My departure from Atherton was by the Gallery 5 cafe for a muggacino and banana bread. While there I spoke with 2 cyclists who had just come in from a ride. One, Len, knows people in Cairns that I know, John and Jo. So we talked about cycling we have done. The other cyclist, Alan, is in real estate with Landmark at Mareeba. Typical of the Atherton area it was drizzly until I reached Ravenshoe.
I left Atherton by travelling up to Herberton and across to Ravenshoe. It was quite a climb out of Atherton but it was relatively short. When I arrived at Ravenshoe I decided to have another muggacino as it would be a few days before I had another. That coffee was in the Ravenshoe Cafe and I had been there for lunch some days before.
After leaving Ravenshoe, I drove slowly to ensure I stopped to rephotograph where my Father had been camped before going onto New Guinea. He was in the 2/3 Tank Attack Regiment. The previous photos had failed for some unknown reason but hopefully these are fine.
After a short drive, the next short stop was Innot Springs. There is an artesian bore there running very hot water out into a creek. Apparently the caravan park there has the creek held back a little to charge people $7.00 to go and sit in the warm/hot water. It looked a bit ordinary to me so I opted not to go in.
I drove onto the “The Lynd” which is a roadhouse that is just near the junction of the roads that go to Charters Towers and Hughenden and back to Atherton. I had a chicken burger there and chatted with some other travellers going in all directions. My next destination was to be Greenvale. It was about an hour down the road to Charters Towers.
My arrival into the village of Greenvale was easy and the GPS guided me right to Ken and Liz’s home. It was great to see them as they were very kind to us when we moved from the inland to the area in which we live. They found Greenvale some years ago in their travels around Australia. It has been their home for about 7 years. They have bought several other homes as well as some blocks of land. It has all been very inexpensive due to it having been an old mining company town. There is a strong possibility that new mining venture will open in the area again soon. So then the real estate will be much more valuable. There is a lot of infrastructure in the town that is maintained by council and the community of about 150 people.
Kevin and Liz have been involved in all the community activities including SES, Fire Brigade, and Community Centre and so on. They have all been involved in obtaining grants from Governments to assist in running many and varied programs. The swimming pool has been a big item in the town and is running along with the Golf Club. Most people seem to be involved although, like many communities, there are some who do nothing and complain.
Kevin, Liz and I chatted endlessly about times past and also people we know. It was so nice having the time with them and they were so hospitable. On Wednesday, I helped Kevin remove adhesive used to hold down vinyl tiles in the Seniors Centre. It was a fairly large job but between us we managed to complete it. The floor is now ready to have new tiles laid. They have so many activities in the centre so it is well used with a Hall just behind it. There is a Roadhouse, Caravan Park, Hardware shop and the often sung about, Three Rivers Hotel. It was written about by the late Stan Coster and the song was sung by Slim Dusty and some others. There is a Primary school with 2 teachers, A Police Station and Community Transaction Centre that is open 2 days a week. A nice little town with lots of potential should the mines start again.
While with Kevin and Liz, Kevin and I walked with their little dog. The first morning was right around the town and covered all the previous centres and the illuminated oval. For a small place, it really does have lot of facilities. I forgot to take some photos while in Greenvale.
So this morning, I left Greenvale and headed for the free camp about 40 kms from Charters Towers. My first break was at the little Roadhouse about half way from Greenvale and Charters Towers. It was one of the tidiest Roadhouses I have stopped at. I had a plain coffee and raisin toast while there. The countryside is mostly lightly timbered but one thing that has caught my attention is the rocks that seem to be across all the paddocks. They are varying in size but a lot of big volcanic looking ones. That has been quite apparent through a fair bit of the country I have seen in the last week or so.
There are a lot of people here, at the free camp. It is on the banks of a running stream and Brahman steers wander past the caravans and motorhomes to get water from the creek. The area has obviously had rain as there is good green feed around and the cattle look well. So I have been sitting in the shade and cool, as it is about 29 degrees while doing this update. During this time I have had several people wander by and stop for a chat.
So that is a bit of a catch up from the last 3 days.
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