – the largest and most impressive grave in the new cemetery belonged to Fredrick Pfeifer.
We passed by some of the many parks that Charters Towers boasts and we were encouraged by our CD to stop and take in
the various sights. The tour was brilliant and we managed to find virtually everything that was listed even though time was passing quickly. We returned briefly to the caravan for a bit of lunch and then drove out to The Burdekin Weir which is about 15 kilometers out of town. It was listed as a bird-watchers location with swimming and fishing opportunities. Unfortunately, when we got there the access to the river-side had been fenced off, we believe for safety reasons although no obvious explanation was available – just a series of “No Entry” signs all around the area. The fencing had clearly been there for some time so perhaps the heavy storms of recent years had made swimming un-safe or maybe crocodiles have been seen. As it happens, some intrepid fishermen had climbed over the fencing and had waded far across the fast flowing water to some rocks in the middle. No fencing was going to stop them enjoying their pastime. Also there were plenty of birds in the area but, of course, we had to view them from a distance. Nevertheless, we spent quite a lot of time there and partook of our mid-afternoon cuppa watching a group
of Whistling Kites patrolling the skies. Afterwards we just went back to the caravan where the evening drifted by very casually with a bit more rugby to watch on the television.
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