24.09.07

CHARTERS TOWERS

Stopped off a the clothing outlet in Townsville and bought some more shorts on our way to Charters Towers. We have defiantly left the rainforest behind and are now back into the savannah woodland which is very dry. Arrived about midday and booked into a Top tourist park and have a spot under a huge mango tree which is complete shade, and dropping flowers everywhere.

Went for a drive into the town which has a very rich past, this is borne out by the local architecture with a lot of the old buildings having been restored. Was once the second largest city in Qld at the height of the gold boom

Drove up onto Towers Hill which overlooks the town, they are old mines and bunkers built during the war to store munitions for the RAAF which was based in Townsville.

Came back to the park to find a lot of other campers had arrived AND THEN a bus arrived with 40 teenagers from Warnambool. I spoke to the staff and they are doing a 17 day trip from home to Ayers Rock Alice Springs Mount Isa Cairns Airlie Beach and then home, FROM THERE 39 hours direct!!. They have two drivers and just keep going, i.e. Alice to Mt Isa in one hit. Apparently the year 11 do a trip each year.

Anyway they are all very well behaved and did not make too much noise.