Charters Towers

After having had a couple of weeks of rain on the east coast, we decided to head inland in search of clear skies. It was only a short drive west of Townsville to Charters Towers - about 150km.

Having not heard too much about Charters Towers, we were quite surprised to find that it is a really interesting place. It was once Queensland's second largest city due to a gold mining boom in the late 1800's, and there are still several of the grand old buildings standing. It also has a large hill right in town (Tower Hill) where we walked around old mine shafts and about 30 concrete bunkers used to store munitions during World War 2. It was also interesting to see that there are several gold mines still operating through the area.

As well as enjoying the history, we took a look at the cattle sales in Charters Towers. This gave Isla a chance to really blend in with the locals in her cowboy hat. While we really couldn't understand what the auctioneers were saying (they speak a language of their own!), we enjoyed the atmosphere nonetheless.

A highlight of our time in this area was staying at a farm stay called Camp Bivouac. There were lots of chooks and wallabies around, and the girls particularly loved happy hour around the campfire where some of the oldies sang songs.
Photos below are-
1: in the old Stock Exchange in Charters Towers
2: the town from Tower Hill
3: looking down from Tower Hill (note WW2 bunkers)
4: Pia
5; at the cattle sales
6: sitting around the campfire at Camp Bivouac
7-8: on the camp 4 wheeler with Del the dog