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Tuesday 29th October - Charters Towers

A bit cooler today, but the breeze was warm. Overnight 20.9 and bacK to 30.8 during the day. I hope you are enjoying these weather reports.

We went for a drive today and the first stop was Tower Hill. Yes, Clive picked another one with a steep climb, but the views were magnificent. They have several lookouts here as well as many walking tracks. It's blowing a gale at the top of this hill As you can see from the photo of the magpies in the tree. They are all facing into the wind with their necks strained forwards.

Towers Hill has WWII bunkers as well as unexploded munitions and open abandoned mine shafts, so they do clearly advise that you stay on the designated walking tracks. I was not letting Clive take me for a walk, just in case and I was not going to let him go by himself, knowing how he can be sometimes.

They have a walking track from outside Towers Hill that heads towards town. All along this paved path are information boards, as well as street lights that are solar powered.

From here it was off to Centerary Park. They have some picturesque murals on the amenities block of the town in days gone by as well as a monument to the discovery of Gold In Charters Towers. This happened in 1871. This monument is well set up in the park with three statues near running water, depicting life from that era. The park also contains covered seating areas as well as BBQ. A great place for the locals to enjoy.

Now off to Weir Park which is about 14km from town. This Weir is across the Burdekin River and this is where the town draws its water supply from. As you can see from the photo that the water flow down stream is minimal and the river is very dry past the Weir. The original Weir was built in 1902 and was 5M high with a length of 265M. Its storage capacity was then only 1955 megalitres. The height of the Weir was raised to 8M and the length increased to 380M. This increased storage capacity to 5200 megalitres. Another great spot for a picnic under covered areas with plenty of seating.

Clive went off into town to get some medication and as it was going to be 15 minutes he went for a brief walk around town. More murals and some lovely old buildings including the Stock Exchange Arcade. Tomorrow he found an interesting brochure at the Belyando Information Board on this historic and beautiful arcade. One old building he couldn't photograph was the Post Office as this was shrouded in shade cloth.

He collected the medication and came back to the van. He immediately grabbed some of the existing ones we have and compared the pricing. These three scripts cost nearly three times as much as what they did in a more populated area, even though they are still generic brands. Talk about a rip off! I wonder if the locals fet it cheaper than what tourists do?




Towers
Hill.

The
World.


.


.

See 'Our
World.

Great
views.


.


.

Information
boards.


.


.


.


.

Magpies in
the tree.

Smile
Gai.


.

WWII
bunkers.

You have
been warned.


.


.


.


.

Clark's Gold
Mine Site.


.

Solar powered
street lights.

Centenary
Park.

Murals
.


.


.

Gold discovery
monument.


.

Life size
statues.


.


.


.

Weir
Park.


.

Burdekin
Weir.

Down
stream.


.


.


.

The two shapes
of the weir.

The Weir
lawn mowers.

Drinkastubbie
Downs.

Their
driveway.

Scooter in
the park.

Murals done by
the High School.


.


.

City
Hall.

Stock Exchange
Arcade.

Inside
it.


.


.

Royal Private
Hotel.

Built
1888.

The Arthur
Titley Centre.


.

Post Office
under renovation.

Burnt out
house.