Map above shows places visited in this blog
Charters Towers is 135 miles SW of Townsville and known in the old days as the world, the reason being described as “we have everything a civilized person could want” .
We had nine nights in Charters Towers but much of this time was to catch up on domestic chores etc. The car needed new tyres and a service and we were both able to get the Pfizer jab. Being over 60 it has been close to impossible to get Pfizer. We both got it with the flying doctors service at Pentland 100 kms west. The first time we drove out for our appointments the plane couldn’t land due to cloud but success second time around two days later. Having had the first jab it makes getting the Pfizer second time so much easier.
Other activities included
1/
Lunch at the pub with Andy and Dave which included ten pin bowling, Dave the winner and giving us all heaps about it!! It was quite unique to be able to bowl in the main bar of a pub. See video below
2/ We looked at the heritage buildings in town and the first stock exchange arcade and where gold was first weighed and sold.
3/ Tower hill which provides a view over the town and surrounding countryside. An App provided a commentary on the sites, John as a WW2 bomber pilot was part of the scenario.
Tower hill was where gold was discovered in 1872 and this motivated one of Australia’s most frenzied gold rushes. It was also a large staging post for troops in WW2 after the bombing of Pearl Harbour.
The area contained ruins of gold mines and WW2 bunkers with audio presentations inside.
4/ We went to the information Centre in town to watch a DVD on charters towers history, starting with the discovery of gold.
5/ Next the Venus gold battery tour, the place where gold was milled. The difference between a mill and a battery is nothing; it means the same but technically the mill is the place where the battery (equipment for milling) is. Gold was crushed from the quartz rock with steel stampers and the final process Mercury, this was used as gold bonds to mercury and reveals the gold. The battery was built in 1872.
6/ Texas long horn wagon experience
At Leahton Park we learnt about the Texas Longhorn Cattle where the tour started with a dvd about the cattles history in America, followed by Mick and Lynda the owners providing tea and homemade slices from a traditional chuck wagon. Then we boarded the draft- horse drawn wagon into the paddocks to observe the enormous horns of these cattle, as well as a few bison, buffalos and other cow breeds. Long horn cattle can have horns that grow up to 11 feet wide from tip to tip.
Then it was off to the “love shack” where Lydna explained the process of artificial insemination and showed us the pen developed and patented by them to hold the cattle for this process and any vet care.
The gallery contained the horns of cattle with there most famous cow Johnny Reb “JR”s horns measuring 3.150 metres tip to tip and making the Guinness book of records for the longest horns. A hand made saddle with all traditional features which was made by Mick was among the galleys display.
A really good tour with the grounds around the house adorned with kicknacks and cactus to make the area look like an authentic Texas Ranch, there was even an old Cadillac with horns on the front of the car.
7/ Burdekin Weir
This is 13 kms north of Charters Towers.
see Drone footage in the video later .
Ravenswood
What a lovely little town, known as the home of heritage. Some old buildings are left from the gold rush era but mostly just ruins. There are 2 pubs left out of 48 that were here in 1902 with a population of 5000 people at that time. That’s a lot of pubs per head, one pub per 100 people.
Now the mine is currently working with about 600 workers living here and is right in town as you sit at the pub it is only 200 metres away.
We spent our first day scootering around visiting old ruins including
Mabel Mill, the Assay office where gold was refined into gold bar, Butlers cottage an old miners cottage, the pretty Catholic Church on the hill, the 1902 ambulance station, Thorps building which had a quaint coffee shop and antique display. We also spent time at the two pubs. All include on the video below.
The Imperial hotel had a 1902 full sized billards table. Score Debbie 1 John 1.
Plus the Railway hotel had a unique whiskey bar and lounges area downstairs all dug out under the pub by the current owner Terry, he also displays old motor bikes and other memorabilia and antiques from the 1900,s. This is also on the video.
We sampled his famous Fools Gold drink, a cocktail containing the bottles in the pic below. It was very yummy and hard to resist more than one.
In the afternoon we visited the the Sarsfield pit lookout over an the old flooded mine, An arch bridge (above) constructed in 1895 and a milky white Quartz hill named White Blow.
The white blow was formed 300 million years ago in the last igneous period. It was once 5 km below the surface.
Video of mines, white blow and town scooter ride below
Burdekin falls dam
Was an eighty km drive south from Ravenswood.
We stayed over night going out to the dam and boat ramp area and drove across the river below the dam wall. The views here were spectacular I’ll let the pics and video and drone flights show this sight. The dam is huge and four times the size of Sydney Harbour and the largest dam in Qld. The campground had a major problem with bats 🦇 destroying the trees with their weight hanging off the branches, so we kept away from trees and avoided to much poop on the van and car.
Video of Burdekin Falls Dam below
We are now going back towards charters towers and heading south. The road from the dam south has to many kilometres of dirt and large dips where the van could bottom out. So we opted to go back to Charters Towers and take the long way around via bitumen roads.
We stopped at Macrossan park 20 kms outside of Charters towers for an overnight stay under the bridges, See Johns Drone footage in video above.
In the next blog we are heading to Emerald with a few casual stops on the way.
