Charleville

Our good friend Bill in Noosa was born and lived a long time in the outback town of Charleville. He was keen for us to see the house he grew up in. He also spent time in Windorah and was keen for us to go there and see the small and now famous aircraft he used to fly which is on display there, but because the Birdsville Track was closed we did not travel via Windorah. However we are now in Charleville.
We are spending 3 days here. After two weeks in the remote desert areas it is nice to relax in more civilised surroundings even though we are still in the outback, and using the caravan park laundry will be handy. We have a washing machine in the caravan but it is for small loads only.
The car and caravan are very dirty from all the travel on dusty roads and need a good clean, so we planned to spend time here giving them a good wash and detail. However the weather forecast for today has changed with rain now forecast and this will likely dirty the car and caravan again, so we have postponed the cleaning plans until we get back home.
On our way to Charleville we stopped off at Quilpie which had an oil rig just outside the town and a nice looking old hotel in town.
We arrived into Charleville on a Saturday afternoon and as usual for country towns (and to Carolina’s frustration) most shops are closed by then, and of course almost everything is closed on Sundays. So we’re staying here today, Monday, to catch up with a few things that need shops (and hair stylists!) to be open.
During the last two days we have toured around some of the Charleville sights. We found out that the Warrego Highway that we have travelled on to get here is actually Australia’s longest road being 1334km from Charleville to Mount Isa. We had a very nice salad buffet dinner at the Bowls Club. We wanted to go to the night telescope star-gazing at the Cosmos Centre but the clouds had come and the sky was totally obscured. They do have a planetarium option but we wanted the real thing.
There is a small cute mouse-like animal here called the Bilby which is a threatened species that a few years ago faced extinction. Now there is a concerted effort to save the animals and there is a tour you can do to see them. At first we were not going to do the tour but after some feedback from our friend Carol we changed our minds, and we are glad we did. The talk given by the guide was very interesting and the Bilby is very cute animal to see. Something like a cross between a small wallaby and a mouse. They were behind windows with red nocturnal lighting and it was a pity we could not see them close up, but it was fun to see them.
Of course we took pictures of Bill’s old house which looked in really good condition for its age.
The caravan park in which we are staying has a large communal campfire every evening at sundown and it was nice to have a drink and a chat to some of the other campers and hear about their travels. We even met a couple from Sunrise Beach near Noosa. Everyone has a story to tell…
The weather has changed and rain threatens, so this arvo will be a good time to rest and relax.Read more