Navigating to North Queensland

We depart tomorrow for another adventure, this one on the road north. But before we leave, here are some photos from our recent Christmas in July jaunt in Stanthorpe!

At the Granite Belt Retreat and Brewery where we enjoyed a wonderful Christmas dinner, met some delightful folk from Brisbane and even had a visit from Santa!

An interesting, if somewhat chaotic, collectables store in Stanthorpe

Donnelly's Castle, a fascinating collection of giant granite boulders, used by bushranger 'Captain Thunderbolt' as a hideout

Bushwalking in Girraween National Park

... and the amazing Ballandean Pyramid, 15 metres high and constructed using local granite

And now it's onwards and upwards towards Cooktown!

We headed west to Dalby for the night and enjoyed a great dinner at the local rugby league club where we watched some junior teams training on the oval. Penny discovered that Beau Fermor, from the Gold Coast Titans, hails from Dalby, along with a few other well-known players in the NRL, past and present.

We left Dalby the following morning in the rain, which stayed with us for a couple of days and required us to wear jeans and jackets. Along the way we stopped in at Chinchilla to see the impressive Botanic Parklands and The Big Melon.

Then it was on to Roma. When Penny checked in at the motel's reception the owner closed the door behind him because, he said, he wouldn't want her to be attacked by the dogs. Penny was amused (and relieved) when after a while his wife came through the door following five gorgeous dachshunds. She breeds the dogs, and they currently have three beautiful little puppies. Later that night we enjoyed a fabulous dinner at the motel's restaurant which, we were told, boasts five of the six best chefs in town.

On our way out the next morning we called into Sculptures Out Back, Roma's annual sculpture exhibition. Each year artists from around Australia vie for $40,000 in prizes, and we wandered through their amazing work.

We arrived at Emerald in the afternoon after some brief stops along the way and checked into our cabin at the Big 4 Lake Maraboon Holiday Park. Last time we stayed here we were in the caravan, some 16 years ago. Back then the lake, which is over three times the size of Sydney Harbour, was fairly full - but now the level is down considerably and, we were told, has been for many years.

In Emerald we saw the world's largest Van Gogh 'Sunflowers' painting, and enjoyed a quiet stroll through the Botanic Gardens, stopping to watch yet more rugby league in the form of a regional schools' competition. We had coffee in town and Penny just happened upon the local Lifeline op shop.

Back at the cabin we were joined on the verandah by local apostle birds, rainbow lorikeets, sulphur-crested cockatoos and a kookaburra, who appreciated the seed we put out for them.

The next morning we began one of our longest drives, of 500kms, to Charters Towers. There is very little in the way of townships along the way and in fact our only stop was at the Belyando Crossing Roadhouse where we had a quick lunch and got back on the road.

Charters Towers was made famous back in the 1870s following the discovery of gold, and was, at one time, the largest goldfield in Australia, known colloquially as 'The World'. Back then there were 65 hotels in town with sport, music and the arts in abundance for the 25,000 residents. Nowadays the population tops out at 10,000 but the beautiful historic buildings remain.

Inside the Stock Exchange Arcade

Post Office

Former Australian Bank of Commerce now a theatre

City Hall

Breakfast at the Stock Exhange Cafe

We woke the next morning at 6.10am to the sound of many gun shots. They seemed to be very close and after twenty minutes we were not only concerned but wondered why the police hadn't been called. Finally, we asked at reception and were told that Lissner Memorial Park, just down the road, is infested with some 200,000 flying foxes (bats) which are destroying it. Early every morning, as the bats return to roost, a number of measures including fireworks and air cannons are employed to try to dissuade the bats from landing in the trees and instead alter their flight path. But after several years it appears not to be working, and it's a great pity the motel doesn't warn their guests!

After checking out of the motel we walked across the road to stroll through the delightful Sunday markets and then drove up to the Towers Hill Lookout for fabulous views of the town and district.

One of many rock wallabies at the lookout

The lookout's interpretative centre which details the history of the area

We finally left Charters Towers after a drive to the picturesque Weir Park

Wedge-tailed eagles are plentiful in this part of the country, and we saw dozens overhead as we drove north-east towards Townsville. Once we arrived, we were very pleasantly surprised to find our accommodation had been upgraded to encompass views of both the harbour and the islands.

Eager for some exercise after hours spent sitting in the car, we walked The Strand which is a wide pathway along the pretty water's edge in Townsville that encompasses parks, playgrounds and cafes.

Sculpture entitled 'Foreigner' constructed from 'found objects'

Another of the sculptures along The Strand

We then drove up to Castle Hill, a pink granite monolith that rises to 286 metres above the city of Townsville. Needless to say, the 360-degree views were fantastic!

Castle Hill in the distance

From the top

From Townsville we drove north towards Cairns via Ingham, Cardwell, Mission Beach and Innisfail. As we would be returning the same way in a week or so, we only stopped briefly at Ingham where we saw our first Cyclone Shelter, one of many similar complexes in North Queensland. 

We arrived in Cairns for just two nights and stayed at the Crystalbrook Bailey Hotel, one of three Crystalbrook hotels in Cairns (with five others elsewhere in Australia) owned by Syrian billionaire and Dubai resident Ghassan Aboud. The hotel is advertised as 'sustainable' and even the front door cards are made from bamboo. Above the foyer lift is a mosaic that was crafted by a large group of Syrian Refugees in Turkey, just one the social causes Aboud supports.

We spent a couple of hours at the excellent Cairns Aquarium, one of the best we've visited, and which also houses a turtle rehabilitation centre. The aquarium, which opened in 2017, was built by two men from Melbourne who had relocated to Cairns. They decided that not everyone was able to snorkel or scuba dive to see the myriad life on the reef and in the rivers, and the aquarium now houses some 15,000 animals.

Now it is on to Cooktown - the most northern destination on our road trip!