Charters Towers

After leaving Hughenden we passed through some very small towns with nothing more than a service station and a few houses.  The scenery along the roadside was mainly wattles which were in flower and some grevilleas.  The distance we travelled was about 250 km, an easy drive although towing a caravan requires concentration and there are a lot of semi trailers and large trucks and caravans on the road so it is not really relaxing.

We arrived in Charters Towers around lunch time and found the caravan park we had booked into.  We don't usually pre book but there are a lot of caravanners on the road and most of the parks have been pretty full and we didn't want to be turned away as there weren't any other options.  I did a quick tidy up in the van and got rid of the dust which has been annoying me most of the trip.  The country here is so dry and the dust gets into everything.  We had a quick drive around town, went to the Information Centre and got a CD for a drive yourself tour which we will do tomorrow.  We are not sure how it will be as they told us the map didn't have all the numbers of the sites and we would have to use another map to work it out - sounds interesting!  We drove up to Towers Hill Lookout to view the city at sunset.  It was lovely and even had a nice boardwalk to get some other views.

Towers Hill Lookout

An old ambulance at the museum

 Next morning we set off with our CD and maps to do our drive yourself tour.  We did manage to find most of the sites on the map but unfortunately many of them were closed, but we did have a good drive around and got some photos.  During WWII there were 29 bunkers in Charters Towers, and with a Federal Grant there has been a recreation of some of them and in one we were able to view a film.  American soldiers were based at Charters Towers during the war.   I found some interesting signs on our drive yourself tour.

Columbia Poppet Head

Next day we went out to the Burdekin Weir, source of the town's water supply.  We had lunch in the picnic grounds and some native birds came down for the crumbs.

Blue faced Honeyeater

Butcher Bird

Blue faced Honeyeater

Burdekin Weir

Burdekin Weir

Burdekin Weir

Burdekin Weir

Burdekin River

The bunker site

A visual display in the bunker

WWII bunkers boardwalk

The boardwalk at sunset from Towers Hill lookout

The boardwalk around the WW2 bunkers