I was not a happy chappy this morning. My distended belly had caused me no end of agony overnight, resulting in a poor nights rest, and despite not a single drop of liquor passing my lips yesterday, I awoke feeling as if I had well and truly over imbibed. Not to mention that it had barely gone 7:00AM when the alarm sounded to drag me out of my disturbed slumber. Before our day on the road can even begin, I need to take a trip into town to collect my delivery at the freight depot and refuel ‘The Beast’.

At the freight company, I was thankful that my spare wheel was brought out to ‘The Beast’ on a forklift. It meant that I could get it put straight up on top of the canopy, where I hope it will spend the next 5 months without being required. I’m not exactly sure how I will manhandle it down, or back up for that matter, if it transpires that we do need to utilise it. I certainly feel more comfortable now though, that we have a full size spare to augment the space saver spare that we’ve been running about with so far. With the wheel securely strapped down and ‘The Beast’ full of diesel to get us to our next destination, it was back to the caravan park to collect Bec, the dogs and the van, by which time it was already past 9:00AM.

Thankfully today, we don’t have a set time to be out of the park and on the road. Suffice to say, we wanted to be on our way as early as possible though. As it turned out, we were ready to leave by about 10:30AM, but thanks to an overly chatty park owner who stopped to say G’day just as we were about to drive out of the gates, it was 15 minutes later that we bid farewell to the park we have so much enjoyed for the past week.

Having been travelling, generally, in a northerly direction since leaving home, we are turning left today to head west and into the great unknown that is inland Australia. Leaving the coast behind us, it will now be more than a month before we again sight the great briny, when we arrive in Darwin.

With our rather late start, it was fortunate that our travels today were diminutive, only having to manage the 150 or so kilometres to the gold rush town of Charters Towers. Settled as a result of the discovery of gold in the early 1870s, between 1872 and 1899 the rough settlement went through a period of change to become a thriving city of 25,000 inhabitants. During the boom years, Charters Towers became known as ‘The World’ as it was said that without leaving the confines of town, any desire could be well catered for. Today, there is still a charming feeling as you walk down the wide boulevards, gold rush era buildings still resplendent throughout the town, harking back to an earlier time.

Our first stop was at the information centre, where there was a big sign advertising their willingness to assist with making tour bookings. We want to take a wagon trip tomorrow, so figured that we could get the helpful staff to call ahead for us. With the brochure in hand, I approached the lady at the desk, who was most helpful in asking if I needed some assistance. Well, yes I was after some help actually. I let her know that I was interested in taking the wagon tour. That’s a fantastic choice, she advised us, then helpfully told me that we would need to call the company to make a booking. Not quite the tour booking assistance I had envisaged. Having been left to fend for ourselves to make our own booking, I left a message for the tour operators to get back to us, before driving through town to the caravan park we will be staying at for the next couple of evenings.

Much the opposite of where we stayed in Townsville, the Charters Towers Holiday Park is a compact little park on the outskirts of town, where despite having a good sized patch of dirt to call our own, space is at a premium. The staff seem friendly and extremely helpful however, guiding us quickly into position, which made our setting up process all that much faster and simpler. Within 20 minutes of pulling in, we were pulling out again, sans the van, for a closer look around town.

The Stock Exchange Arcade.

Back in town, we strolled along the main street, searching predominantly for somewhere seemingly decent for a quick bite for lunch, but also checking out the few shops that lined the street. I was especially surprised to find Bec eager to check out the small western clothing store, until I found her searching desirously through the boots on display, hoping to find a pair such as those she passed up in Townsville.

Now That’s A Boot.

As well as food and shops, we also took the time to admire the old architecture. The post office for instance was one of the first buildings erected in Charters Towers and has stood the test of time for nearly 115 years so far and still looks brand new. They don’t make them like that anymore.

The main street and the old post office.

Thankfully, the town centre wasn’t overly large, because after my early start, I was soon ready to head back to the van for a rest. As it happened, as I put the finishing touches on our camp, re-strapped the tyre to the roof of ‘The Beast’, and chatted to our new neighbours, Bec disappeared into the van with the dogs and promptly fell asleep, until she awoke to the pain of a mosquito trying to draw its fill of blood from her lip. As for me, my relaxation took a back seat as I dawdled about with looking busy, but not particularly achieving much. I did manage to make contact with the tour company and confirmed our activities for tomorrow morning though. Must call back into the information centre if I get a chance and thank them for their assistance.

Until next time, stay safe, have fun and don’t forget to write.