Catch up info, Charters Towers and onto Townsville – back to the big smoke!

When I write these things I tend to get on a roll and sometimes omit certain things which I later wish I had noted. For example, as we were driving into Winton the road signs went on for a good 3 kms, one after another and right in the midst of them all was one with a bright yellow background and pinkish letters indicating there was “Free Sex” – presumably in Winton. About 5 signs later the Winton town sign came into view with the additive of “friendliest town on the Barkly” – so perhaps the previous sign wasn’t a joke! On the way out of Winton en route to Hughenden we had to drive on what appeared to be a single width highway for a good portion of the way with barely enough space for on coming traffic to get past – fortunately there wasn’t too many coming the other direction. Halfway up to Hughenden we began to see little squalls of black dots coming towards us in waves – the locusts were about. We hit a fair few with the masses getting so thick at times they came close to obscuring the sky – amazing. They weren’t small little creatures either, giving me a good 3-D experience as they hit my windshield, seemingly the size of hummingbirds. There was probably more to tell that I’ve missed but alas I can’t get everything in here.



Goodbye dinosaur trail – hello big city. A chilly morning did not deter us from shoving off at a reasonable hour – destination – Townsville! The temp held a steady 18 degrees until we seemed to scamper over some great divide and then it climbed to 24. It was about this time that we had made it to Charters Towers – a former (and current) Gold Mining town, 110 kms outside of Townsville. We decided to stop for lunch and have a look around as it was said to have some interesting old buildings. It reminded me of York (the town just east of Perth we visited a couple months ago). It hasn’t been invaded by the insidious ‘box mall’ so the main street remains vibrant and packed with small enterprises giving it a hustle bustle country flair. We hit the information / visitor centre and were nearly attacked by the info representative there – Had we started our Queensland Passport? We needed to start our Queensland Passport – we could win $1000! Right – Jen took the bait while I flittered around trying to find some info on Townsville and attempting to control the boys who were obviously a bit keen to run around and get some energy out but weren’t in the most appropriate place to do so. We found what we needed then headed down the bustling main drag to find a café for lunch. Aside from problems heating up my tasty chicken and mushroom filo wrap, the food hit the spot and set us up for the remainder of our drive to Townsville. We weren’t sure what to expect of Townsville, thinking it might be a sort of moderate-sized coastal town but nothing could have been further from the truth. It was urban sprawl with box malls seemingly everywhere and that definitive driving style one finds in congested city areas, like everyone is in a race to get to their 9 to 5 jobs and keep up the mortgage or car payments. We found our caravan park which happened to be just off the highway with a great outdoor pool set up complete with slides, a kiddie pool and the essential jumping pillow. The pool looked great but water was fairly chilled limiting the time we were able to enjoy it so we moved onto the jumping pillow and played “poison ball” – an Aussie equivalent to dodge ball – good fun which attracted a few other kids from around the park.



Being in the big smoke we decided to get some preliminary tasks done – like fixing the chips in the windshield and hitting Cash Converters to exchange Jen’s bike and our old detachable bike rack for some cold hard cash. We also found some boxes to start the packing process over the next week or so – not something we’re looking forward to – it’ll be a bit messy! We headed into the Museum of Tropical North Queensland and the Reef HQ aquarium (complete with turtle hospital) in the afternoon. The Museum was terrific with plenty of hands on kids’ things and intriguing displays for the adults. As you climb the stairs to enter the main foyer you are greeted by a life-size partial model of the HMS Pandora – the tall ship sent to collect the mutineers from the Bounty who were held up in Tahiti living a life of pleasure with their Tahitian wives and children. Only a few had stayed in Tahiti, Fletcher Christian and 8 others made their way to Pitcairn Island with their Tahitian companions and by the time the island was eventually discovered, only one remaining mutineer had survived, John Adams. The Pandora never made it back to England after collecting its prisoners as it ran aground on the Great Barrier Reef and sank in about 30 metres of water. At that time, it had been sailing for about 5 months since picking up the unfortunate prisoners in Tahiti. The prisoners were kept in what was called ‘Pandora’s Box’ – a wooden hold on the main deck which held each prisoner inside in shackles and leg irons – unbelievably harsh conditions. Although a number of lives were lost in its sinking, many did survive and eventually made their way to Timor where there was an English Colony, sailing and paddling their way in overcrowded life boats. Other exhibits included Mawson’s expedition to find the South Magnetic Pole and the trials and tribulations of others who attempted the same. Interestingly, Mawson never quite made it to the exact pole as it is constantly shifting. The magnetic pole wasn’t reached exactly until 2000! Upstairs from the main level held a kids section and some dinosaur and rainforest interactive zones. With the afternoon quickly escaping us we made our way down the street to the Reef HQ aquarium. The highlight here was the Turtle presentation which led to a visit to the turtle hospital attached to the aquarium. The aquarium runs a conservation and rehabilitation program for injured or sick turtles in conjunction with some local vets. Only one per thousand turtles survive from hatchling to adult and this statistic appears to be getting worse due to human imposed dangers such as pollution (plastic bags) and speed boats. The hospital had 4 in-patients at the time of our visit – 2 with a history of pneumonia (diagnosed by x-rays) and the other two traumatized by outboard motors. Apparently if the shell gets cracked they are lucky to survive as it essentially covers their internal organs and opens them up to infection. We learned from the other parts of the aquarium that phytoplankton actually produces 70% of the earth’s oxygen (Jen wanted me to add this as she felt it important). All in all it was quite an educational afternoon and we trekked back to camp with plans for some sustenance, another jump on the jumping pillow and finally an evening treat of Top Gear as we were adjacent the communal kitchen complete with TV. The excitement in the masses was accruing as we were on the verge of Piper’s B-day in the AM in addition to the imminent arrival of Uncle Fraser on the same day. Sleep came quick after some final pressie wrapping in anticipation of the big day!