Old friends, and back in the bush

What a great couple of days we’ve had! After leaving Cairns we called in at a few beaches en route to Townsville, then arrived at the Rowes Bay Caravan Park . . . packed to the gills so we had an unpowered site for the first night, then were moved to one with power.

Early morning on The Strand, looking across at
Magnetic Island.

We did the tourist bit the next day, enjoying every inch of that city’s beautiful Strand along the seafront, and walking through the magnificent Queen’s Gardens, full of tropical splendour. We were finally able to identify a tree we’d seen all over the north, and had sat under at Karumba Point tavern as Beauty Leaf.

Then we took a deep breath and drove the Isuzu to the top of Castle Hill, which dominates the city skyline. Up and up we went for 2.9km on a steep and winding road, but the 360 degree views at the top were just great.

That night we had dinner with an old friend from my days at Brisbane Girls Grammar and the next morning set off for Charters Towers.

One of the 2 hotels still in Ravenswood. There
used to be 48 in its glory days of gold-mining.

We made a detour on the way to the historic village of Ravenswood, which had had its heyday in the 1880s with 48 pubs and assorted services. Now there are just 2 left but behind the village is a whacking great open cut mine which is once again extracting gold.

Then we drove on to Charters Towers and out to the property of friends Ann and Bob Taylor, who had been at Charters Towers High with me. They opened their hospitable arms to us and we had a great night there, with John riding off into the sunset with Bob at one stage on quad bikes to inspect the property. I was able to enjoy pix of a June centenary reunion of the high school, seeing faces I had not sighted for around 50 years.

They warned us it was going to be a cold night, and it was, with Bob’s thermometer recording a reading of 3 sometime during the night outside. When we awoke it was 11 in the motorhome, but with the touch of a button, the diesel heater turned on and we didn’t get out of bed until it reached 19.

My grandmother's house in Charters Towers, now
a Mormon church.

That morning they accompanied us to Charters Towers and then drove us around on a great tour. One highlight was visiting my grandmother’s retirement house after she left the Boulia home property, built originally for the owner/manager of one of the biggest mines, so I guess it would also be an 1880 number. It’s now owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and all locked up but we were able to walk around while I remembered my step-grandfather sitting on one of the verandahs having his mid-morning drink of cold tea from breakfast, laced with rum.

The town really does have some of the most beautiful buildings and we thoroughly enjoyed walking around and soaking it all in.

After lunch we parted company y, with Bob and Ann going back to their property to prepare to return to their home in Townsville that afternoon and we headed east towards Townsville. We turned south before we reached that, taking a shortcut to the Bruce Highway near a place called Giru. This brought us back into the sugar country, with the mills going full steam, literally, and sugar trains bisecting the highway every so often. One we saw must have had 200 bins on it.

And then we saw a sign that the Brandon tavern had caravan accommodation, so here we are for the night. There’s lots of green grass and only about 3 other motorhomes/caravans . . . and a short path takes us to the tavern where we’ll probably have a drink and a meal later.

It’s so much better than a crowded caravan park and we haven’t had to let go our pleasure at being in the bush again by adapting to a busy urban environment.