Cania Gorge

Today we took the car out for a drive up to the Cania lake where we had a quick stop at the lookout. The lake is a man made affair with a dam constructed to hold the waters which cover the old town of Cania. Cania was founded on the back of a gold rush which followed the find of gold in the hills by a man called "Greasy Peter". The lake is stocked with fish every year and to encourage people to fish the waters people with boats are invited to the big fishing competition which takes place every March. One of the prizes is a new boat. Aside from the main event ,apparently one Barramundi has been tagged in the lake and whenever it gets caught the tag will earn the angler a $10000 prize. There was one boat on the lake trying while we were there.
After the lake visit we drove a short distance to walk up to the old mine workings at Shamrock Mines. According to the local information board one lucky man found a nugget weighing in at 96 ounces (3.2kg) and there was a picture of him looking very pleased with himself wearing a very dapper three piece suit, presumably taken after he cashed in. The mine workings were up the hill side, and the walk took us past the spoil heaps where gold had been sifted. The local ant population took a particular liking to Karen's feet.
We then drove into the local town of Monto and enjoyed a nice meal at the bar of The Albert Hotel. A couple of local workmen were in the bar knocking back the beer - archetypal aussies with deep deep voices, and one with a long unkempt beard, could have come straight out of the movies. On our way back to the car we were accosted by a wino with a broad Yorkshire accent, turns out he was from Doncaster and claimed to be a Falkand war veteran. He wasn't best mates with Margaret Thatcher apparently. If it is true about the Falkands then respect to him, he is now clearly spending his pension on beer and annoying visitors. He did however tell us about a local farm stall where we could buy local produce which we took note of.
In the evening we were joined at our trailer by some of the local king parrot population.
It continued to rain heavily in Brisbane.Read more