Aug 18 Conway Beach to Finch Hatton

We thought we would be OK if we camped next to the boat ramp at Wilson Beach. It was nice and quiet - until 1:45am. Someone decided to go fishing at this ungodly hour. Unbelievable. Who does that? We got back off to sleep after the noisy interruption, only to be woken up again around 5am by more mad fishermen launching their boats. Soon there was a queue of crazy boat people wanting to launch their watercraft. We packed up and left - the earliest we have ever hit the road - at 6:30am!

We went on to the next beach - Conway Beach. Not only was it a beautiful beach, it also had great picnic facilties, including a powerpoint. So we enjoyed a great brekky, albeit after an early, rude awakening.

Sunrise at Conway Beach

Palm trees in the foreground and the Whitsunday islands in the background

Breakfast on the foreshore, with luxurious facilities

A friendly visitor on the barbecue

Soldier crabs advancing and retreating on the beach

After we enjoyed these few beaches, we went back inland again to a place rather pompously named Finch Hatton. The drive through mountainous sugar cane country was different from any other driving we have done. Skinny single lane roads with second gear hills. Slow going, but just lovely.

Newly planted sugar cane with mountains in the background

We stayed the night at the Finch Hatton showgrounds - quiet, plenty of room and cheap. Could have, and probably should have, stayed a second night. Had a long chat with the guy at the local musem. Well actually he just talked for a long, long time and we thought we'd never get out of there.

The Finch Hatton Showgrounds and our van in amongst the trees

Finch Hatton has a gorge with beautiful rain forrest just a short drive from the town. I remembered to take my camera with me but forgot to take the memory card out of the computer. So I only have photos of the creek crossings on the way to the gorge. Unfortunately the weather was cool and overcast. Otherwise the gorge would have been a lovely place for a swim.

When we were in Townsville, we bought a strange fruit at a street market. The guy selling the fruit spruiked that after leaving it for a week or so, it would taste like chocolate pudding. Hence it's name - chocolate pudding fruit, or more formally black sapote. Well, it's been a week and it's gone to mush, therefore ready to eat. Surprisingly, it tastes a bit like chocolate pudding. Weird, very weird.

The chocolate pudding fruit from the outside

...and on the inside

Aug 17 Bowen, Airlie Beach, Wilson Beach

The town of Bowen wasn't much, but being located on a point, it is surrounded by beautiful beaches in several directions. We had morning tea at the northern beach where I enjoyed a swim in the ocean. And then we had our lunch at the southern beach. Apart from the guy who pulled up next to us and vomited before he even got out of the car, it was quite lovely, peaceful and scenic.

View of the northern beaches of Bowen from the lookout

Morning tea at the northern beach



Princess enjoys the beach, but she wouldn't come swimming with me



Packing up after a lovely lunch at the southern beach of Bowen

Bowen has a claim to fame in that it was the site used for the movie "Australia" (with Hugh and Nic). There are 2 large vacant blocks down by the south beach where the sets were built and dirt was dumped on the road for the cattle to roam on. The "Information" lady advised that the movie sets were all bombed and burnt. If I had watched the movie to the end apparently I would have understood that it all gets burnt down as part of the story. Now they're waiting for someone to build a block of units there. Looks like it may take a while. We liked Bowen but there wasn't a lot of life in the town.

From Bowen, we went on to Hydeaway Bay. The beach here was lovely, but it was access was restricted because of people's backyards. I think this is wrong when properties extend right up to the beachfront and public access is restricted and difficult. The caravan park was consequently quite some distance away from the beach. Lucky people who get to own such property; unlucky everyone else.

We drove through Airlie Beach, turned around and got the hell out of there. It's like another Gold Coast. People everywhere; tacky shops; showy resorts. And there's no beach; no sand that we could see. Just a marina with a huge selection of over-sized boats.

So we kept driving down the coast and found some beautiful, less-popular beaches. We found a quiet place called Wilson Beach where we enjoyed sushi and noodle salad on the beach as the sunset. Very special. (sorry, no photos)

But, no camping allowed at Wilson Beach. And it was getting dark. We found a quiet spot around the corner from the beach at the boat ramp and thought we would be OK for the night...

Aug 16 Ayr, Home Hill

We drove towards the coast again and went through the town of Ayr - a good sized, good looking town. We had our lunch at Alva Beach. We considered stopping here but we weren't that impressed with either the beach or the caravan park. Decided to drive on a bit further, so back through Ayr and then Home Hill. Home Hill has a free camp site which is actually a road running behind the main road next to the old railway line. And there were plenty of caravans lined up along the road. A bit weird for us. A short drive out of Ayr we saw a turn off signed as World War II site. On a small hill surrounded by cane fields were 2 half round concrete bunkers. There was plenty of room for us so we camped the night. Good views and nice and quiet - except for one car that came to visit about 9pm, did a lap around us and (happily) left again just as quickly.

Late in the afternoon, we noticed the first of what would would be several fires in the cane fields. We were told in the Sugar Cane museum at Innisfail that the practice of burning the cane crops was uncommon nowadays. So much for that idea around Home Hill. Still it was good entertainment in the dusk and early evening.

Our camp site next to the World War II bunker ruins

Views out across the cane fields

Fires in the cane fields

Where there's smoke, there's been another fire

Aug 14-15 Ravenswood

Ravenswood is another old gold mining town in northern Queensland, but it is significantly smaller than Charters Towers. There are 2 pubs, a general store and not much else. We stayed at the Showgrounds. It doesn't look like there has been a Show at Ravenswood for some time now, so it serves well as a caravan park.

We walked around town with our guided tour book, but we did a lousy job of following the recommended paths. We enjoyed the sights in any case. Yet another Australian town to go through the boom and bust of gold mining.

One of the local pubs did a good marketing job by placing their menu in the caravan park and around town in various places. So we went there for tea, along with about 10 other people from the caravan park. Food was good enough, and we all sat at a large table and chatted about our various travelling experiences.

Carpentaria Gold continue to mine gold at Ravenswood



 

The old Catholic Church



Princess and I go inside the gates of the Catholic Church

 

The old Court House now serves as the museum



Princess tries to wake up an old miner at the museum



Judith and Princess play amongst the ruins of mining machinery

A large (and unusual) outcrop of quartz known as "White Blow" just outside the town

Judith and Princess walk around the base of White Blow while I'm at the top



On the stairway to nowhere...
Only the stairs remain from one of the town's old buildings

A relatively short 80km drive away is the Burdekin Dam with 4 times the amount of water as Sydney Harbour



Aug 12-13 Charters Towers

Charters Towers is an old gold mining town about 130 kms inland from Townsville. We would have been happy to spend just the one day/night checking out the town, but we were surprised to meet up with Margaret and her husband Greg in a chance meeting at the Information Centre. I used to work with Margaret at Kemcor/Qenos. We checked into the same caravan park for 2 nights.

The first night we enjoyed a simple meal provided by the caravan park. A nice idea, with the proceeds going to the Flying Doctor Service. Charters had a big bike racing carnival on the following day, which was good fun to see the kids riding around the town's streets. We also checked out a few of the town's old buildings, including a grand old house that is now part of a school that just happened to have their annual fete on. That gave us an opportunity to walk through it, thanks to the nice lady on the cake stall on the veranda.

We went to the "Miner's Cottage" and I tried my hand at panning for gold. Quite inspiring - I will definitely be wanting a panning dish to try out on the Victorian goldfields.

The second night was a big night out at the Drive-In Theatre. Yes, there is still a working drive-in theatre at Charters Towers. And it was a double feature. "Hoodwinked Too" and the final Harry Potter film. Just quietly, I think we both liked the animated "Hoodwinked Too" better.

The town of Charters Towers as seen from Tower Hill at dusk

Or campsite at the Dalrymple campground

Judith, Margaret and Greg at the Drive-In Theatre