From gold pan to fry pan

After a day trip to Charters Towers we returned to Townsville to see smoke billowing from one side of Castle Hill, the mini-mountain around which the town is built.

More of Charters Towers in a moment, but first here are some pictures of a water bombing helicopter that made several trips from a lagoon near our van park to douse the fire, which threatened expensive homes on the north east slope.







According to the local TV news two boys were later arrested for lighting the fire, which caused residents of 40 homes to be evacuated.




































Pubs and more pubs
Back to Charters Towers, which since my schooldays I’ve had a fascination for, but never really had the opportunity to visit.

This was the centre of one of Australia’s biggest 19th century gold rushes, was once Queensland’s second-largest city and supported 65 pubs!

However, when we drove the 130km from Townsville, we found a town rather smaller than we’d imagined, yet thankfully with some grand old buildings just like we’d read about.

Above right: the Post Office.

Right, former girls' school which became a U.S Defence Force field hospital during WWII.




Unfortunately, many of them are plastered with modern signage that tends to obscure their distinctive character.

As these pictures show some of the grandeur of the glory days remains.

Right: Downtown Charters Towers.

Charters Towers' next claim to fame was during World War II, when it hosted 15,000 American servicemen and was surrounded by 29 underground concrete bunkers packed with munitions.

One tends to forget what it was like in those days. The Japanese mounted three bombing raids on Townsville, a major military base, in 1942. But judging by the amount of damage inflicted, they may as well have been water bombing.

Right: At the stock market.


We had a very relaxing salad lunch in Lissner Park, built in 1883, before heading back to Townsville.

Right: German field gun mounted in Lissner Park captured by the AIF at Villers-Bretonneux in WWI. Below right: Rotunda at Lissner Park.


On the way home we came across an extraordinary rig – an old school
bus pulling a trailer carrying a baby 4WD and an aluminium boat much bigger than your typical dinghy.

“This is our home,” said the owner, Ken. “We sold up and spend our lives travelling around Queensland.”

Customised rig (right) that is home to Ken and wife.

Ken, a local “bush engineer”, has fitted out the bus meticulously. It contains a twin-tub washing machine, a large fixed generator, a portable generator and a marine toilet with sullage tank. He and his wife only “free-camp”, avoiding caravan parks entirely.

Our next web log will carry a brief note about Magnetic Island, where we had a day of nostalgia.