Charters Towers Qld. 28 July 2017

The road from Clermont to Charters Towers is not too bad, although there seemed to be more dead cars on the side of the road than dead roos - even though on the map it looks to be near the coast and civilisation, there's not much out here and a lot of space in between. The outback starts early in northern Queensland. This is a 375km trip and there is precisely one stop, which you may as well make the most of!

Belyando Crossing Roadhouse, Qld

Belyando Crossing Roadhouse, Qld

'CT' is one of our favourites. Apart from a really nice Big4 van park, it's a lovely old town, but modern enough to have lots of stuff one needs, such as screws and bolts and caravan window winders and locks and even trailer mirrors.

Today is the day to fix up some of the carnage, well a few bits and pieces that have come loose and broken at least. I found 'the' hardware store and stocked up on bits and pieces, and then oddest little caravan place that had a few proper things and made a start. We replaced the two winder mechanisms on the bedroom window, but I couldn't easily see how to replace the catches, which are riveted on, so I went to the pool instead! The pool was 'refreshing', to say the most, but a really nice spot.

This Big4 Aussie Outback Oasis is a bit of a gem really. It's known for its Friday Night pizza and show around a big campfire. The pizza was OK, and the 4 persons doing karaoke were entertaining enough, even if their choice of endless ballads seemed at odds with the Rock and Roll that they kept telling us we were going to get.

3/4 of the 4 person band. Big4 Aussie Outback Oasis. Charters Towers Qld

Big4 Aussie Outback Oasis. Charters Towers

Tomorrow we head off into the unknown - a new untravelled road for us, which is becoming a bit of a rarity.

Charters Towers Qld July 18, 2015

Charters Towers Qld July 18, 2015

Another full day of travel, this time 370 km straight up from Clermont to ‘CT’, the only civilisation between them being a tiny tiny roadhouse at Belyando Crossing. The crossing, going south to north is easily missed. As we sat and ate a sandwich and sipped on instant coffee, we watched the vans we had passed do as we did, miss it completely and have to turn back down into the northern entry. 

Borrowed this of the 'net. Balyando Crossing, Qld

When I say no civilisation, I mean no little town or pubs or whatever, but there are plenty of stations posted on either side, including Avon Downs and Victoria Down. We seem to be on the back slope of the Great Dividing Range, it is undulating country but fast open road despite its ‘Development Road’ status in the book-of-maps. Leading up to the crossing, the big fields on either side appeared to be growing Sorghum, its russet coloured flowers looking just like mud to the driver concentrating on the road. One thing I could not miss though, were the large greyish white heads poking above the sorghum, Brolgas by the hundreds as it turned out. They didn't have it all their own way though, the emu’s were plentiful as well. 

North of the crossing the country turned into cattle country with Brahman and DroughtMaster the prevalent breeds and we saw our first Bustards and Curlews as well. We also lost count of the number of ‘dead’ cars off the side of the road, a reminder that this is, despite being only 300km from the coast, the outback. The point is that if you are driving an older car not worth more than a few thousand dollars, and it breaks down, it’s going to cost you way more than that to have it recovered to a major centre, not to mention getting it fixed. And beside, leave it alone for a day or two and the vultures and vandals will have had their way with it.

Anyhow, we made it into CT by 2 o’clock, only to find the town closed except for the supermarket and the info centre. Next to the info centre is the old stock exchange, where golden hopes were traded in a frenzy and fortunes made and lost. We had lunch at the cafe: mini rump, mash and beans for me and a steak sandwich for Judy. Very tasty.

The rodeo is on tonight and we may just mosey on down to have a look. Yeehaa!