Queenton, Australia Travel Journals & Blogs

Traveler Thick Black Line. An odyssey
- Jun 19, 2017, 11:00am · 🌙 20 °C Altitude: 1,024 ft
  Australia Queensland Charters Towers -20.07573, 146.2591520°4’33” S 146°15’33” E
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Day 97
Adventure down the Gregory Highway
June 19, 2017 in Australia ⋅ 🌙 20 °C
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I've been pondering how I want to head south. Last night I still had 1400 km (870 miles) to Brisbane taking the most direct route down the Bruce Highway which follows the coast. It's the most popular tourist route. But my heart yearns for the outback, for kangaroos and emus (though I did see my first live kanga yesterday near Mission Beach - hoorah!)

So I have decided to take the more inland route, and have just arrived in Charters Towers, 204 km from my site last night, where I pick up the Gregory Highway. It's a well-used road, so I'm not doing anything risky, but it's about 470 km (292 miles) to Emerald which is the next town. There are basic pull-offs to stay overnight, so it feels more adventurous 😎

Once I get to Emerald I'll decide whether to head more directly towards the coast or, if this is as much fun as I hope, carry on on the inland route. I think most of the traffic will be heading north as Aussies head away from the winter cold.

Update
The drive down the Gregory Developmental Road was all I hoped - beautiful bush all the way, hardly any traffic and most of it heading N against me. Joyous 😎
I found my overnight spot - a pull-in off the road called The Old Dump, so I wasn't expecting anything glamorous, but I got everything I'd hoped for - space, feeling connected with the red dust, then a lovely dark night sky and the Milky Way.Read more
Traveler
Charters Towers - an early gold rush town. Gold is still mined
6/18/17Reply
Sarah Berthelemy
Ooh, it's got a real Canadian/American feel to it. Not what I was expecting...
6/19/17Reply
Rachel Keetley
Just spent my lunch break catching up on all your travels and amazing photos... wow!! Missing you, but been ever so joyful to see your smiling face in some of your photos. Beautiful to see you so full of life. Biggest squeeze of a hug EVER! x
6/19/17Reply
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Michael Jakob forceTRALIA
- Jun 2, 2016, 11:00pm · ☁️ 23 °C Altitude: 331 m
  Australia Queensland Charters Towers Towers Hill -20.09681, 146.2544920°5’49” S 146°15’16” E
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Day 642
Camp 7 - Charters Towers (+182=968km)
June 2, 2016 in Australia ⋅ ☁️ 23 °C
Puma Roadhouse

Route: https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=1S6eVr…

DE: Charters Towers hat sich zu Zeiten des Goldrauschs als "Die Welt" bezeichnet, da es in dem Ort alles gab was man brauchte. Sogar der Goldpreis für den Weltmarkt wurde hier einmal festgelegt.

Danach zum ersten Mal ins Drive In Cinema gefahren - Zwei (topaktuelle) Filme für $8! In einem normalen Kino kostet ein (!) Film in Australien um die $18...

Tolles Kino und Ambiente unter den Sternen. Jetzt schlafe ich nicht nur noch im Auto, sondern fahre gleich noch damit ins Kino... :)

Die Nacht auf einem Rasthof mit Road Trains und Zirkusleuten zu verbringen, war auch eher ungewöhnlich :)

EN: The people of Charters Towers called their town „The World“ during the gold rush because you could get everything you needed there. Even the world market price for gold was set in this town once.

After this we went to the drive in cinema for the first time – two brand new movies for $8! In an ordinary cinema in an Australian city you would pay around $18 for one (!) movie…
Very nice cinema and atmosphere. Now I don’t only just sleep in the car, but also drive with it into a cinema… :)

We spent the night at a road house with lots of road trains and show people camping in the yard. Quite unordinary :)Read more
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Duncan Grant Northern Territory & Qld
- Jun 2, 2021, 5:00pm · ☁️ 25 °C Altitude: 323 m
  Australia Queensland Charters Towers Mosman Park -20.09424, 146.2613520°5’39” S 146°15’41” E
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Day 40
Charters Towers
June 2, 2021 in Australia ⋅ ☁️ 25 °C
We had approximately one and half hours to do a grocery shop and check out the main township of Charters Towers. Approximately 130 kms inland from Townsville, with a population of just over 8.000 the town is historically important gold mining town and built on the huge profits of gold mining. Today Charters Towers is beautifully preserved with the best of the buildings concentrated in the town center. My favourite was the Stock Exchange Arcade, complete with a glass roof, stained glass windows and a magnificent tiled floor.Read more
Traveler
That building looks so neat and pretty
6/3/21Reply
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Traveler Cape York 2022
- Aug 6, 2022, 5:22pm · ☀️ 28 °C Altitude: 281 m
  Australia Queensland Charters Towers Queenton -20.064055, 146.28242220°3’51” S 146°16’57” E
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Day 6
Emerald to Charters Towers
August 6, 2022 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 28 °C
We had a fair bit of rain last night, we kept dry and bloody glad we decided on the rooftop tent instead of going with the swag like originally planned, massive puddles everywhere. The rain slowed down briefly so we quickly packed up and were on our way. Stopped off at the Sensory Cafe in Emerald, but weren't feeling the menu afterall so I grabbed a coffee and off we went. A boring, wet day on the road. We stopped off briefly at Clermont to see the piano in the tree, a replica of the one that got caught in the 1916 floods. Back on the road, I was singing and doing puzzles, very entertaining for Ben I'm sure. We stopped at Belyando crossing, the only sign of civilisation, if you can call it that, for quite some time. We shared a burger and chips then back on the road to Charters Towers. After what felt like a lifetime, we arrived and took a wrong turn to the Towers lookout, thanks google. Tracked it down and it was much more established than we expected, we thought we'd be standing on a dirt hill like most lookouts, but it had an Amphitheatre and proper seats for whenever they show whatever they show. We went for a walk to the Pyrites works ruins before jumping back in the car. Checked out the visitor info centre and had a chat to Mac, the fella working there. We popped into woolies then found our next stop, set up and aired out the tent, it's bloody hot here so it dried out pretty quickly. Went for a wander not long ago to grab the new maxibon to try, now we're just relaxing in the shade until we're ready for dinner.Read more
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Traveler Adventures with Jaime & Dick
- Aug 3, 2022 · ☀️ 27 °C Altitude: 292 m
  Australia Queensland Charters Towers -20.071396, 146.27098220°4’17” S 146°16’16” E
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Day 166
Charters Towers, north QLD
August 3, 2022 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 27 °C
We were due to head to Townsville on this date, but were re-directed further west to Charters Towers, by Titan Caravans.

A mystery leak had spung up from under the kitchen area a few weeks back. It was only a small puddle back then, but I'd been nagging at them to book me into (yet another) repair centre. Leaks don't tend to go away by themselves.

They couldn't seem to find a single repair centre in the entirety of Townsville, Cairns or anywhere inbetween, an area several thousand kilometres square, to book me in, for reasons that became clear later on. So, they sent me to Charters Towers where there was a little one man show, a builder by trade, that dabbled in caravan repairs.

Jamie from 'Dealz on Deane' finally popped out to see us at the showgrounds a week later. He ripped the van apart , found that the roof of the van was flooded due to a faulty aircon outlet, found water was leaking onto an electrical light casing, found a crack in the waste water pipe, broke the toilet cassette door, destroyed some laminate in the kitchen - but could not find the source of the original leak. Massive eye roll.

Cue some serious talks with Titan. We couldn't continue with the leak getting worse by the day, and nowhere north of us that could investigate or repair it. They wanted me to return the van to their workshop in Brisbane. I didn't want to waste time on my year off, doing a 2650km round trip with a car sick dog.

It was eventually agreed that I would have to return the van to Brisbane, but on the basis that they would replace the van this time, not repair it. It had suffered too much water damage to the floor. I reluctantly made the arrangements and sedated poor Dick, for the week long journey.

Charters Towers was a lovely big outback town, with yet more gold mining history and another fascinating cemetery. I went along to a ghost walk and talk there one night, to hear the historic tales and gruesome murders as a result of squabbles over gold.

I have come to the conclusion that gold mining itself is not the most dangerous part of this occupation, it is the violence that humans display towards each other over it.

Back to Brisbane we go.Read more
Traveler
You have had an eventful time of it haven't you.
9/2/22Reply
Traveler
Yup!
10/15/22Reply
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Traveler MarkTula Exploring Oz
- Jun 29, 2021 · ☁️ 22 °C Altitude: 309 m
  Australia Queensland Charters Towers Charters Towers City -20.07667, 146.2583320°4’36” S 146°15’30” E
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Day 70
Charters Towers
June 29, 2021 in Australia ⋅ ☁️ 22 °C
On the way to Charters Towers we stopped at Greenvale and had lunch at the Three Rivers Hotel. (One day we will stop somewhere and not go to the pub). This pub was made famous by the Slim Dusty song.
We spent a couple of nights in Charters Towers before going onto Home Hill. I wanted to spend time in a powered sight incase the lock down was widened we were close to Townsville when it went into lock down.Read more
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Duncan Grant Northern Territory & Qld
- Jun 2, 2021, 3:00pm · ⛅ 27 °C Altitude: 321 m
  Australia Queensland Charters Towers Mosman Park -20.09411, 146.2611820°5’39” S 146°15’40” E
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Day 40
Charters Towers- The Caravan Park.
June 2, 2021 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 27 °C
Well not much to say as we spent 3 nights 2 full days with a van and no car -I'm sure Slim Dusty ( if he was still alive ) could change the words of a pub with no beer to a van with no car !!! We broke the car's engine drive belt 160ks inland between Richmond and Charters Towers-fortunately recognising a problem quickly and not causing engine over heating consequences. We have NRMA premium membership, so loaded car on back of a tow truck and hooked on the caravan, we hopped in the tow truck too, into to Charters Towers. The driver took our van to the caravan park and backed it perfectly into the site before dropping off car at a mechanics- our membership covering it all. We had to wait till new belt was delivered from Townsville - therefore we saw heaps of the caravan park and not much else. Car good to go at 3 .30 pm so we did a shop and a lightening trip around town .Read more
Trip One
More like a “don’t Like” !!
6/2/21Reply
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Frank W Frank and Heathers Cape Trip
- Jun 7, 2015 · ⛅ 29 °C Altitude: 290 m
  Australia Queensland Charters Towers Lissner -20.05048, 146.25381520°3’2” S 146°15’14” E
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Day 18
Charters Towers
June 7, 2015 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 29 °C
Carnarvon Gorge to Charters Towers

HW. On the road again, heading for Emerald through scrubby countryside. Our drive out of Carnarvon along the dirt road was a lot less eventful with little dust inside the van and no disasters in the fridge! We stopped the night in a van park in Emerald and headed off again next morning – our mission being to get to the Cape within our time frame. More exploring of inland Queensland will have to wait for another trip. On the Friday night we free-camped beside the road along with at least a dozen other vans at a truck roadside stop with toilets. Met more nice people. Luckily there weren’t too many B-triples carrying cattle passing by in the night. (They sure are noisy and very smelly!)

We arrived in Charters Towers late morning on Saturday 6th and the centre of town was bustling with people and traffic. After setting up at a van park just out of town we drove back to the centre mid afternoon and because it’s a country town, almost everything closes after midday on a Saturday and you could have fired a gun down the main street and not hit a thing. There are some lovely old buildings in the town which is famous for its gold mining and for having the first stock exchange in Australia. We drove up to Towers Hill nearby which overlooks the town and the surrounding countryside which is flat as far as the eye can see. As luck would have it there was a motor show and swap meet at the local showgrounds over the weekend so guess where we spent a couple of hours on Sunday?? We looked around some of the old beautifully restored cars and Frank had a fossick through the tools (both old and new) and got a couple of bits he needed. We had a nice relaxing stay here.

FW. Including a few photos from Towers Hill (approx 300m high) where the view to the Nth, Sth, E, W is similar, flat right to the horizon. A lot of the buildings in the town have been restored and look fabulous, including the Police Station, a Mural depicting the town’s history and the Stock Exchange building which was supposed to be the first in Australia and the largest in the world in its time.
As Heather mentioned she took me to the local swap meet and I am including a photo of some Fergi’s and other farm machinery for your interest Max.Read more
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Traveler North Queensland 2018
- Sep 8, 2018, 10:59am · ☀️ 25 °C Altitude: 317 m
  Australia Queensland Charters Towers -20.07679, 146.2639720°4’36” S 146°15’50” E
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Day 39
Charters Towers.
September 8, 2018 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 25 °C
We have come into Charters for supplies and fuel. Just sitting nearby to the memorial and the hospital.

We have been here before and Charters Towers is well worth a visit. Mining history abounds and the more recent longhorn cattle is interesting. The nighttime ghost tour was an unexpected highlight last visit.

A drive up Tower hill is a good view over the town. Unfortunately, not with a caravan in tow, so not today. We are about to head to our next destination.Read more
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Modabostan Tour du monde
- Feb 3, 2016, 4:00pm · ☁️ 31 °C Altitude: 291 m
  Australia Queensland Charters Towers -20.06635, 146.2688620°3’59” S 146°16’8” E
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Day 90
CHARTER TOWERS
February 3, 2016 in Australia ⋅ ☁️ 31 °C
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Comme une impression de retour dans le temps, ville type western hors du temps habitée par des gens bizarres, des cow-boys défraîchis.
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sev sev
T as le look coco!!
3/16/16Reply
Celine Roland
grave... coco t'as le look !
4/4/16Reply
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