Charters Towers – Travel Australia

Travelled 588 kms today @ 100 kph. Troy drank 16.1 litres/100kms.

A long drive today to Undara Volcanic National Park was broken up by a delightful stopover at Charters Towers, a major Queensland gold mining town of the 1870s and now a thriving quaint rural community. Lots of fine architecture, nice murals plastered on walls, and a number of trendy cafes and arcades lined the wide streets.

Taking the inland route towards our destination of Cape Tribulation, we decided to stay at ‘The Undara Experience’ and have a look at the famous lava tubes, which we had never heard of back in WA. We passed through a number of small towns along the Gregory Developmental Road, the most famous one being Greenvale, where Slim Dusty wrote and sang a song about it’s Three Rivers Hotel.

We went onto the Kennedy Highway and then the Gulf Developmental Road to The Undara Experience, an impressive resort with a range of accommodation including rail carriages, cabins, and camping facilities. We were able to get an unpowered site, set Dora up as the sun set, and then joined the campfire sing-along at night.

The lava tube tour the next day was terrific. We were thoroughly impressed with the lava tubes, as well as by our guide’s intimate knowledge and empathy for the area. Bram Collins is a 6^th generation cattle farmer, and his family used to run cattle on tracts of land where the National Park currently lies. His expert commentary on environmental, commercial and personal matters made it an enthralling tour. Well worth the tour ticket of $54.

Greenvale's Three Rivers Pub — Greenvale’s Three Rivers Pub

From Wonarah Bore we drove east along the Barclay Highway, dodged Road Trains and a walker with a guitar strung to his back, and crossed the border to Queensland. Termed the Overlanders Way, it follows the path of our droving pioneers who brought huge herds of live cattle from the east Kimberley to the east coast. Our first stop in the ‘State where Australia Shines’ was the well resourced Mt Isa Information Centre for lunch and some intelligence. The attendant’s first hand knowledge of the Queensland road network informed our route. Avoiding gravel tracks, we decided to continue heading east to Charters Towers, before making our way north along the inland way to avoid the crowds expected in Townsville for the popular V8 Supercars racing event. But nearly 1,000 kms of highway ahead of us before we even got to Charters Towers meant we would have to make a couple of stops in what we thought would be some boring locales. Boy, were we wrong!

Our first stop was a bush camp at Corella Dam, under 100 kilometres from Isa. We were in awe of this gem of a find, just off the highway. The birdlife was plentiful and the colours of the land and water as the sun set were amazing. Another striking sunset, bush BBQ and meeting interesting people made this a memorable night. We met a couple from Sydney in their early 50s’, Graham and Adele, who had been living traveling in their caravan for over 2 ½ years. They had had enough of the rat race and haven’t looked back spending their time touring this great land. Interestingly, they hadn’t made it to WA yet, but were planning to do so “… one day soon”. Their next long stop was to be Karumba, where they planned to work for a while before heading off again. I envied their free spirit and capacity to just leave everything behind – kids, house, friends – for a few years while they explored this great land. Good on ‘em!