Day 8 – Charters Towers

My first task was to do some washing, so I went down to the laundry and put in everything I had, except what I was wearing. I haven’t checked the park’s rules but I suspect that someone might object if I wandered back from the laundry with nothing on!

My exercise for the day was to the laundry, back from the laundry, to the laundry to move clothes from washer to dryer, back from the laundry, to the laundry to take the clothes out and then back to the cabin. Not quite the same as climbing Boolimba Bluff but still needed a sit down with a cup of coffee to recover!

Then into town to buy some provisions and have a look around. The shops are the same as everywhere and the town looks like a movie set for a film about the 1950’s. My brief encounters with the locals gave the impression that the gene pool in Charters Towers is quite shallow.

I came here because the name has long fascinated me. Now I’ve been here so it is ticked off the to do list!

Day 7 - Carnarvon to Charters Towers

Next morning it was still raining with occasional breaks, so I took advantage of one of the breaks to demolish my camp in record time and get it all put away before I or the stuff got too wet. Then by 7am I was in the car and driving away. Farewell beautiful Carnarvon!

I reached the main road without incident but had seen a small group of emus foraging in a field next to the road. On the road just before Rolleston my phone which had been lying dormant for 5 days suddenly went berserk and 65 messages came in!

I headed North towards Emerald. I had thought that I would stay in a caravan park at Clermont that night but after replenishing my supplies in a huge Woolworths supermarket in Emerald I decided to go further and to blow my kids’ inheritance by having a cabin instead of a tent for the night.

North of Emerald there is not much in the way of civilisation before Charters Towers so I pressed on to there. When my phone had come to life I had phoned a campsite there and booked myself a cabin. The journey was long and not very exciting. On the wild life front, a kangaroo had hopped across the road in front of me and I had slowed down – luckily because the second kangaroo followed his mate and was very close in front of me!

I also saw a goanna crossing the road and then an Australian Bustard came out of the bush and stopped to look at me right in the middle of my lane! Stupid bird. Fortunately there was no other traffic so I was able to swerve out of its way.

I got to Charters Towers about 4.30 after nine and a half hours of driving, checked into my cabin and relaxed! I had no clean clothes left so I had to do some washing the next day. I spent a bit more and booked in for 2 nights. Lazy day tomorrow.

Day 6 - Carnarvon Gorge

I’ve been told not to bang on about the weather but I must tell you of a dramatic change overnight. It clouded over and got quite chilly. Chilly is a relative term but whereas the previous days had reached temperatures of 33 to 37°C, today it only managed to get to 12°C!

This sudden shift in the weather removed my major reason for not climbing up to Boolimba Bluff, so in the cool weather I set off to do just that. The start of the climb is down the main track but near to the camp. At the bottom there are warning signs about the severity of the track and how it should only be attempted by the physical fit and experienced. I decided that on the basis of my excess of experience I could ignore my lack of physical fitness and started off.

After a little bit of steep stuff there was a level section for a while and then I came to the real deal. Another sign warned me about how dreadful it was ahead, so I ignored it and carried on. They were right. It was even steeper than I remembered from my earlier visit. On the way I met some other teams coming down, including a couple of similar age to me and we agreed that although we recognised the need for gravity, why did there have to be so much of it?

Puffing and panting I reached the top where there is a flat walk to the view point. The view makes the puffing and panting worthwhile! As I was admiring the view and contemplating a sit down to enjoy it, I felt a few spots of rain. Now the weather forecast had predicted storms with 40 - 80mm of rain.

With the thought of slipping and sliding down the track in the wet in my mind I gave up the idea of a contemplative sit and think time, and headed off down. I was very slow on the way down and my knees - which are definitely past their use by date - complained the whole way. After the few spots, the rain had gone away and I made it safely but exhaustingly back to the camp. My neighbours on both sides at the camp site had decided to pack up a day early and leave before the storm hit. Wimps these Aussies!

The rain started at lunchtime and went on and on. Nothing dramatically heavy but steady and constant. I retreated to my tent and spent the afternoon in the restricted confines. Late I fitted my table in there as well and cooked and ate my dinner indoors! It reminded me of camping in my schooldays in Britain where the rain was almost guaranteed.

Day 5 - Carnarvon Gorge

On a walk on the Nature Trail. This is a short walk along the creek near the camp. Very pleasant and peaceful – until I disturbed a family of kangaroos grazing on the bank of the creek. Daddy, or it may have been Mummy, gave a bark of warning and the two younger ones hopped away across the track, while Mummy and Daddy carried on having their breakfast.

There are competing herds of kookaburras around the camp who fight to see which of them can make to most noise just before dawn every day! On the way back from the Nature Trail I met up with the concert master.

After that little walk I had a real rest day – sitting in the shade, reading my book and thinking about what to do and where to go when I leave here on Monday.

Day 4 - Carnarvon Gorge

I went to bed and lay there with only a sheet over me, it was still very hot! Then in the night I progressively pulled on one, then two sleeping bags!  I got up to find that the fridge had settled down to its new environment and diet and everything was nicely frosted up.

I had breakfast then set off for a walk along the gorge. I had decided not to go very far so I headed to my favourite bit – the amphitheatre. On the way back I branched off to see the Moss Garden. Both of these side gorges are in deep shade and were quite cool but the rest of the walk was anything but cool. When I got back I checked with my car which told me that it was 36°C.  A 10 km walk up and down hills in mid 30’s temperatures is not good for me! But I’m glad I did it – this is really a splendid spot and I always enjoy it. But tomorrow may be a rest day!

I had planned to go up Boolimba Bluff which is a long and very steep climb up to the rim of the gorge. There are magnificent views from up there but I am not going to do it in this weather.

Day 3 - Injune to Carnarvon Gorge

After a very good night’s sleep I woke and discovered that I had not been burnt alive during the night. So I got up had breakfast, paid for my stay – it is a self check in honour system – then dismantled my camp and packed the car. After a quick shower, I was on the road by 8am and headed off north.
The first km or so was through the fire area which was still smoking in parts. Then quite an interesting drive through varied and increasingly hilly country to the turn off to the gorge. I knew from previous visits that the first part of the road was surfaced and then the last 20 kms was a gravel road usually in very bad condition.

At the point where I was expecting the dirt road there was a sign where some government department was boasting that it was upgrading the road. Ha! I thought ... by when, I wonder. To my amazement the road was beautifully tarred all the way to the National Park – what a joy after the anticipation of slithering and bumping around!

I found my campsite and established the camp then sat in the shade and replenished the essential fluids lost in perspiration with a cold beer. The fridge was reluctant to transfer from electric to gas operation and it’s very difficult to tell if it really is alight or not. I’ll wait till dark then I can check.

Of course no internet coverage since Roma so I’m writing this offline and will try and upload when I next get to “civilisation”.

Day 2 - Toowoomba to Injune: 453 kms

When I put the tent up it was a calm warm afternoon. The ground was pretty hard so I didn’t bother with too many pegs or guy ropes. As the sun went down the temperature plummeted and the wind started. The result was that for the night I was not really cold but not really warm either and my flappy tent flopped and flapped in the wind. So I did not have a good night.

I got up early this morning and used the luxury of the ensuite bathroom to have a cup of rooibos followed by my usual breakfast of bacon, egg and sausage with coffee. Then I hit the road and was leaving Toowoomba by 8am. The road from Toowoomba to Roma is not very exciting and it is riddled with roadworks and ridiculous speed limits for road works that aren’t there. But I reached Roma by 12:30, filled up with fuel (cheaper than Brisbane), pulled into the shade of a tree and had my snack lunch.

The temperature, which in the middle of the night had been 11C (feels like 9C) was by lunch time 39C and after lunch driving north it rose to 41C. Along the road signs had warned that Fire Danger was rated at Extreme. When I arrived in Injune, my night stop, there was a pall of smoke just outside town. I found my preferred camp site but decided to just sit and relax before establishing camp. A policeman arrived and told the few of us who were there to leave and wait in the town till they had put the fire out. It was very hot and boring sitting around doing nothing. Eventually they reopened the road so I came back and established my camp. There is no internet signal here so I’ll try and upload it when I get somewhere there is. If you never read it it’s because I’ve been burned to a crisp in the night!