A wonderful day today. Quite relaxing and catching up with Margy and Phil.
I have known this couple for more than 40 years but due to their location in central Queensland, I have not seen them very often. Their younger daughter, Anna, is home from Rockhampton Hospital where she is an R.N there. lovely to meet her for the first time.
This morning, Mary and I took the rubbish to the Dingo waste disposal centre. This came about as Phil had an accident off a motorbike on the property almost 2 weeks ago and broke a few bones. While in Dingo we had a look around the village. It has a well set up Racecourse on the edge of town with a meeting on in the next few weeks.
On return to Eldeebar, Phil showed me his incredible collection of old stationary engines and tractors and other associated bits. He has restored so many engines and made parts himself. I was amazed to see what he has done and admire his dedication and perseverance. Some are as good as new. Without people like Phil we would not have these antique pieces to look and marvel at.
Phil amazes me with his talents. Another is his plaiting of leather into belts and sundry other items. The belt he has been making is for a fellow in London. He has so much patience and skills. His work is absolutely perfection. A great way for him to recuperate from his accident. He is so involved with his skills.
Due to very wet ground, I will be unable to see much more of Eldeebar but it is looking so nice and the garden also shows the benefit of good rain.
After packing up, I had a reasonable muggacino in a cafe in Clermont. I had a walk around the main shopping area and took some photos. Then I commenced my journey for the day. I refuelled at the Catex station on the edge of town.
I travelled the 70 plus kilometres to Dysart, where I had lunch, over a variable but good road. Wonderful scenery including the mountain known as Lord's Table.
Dysart is obviously a service town for the mining in the area. It appears a tidy town with a lot of facilities. A reasonable shopping centre.
Then I drove onto Middlemount which is a very noticeable mining town with literally hundred of dongas for the miners. They obviously are fly in/flyout facilities but located in the town. Also lots of facilities.
Then it was on to Margy and Phil's "Eldeebar" property. It is a lovely looking place and I had only seen their original home which I am parked next to. They have done a lot since Phil won the block in a land ballot many years ago.
This morning was pack up morning. The usual procedure happens with numerous items being placed in their travel location. The water tanks topped up for possible free camping needs. I had my breakfast at the normal time and then spoke with Prue again on Skype.
After breakfast, things always become a big more urgent in the packing up phase. So with almost everything done it was time to pack the Karavan down. While I was doing that numerous military helicopters, Black Hawks, flew just to the north of the Caravan Park while they were travelling in a south westerly direction. I have never seen so many at one time. They would have come from the Army base in Townsville.
After I was all packed up, I left for town. I had decided that the Bravo and Karavan were so dirty that I should give them a good wash. So I went to the big car wash in Charters Towers. Those carwash pressure cleaners really shift the rubbish. Both vehicles do not look too bad now and certainly do not look like they have been to Cape York. That will be all good until I find some wet road work to make it all dirty again.
Then it was time for a muggacino and a muffin. I sat and had that in one of the cafes that had appealed to me. I caught up on a newspaper while there. When I finished I went to the bottle shop near Woolworths to get some Coronas and several bottles of cabernet merlot to take to Margy and Phil. Poor Phil broke his ankle a few days ago so I hope I can help numb his pain a little!
So I set off out of Charters Towers. I have enjoyed my time there very much.
I stopped for a short break at Belyando Crossing which is the entry area to the Central Highlands of Queensland. Just a busy roadhouse near a river crossing.
The countryside changed all the way to Clermont, my destination for today. On leaving Charters Towers the timber was quite noticeable, as it was most of the way. I am not sure but I think some of the country near the road may have been cleared a long time ago. Nearly all the way it appeared to be green and a reasonable body of grass was visible. There has been good recent rain as the roadside drains have water in them in a lot of places.
Getting closer to Clermont, the cropping country started to become visible with sorghum stubble in some paddocks and then some quite nice looking crops of wheat.
Then as I approached the town, the mines started to become obvious. This is in the coalfield area. I am aware of two mines just beside the town but the way mining is in Queensland I am sure there will be more not far away.
Then into the caravan park which is nice and tidy as well as very clean and is the cheapest I have stayed in so far this trip. After setting up the Karavan I went for a quick drive into the town and found a coffee shop which did not have bad coffee. After that it was back to the Caravan Park for a read then a glass of red then dinner.
So now I am moving more southerly. I am not sure of internet availability during the next few days. My next destination is roughly north east of the village of Dingo, between Rockhampton and Emerald, on a cattle property of Margy and Phil. Then on Sunday I will be in Emerald for a lunch with friends there.
Up and about early as usual and had a call from Malcolm on Skype from Dallas in the USA. He is there with work and will be home again by the weekend.
After breakfast I went for a good bike ride around the town and found some areas I had not found before. It is always interesting to me to see what is around each town. Certainly a variety of houses from quite elaborate to old miners cottages.
On return to the Caravan Park, it was time for a shower. Then I did a big load of washing. After the washing I decided to use the drier as the weather was variable in that there was a fair amount of cloud around. This meant I had to initially wait for the washing machine and then the drier as they were all busy. During this time I had a call from Andrew, too.
After all the washing was put into its place, I went into town to refuel without the Karavan hooked on. As usual, I used the Woolworths Discount outlet to save 4 cents per litre. Following that I went for a coffee.
I collected a few items from the shops then returned to the Caravan Park. I washed the floor of the Karavan after I had lunch. During the afternoon I did a bit of reading and later putting unused items away.
Also, during the afternoon I had a lovely chat with a Swiss couple who now live in Busselton in Western Australia. The remainder of the day was quiet and just ensuring I have little left to do before departing this interesting town for points south.
There may be no posts for some days, depending on internet connection availability.
A little rain during the night but when I woke up it had gone and the clouds were quite thin. Again, after breakfast I set off on a ride around the town.
I was searching for and found the original home of the Honourable E.H. T. Plant who founded the Venus Gold Battery that I visited earlier. It is now within the grounds of the Blackheath and Thornburgh College, which is just one of a large number of public and private schools in the town. The former home is now the Administration building for the school. It is without a doubt the most prestigious building in the town.
I spent about an hour on the bike criss-crossing the town just to ensure that I have not missed too much. There are many versions of homes in the town from the one above to a simple miner’s cottage. I noticed one fairly plain cottage that probably has the best garden in the town. I could not find it again to take a photo.
After I had a shower I went and chatted with fellow Kimberley Karavan owners, Mike and Debra from Sydney. They had come in last night and Mike did come over have a chat last night for a short time. They were returning from the Kimberley Karavan Owners Group national gathering at Adele’s Grove in far western Queensland, where Debra and I have been appointed to the committee of the Owners Group. I had met them at Lake Tinaroo at the gathering there in late July.
Later in the morning, I went into the CBD. Priority one was to have a muggacino at a cafe I had been to yesterday. It was not too bad but I have had better. I read the newspaper while there. Following that I went to Woolworths to get some non food items to do some jobs around the vehicles. I returned to the Bravo and left the items there and then into the second hand book shop where I bought a Dale Brown book I had not read for $7.00.
Then it was to the Charters Towers Folk Museum. It is another valuable display of items from the past that has been divided into logical sections, e.g., shop, music and home entertainment, machinery, military and mining. There are a number of sub sections. One thing that attracted me was the old method of getting change after purchasing an item in a shop. This is where the staff member placed the docket and money in a special container and it was propelled along a wire to the change office then returned the same way. Another item was an old reaper and binder. A Lister cream separator was among other similar items. The military area had a wonderful array of medals awarded and their description. Numerous items such as parts of aircraft were there as well as uniforms.
This is another example of a museum run by volunteers. It was formerly owned by the National Trust but they wanted to close it due to lack of numbers. So the locals decided they wanted to keep it. The building reputedly has a ghost of the former owner , Zara Clark,who was deeply in love with her miner brother in law. When he died she was so distraught that she took an amount of strychnine and eventually she died from it.
The rest of the day was taken up with doing the odd jobs and chatting with other travellers.
This morning I was awake early and had my breakfast even though I had been awake for several hours earlier. I had watched the Wallabies beat the South African Springboks 41 to 39. A close game that Australia almost let slip away as they were leading 31 to 13 at halftime.
I went for a ride around the perimeter of the town taking in the sights and smells of the cattle saleyards and the rodeo grounds. I had seen some of the streets as I drove around but I found a few more by cycling. I found a lovely lookout established by Rotary and it overlooks the one of several retirement complexes in the town.
After returning to the Caravan Park I had a shower in readiness for a massage from Jennifer. She works fulltime during the week but does jobs as required in the Caravan Park. She is the best massage therapist I have had for quite a while.
After the massage, I rushed into town to see the Ambulance Museum as it only opens on Sunday for a few hours. It has a great collection of items, some I was familiar with from my Rescue days. A lot of other items date back a long time. A very popular exhibition by the number of people there.
I followed that visit with a nice roast lunch at a nice cafe in the main street. It reminded me that I had not had a roast for some time. I had 2 cappuccinos as they do not do mugs. They were very good. It is a very popular location as nearly every table was occupied. It was a nice Fathers Day lunch to me!
Following lunch, I drove out to the Burdekin Weir which is the water supply for the town. It has lovely parks, one upstream from the weir and the other right at the weir. The weir is very visible with a large flow of water going over it. Apparently, this has drought proofed the town.
On my return to town I stopped at a site where the Americans used to barrel sight aircraft. The aircraft were tied onto the concrete slab and the various guns adjusted for accuracy.
Finally, I returned to the Caravan Park and did a few small maintenance jobs, such as on a chair and minimise a water drip of the filter.
This morning I was up early as usual in preparation to go for a cycle ride. About 0600 I looked out to see if the sun was coming up to find that it was showering. As I have had several falls with damp roads, I decided against riding. The only option left was for me to do the accumulated washing.
As I was about early, I managed to among the first to claim a washing machine. It completed its job by around 0700. Being a damp morning, I decided that the drier was the only way to go. So about 0800, the drier was complete and I folded all the clothes and had them put away by about 0815.
Soon after that operation, I said farewell to Paul and Robyn. They were aiming to get to Emerald by late in the afternoon. I am certain I will not be attempting that distance but they have commitments late into next week. They were not altogether happy with their caravan mainly for its configuration and they plan to sell it for something else that they have seen while away on their trip.
Later in the morning I went into the CBD and tried another coffee shop. The muggacino was a big improvement on yesterday. Unfortunately, there were some disabled people there and one was very loud with a high pitched voice. Thankfully, they left soon after I arrived. I felt sorry for that woman but it was hard on the ears. After that interlude, I went looking for a book shop as my current book is getting towards the end. Not much luck finding anything appealing but I am now aware of a second hand bookshop that I will visit on Monday.
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My first historical visit for the day was to the Miner’s cottage. It is a mini museum owned by a fellow that came as a surveyor to the town and decided to stay many years ago. He has collected most of the items in the museum. Many are capable of reigniting memories of my childhood while other items are from the mining that happened in the area. There was a volunteer, Tony, who is a very knowledgeable person and he told me he was 82. He is a retired civil engineer but is motivated by the mining and his day at the museum. There are an amazing number of articles relating to local mining that include many photos. There are also many smaller items that were used in assaying the gold production. I had not seen a lot of them before. My time there ended with a musical rendition on a ‘squeeze box’ played by Tony. He obviously is one of the drawcards to the museum with his personality and knowledge.
I returned back to the Karavan for lunch and a read.
About 1345 I drove out to the Venus Gold Battery. It is reputed to be the largest surviving battery relic in Australia. A trip there certainly gives an insight to the process the gold ore goes through until in the end it comes out the pure product. A trip into the Gold Battery is initially getting a briefing by the tour guide. Then you are seated to watch a hologram which portrays the founder of the Venus Gold Battery, the Honourable E.H.T Plant, speaking as if he is actually there. It is quite eerie but very interesting. He mentioned the process and the benefit his battery had over the others in the area a water supply that was reliable. A guided walk through this battery is very enlightening for one that has very little knowledge of the whole process. Seeing the various pieces of machinery that crush or grind the ore is one thing but then how the crushed ore is processed right through to going to the Assaying shed.
A scary item I was made aware of is the use of mercury to get the gold. It was used for a long time then another extremely dangerous chemical, Cyanide, was used later. Apparently, both processes are still used but with so much more safety. About 100 years ago, there was no safety and miners absorbed both mercury vapour and cyanide not only into their bodies but also took it home on their clothes to their families with the consequence that the average age of people working and living around the mines was about 39 years old.
Another issue that remains is that the tailings drained into pits which then allowed any liquid to drain into the creek. That liquid contained mercury that never disappears. So the creek it drains into is contaminated and will be forever. The Venus Gold Battery is owned by the Queensland Government and it has owned it for most of the last century. It will be an everlasting museum as to clean up the site and waterway would cost many millions of Dollars to rehabilitate. Another worrying item told to me is that the current lights that we are meant to use in our homes contain mercury! If they explode in your presence they may create health issues in more ways than one.
After a day of becoming a little better informed about mining, I went to Henry’s Cafe and Restaurant where I had another muggacino which was really good. So there are some good cafes in Charters Towers. Then back to the Karavan after a bit of a drive around and discovered the historic Civic Club which in the past was a gentleman’s club.
This morning was a very leisurely departure from the lovely campground about 40 kms north of Charters Towers. I tidied up in the Karavan and had a visit from a nearby camper who was interested in how I managed to get internet access in such a black spot. All I had used was an old CDMA phone antenna from one of my previous vehicles with an adaptor cable to fit into the Telstra dongle that gives me access to the internet. I had to have it propped against a window and if I even tried to get it to work somewhere else it would not. There was no service on the mobile phone, with a large antenna on the Bravo. Wonders of technology!
So I moved off about 1000 and it took about 45 minutes of driving to get to the Big 4 “Aussie Outback Oasis” Caravan Park. It is nice and shady with nice and clean amenity blocks. It seems to be very functional and the staff friendly. As I drove in, I recognised the vehicle in front of me and it was Paul and Robyn also checking in. They are only staying one night before they leave for Emerald.
After setting up the Karavan, I had an early lunch. Then I drove into the CBD of Charters Towers and was impressed with the old buildings many of which have been renovated or remodelled but have retained their original facade. It is not a really big town but it seems to have all the facilities even though it is not very far from Townsville.
My first visit was to the Visitor Information Centre. A very helpful fellow pointed out on the map the location of items of interest. My first stop, which was next door, was to the Stock Exchange Arcade. It is unique in that it actually had a stock exchange from 1890 and for a number of years due to the gold mining going on in the area. It has always been an item of interest to me from my school days. It has been wonderfully restored and looks as it was all those years ago. There is no stock exchange item there now. However, at the rear is the Assay Mining Museum which showed the articles used to measure the gold. There are also numerous stands that have audio and visual displays out lining the Stock Exchange. The building, as are nearly all the old buildings, is really beautiful and was all I expected it may have been.
Next I did a walk along the main street, Gill Street, taking in the beautiful buildings. The outside of most of the buildings really look as they might have a century or more ago. How the building use has changed, e.g., Subway is now in a building that was once a general store that used an old method of sending a carriage on a wire to the office so change could be given and then sent back to the relevant station. Sadly, that has now gone and the store has been divided in three. The ceilings are original and often the old Wunderlich metal sheeting. On my walk around I have a muggacino which has been one of the lower quality purchases. It was well presented in nice clean surroundings. I will not be going back there for coffee. I continued my walk around the CBD taking numerous photos of the buildings.
Next I drove up to the Towers Hill Lookout. It has a purpose built building with visual displays describing the history of mining in the area. Something that I was not aware of was that during the Second World War, the Americans asked to have the stack of the mine demolished as it may be a hazard to aviation and also a likely land mark for enemy aircraft. Another thing was the RAAF bunkers put into the side of the hill. This was a store for ammunition for the Base in Townsville. All bunkers did not face another for fear of explosions should one go off. They were covered with camouflage nets and material from the mines. They are all over the hill and are still very visible. Another thing is the seismic recording station to monitor for earthquakes in its region with the readings sent to Canberra and shared with America.
After being at the lookout, I had found a lot of dirt tracks in the hill and drove on them to see if there was anything else to discover. On one track I saw my first brown snake for the year. It was quite large specimen! I am not walking around in that area in a hurry!
After that I made my way back to the Karavan and did a bit of reading. Later Paul came over and we had a good chat before we both decided it was time for dinner. There is some more to see around here which I hope to do over the next few days.
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.
Up and about at a reasonable hour then some breakfast. After breakfast, I thought I had better just do a check around the Bravo and the Karavan to ensure I had not missed any problems. All seems fine.
Later in the morning, after chatting to some fellow travellers, I went to Gallery 5 cafe for my usual muggacino and, for a change, some banana bread. I had a read of the Courier Mail newspaper and caught up on newspaper news.
After the coffee, I went to Woolworths to get some items for Kevin and Liz who I am going spend a couple of nights with. While there I bought a few packs of meat which should just about get me home.
The next stop was Big W where I located an appliance to enable me to make toast on the gas stove. While there I surprised a former Alstonville friend, Marie. I had not seen her since she moved up here to start a new life. She was really surprised to see me and we had a great chat and catch up.
Next I went hunting for filters for the Bravo as it is getting very close to needing a change of filters and oil. I first went to Auto Pro where I only managed to get an oil filter. My next stop was at Repco I was able to get anew air cleaner filter there but the fuel filters are either elusive or obtained from a Mazda parts source. On return to the Caravan Park, I replaced the air filter which was fairly dirty after its trip to and from Cape York.
After lunch, I did some reading until a fellow traveller, Ken, came over for a chat for a while. He is an ex Ansett employee and has been fully paid out after its demise.
Later in the afternoon, I went into town to Remedial Complete for a massage by Emma. She was quite a slight young lady but she is a very good massage therapist. She has helped loosen up a lot of muscles and hopefully this will help me along for a while longer.
After the massage, I then went and refuelled the Bravo and purchased oil for an oil change. I returned to the Caravan Park and commenced to pack up some of the unneeded items.
All the day it has been drizzling and I heard on the radio that for most of the day Atherton received about 14 mm of rain. This is how it has been for the last couple of days and is not uncommon up here.
So that has completed my stay in Atherton and it is a lovely area with so many interesting destinations within a short distance of the town. Another place to return to some time.
After getting up at 0100 to watch the Wallabies play the Springboks and lose, I tried to go back to sleep which I did until about 0600. Then I rushed over to the laundry to do my washing that seemed to have accumulated rather quickly. I have found that unless you get in early there is a wait for washing machines. Anyway, while this was occurring I had my breakfast and tidied in the Karavan. When the washing was done, I had to use the drier as there was rain today. So by about 0900 this was all completed and put away.
As it was raining, I thought I would do a little back tracking to fill in part of the day. I left with the intention of returning to Kuranda and revisited their markets which run every day unlike most other markets. I may have mentioned before that there is the usual run of items found at most other markets such as jewellery and clothing.
I had lunch at a German cafe within the market complex. It was probably quite healthy as there was a lot of vegetables along with a nice cheese/beef sausage and was adequate.
After lunch, I slowly made my way back to Atherton in the drizzle. As I drove back I was thinking how many diverse crops are grown in the area. Possibly growing beside each other are crops such as sugar cane, mangoes, wheat and barley, peanuts and other legumes, corn, bananas, dairy and beef cattle as well as a large array of tropical fruits. Most of the crops are able to be irrigated. Not many districts could claim the diversity.
It is without doubt a beautiful area. The climate is so mild even if it does become misty/drizzly for a time. There is plentiful water in storage and it appears the area has a reliable rainfall to replenish it. The surrounding scenery is forever interesting with the mountains and colours along with the extensive WW II military history.
The rest of the afternoon was catching up on a little sleep and receiving several phone calls from family and friends. Sunday evening dinner was some left over pasta I cooked up last night.
A drizzly morning arrived so there was no urgency to go bike riding, in fact no ride at all.
I said farewell to the, former and current, Gunnedah contingent who were going to Cardwell for a few days. I most likely will catch Paul and Robyn again next weekend.
My first stop was for a muggacino at the Gallery 5 in Atherton. It felt a little cool but it was mainly due to drizzle and a breeze so I did not stay long outside for coffee. Then I did the short drive to Yungaburra. The markets are quite large and obviously attract a lot of people. An amazinig array of items. There was nothing that took my fancy.
Next, I drove on to Lake Barrine which is very pretty. On the way there, I passed John and Jo from Cairns with their Karavan. I had a short chat on the UHF radio with them. Lake Barrine has attracted many visitors especially to the historic tea house. There were a lot of people around waiting to go on the cruise in one of two boats.
Lake Eacham is another of the lakes that have been formed by volcanic action a long time ago. It is well set up but without the teahouse. A walking trail around it is well defined. It was not hard to see fish and turtles in the very clear water.
After visiting the Lakes I went to Malanda and visited the Dairy Centre for a quick look. Quite a good historic display and general information centre.
The next destination was Gallo Dairyland. I had a nice lunch there and enjoyed the atmosphere. I purchased some nice cheeses after I had sampled them. Chocolate was not for me today. As it is close to town I may return to check the chocolate, too. They have excellent meals and very good cappacinos.
As I returned to Atherton, I went to the lookout as the low cloud had lifted and as I expected, the scenery was stunning. Lake Tinaroo, the irrigation dam on the Barron River, showed up in the distance with the mountains further back. The colours of the crops along with the cultivated land created a lovely patch work.
As I drove back to the caravan park, I explored some roads around the town to ensure that I had not missed too much. There is quite a bit of residential development about, some against the hills and the remainder a bit further away. Atherton is a town of around 12,500 people and appears to have most of the infrastructure needed.
The rest of the afternoon was taken up with some reading and relaxing.
Up and about fairly early although it was overcast. Breakfast over and away I went for a bike ride. I kept around the town as I had attempted to do a couple of mornings ago until I lost gears on the bike. A fair amount of hill riding especially up to the lookout. It was all fogged in around the area so there was o scenic views around today.
After the ride, a shower and a few jobs to do around the Karavan. Then off to Herberton.
Herberton has a history of tin mining but there is a really good Historic Village which was the centre of my attention this day. I spend some hour perusing the village. There are so many itmes there it is impossible to describe them all. The area that really intrigued me was the old school. Inside there were blackboards with a lot of items that took me back to my primary school days. Questions relating to our old currency. Memories came flooding back.
There are a lot of good historic buildings that have been relocated by enthusiastic volunteers to the current site. Inside many of the buildings are items from the past. Some exhibits include clothing, saddlery, blacksmithing, photography, sewing, stationary engines, old homes and cottages and many other items. One special exhibit, to me, was the competitive wood chopping display. It has always been an onterest to me.
Eventually, it was time to leave and I chatted with the lady who manages the village. She had many interesting items of interest to discuss.
I returned back to the Caravan Park for lunch which was late. Following lunch, I went to another intersting display, Tablelands Heritage Centre. It has many varied items that relate to farming on the Atherton Tablelands. There are various machinery items. Many of them brought back memories of my farming past. However, the vast majority of exhibits are more related to different indiustries to what I was involved with but nonetheless very interesting. Some ot the familiar items included a TD 40 International crawler tractor, Bedford truck and a Case 600 harvester. There were many other familiar items like hay equipment, cultivators and pumps. It is certainly worthy of a visit.
On the way back I marvelled at the colour of the volcanic soil along with the crops that ere grown in the area. Some of the crops include corn, wheat, barley, sugar cane, potatoes and dairying as well as beef cattle. It appears to be easily worked soil and with the misty rain around, almost anything could grow in the area.
Early evening saw me join with the Gunnedah contingent for happy hour again. It is so nice to chat with people I know and share our experiences both current and past.
