From Airlie Beach we backtracked north on the Bruce Highway to Townsville. We had given ourselves all day to travel the 280km journey - so it gave us time to explore some of the sights on the way.
Our first stop was Bowen. We had never pulled into Bowen on previous trips north and south, so we decided to head to Flagstaff Hill and check out the signposted Interpretive Centre. The Interpretive Centre consisted of a couple of information billboards in a café. It might have been a stretch to call it an Interpretive Centre, but the view from the top was very pleasing.
Towards Gloucester Island from Flagstaff Hill
We explored a little of the town, and decided that a little camp ground on the eastern edge of Horseshoe Bay looked like it would be quite the pick for our next visit through town.
We continued north and stopped for lunch at Alligator Creek, a popular swimming hole and picnic area with Townsville residents. The water was quite low being so late in the dry season, but we spent an enjoyable hour or so by the water's edge.
Alligator Creek
We enjoyed exploring some of the best bits of Townsville during our brief visit here.
Picnic on the Strand
We elected to visit the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) over a visit to ReefHQ - and visited the centre on their weekly openday / tour. We learnt about the science AIMS conducts in tropical waters across Australia and some of the challenges facing the various reef systems. We really appreciated the 'behind the scenes' look at some of the most advanced research of its type in the world.
The centre piece for a lot of research at AIMS is the Sea Simulator. This recently oipened building allows scientists to conduct experiments on various corals and fish species in an extremely controlled environment. They are able to control temperature, salinity, sediment or turbidity to very precise levels, which allows various experiments to be conducted. It was well worth the visit.
The Museum of Tropical North Queensland houses an incredible collection of artifacts from the wreck of HMS Pandora. HMS Pandora was sent to capture the mutineers from the HMS Bounty in 1791. Whilst several of the mutineers were captured at Tahiti, the majority had already established their home on the at that point uncharted Pitcairn Island.
The ship came aground on the Great Barrier Reef whilst attempting to make a transit through Torres Strait. 34 men died, and the rest made an incredible open boat journey to Kupang, in Timor.
As incredible as the Pandora visit was, we have been here before. The main reason for our visit on this occasion was an art and science fair hosted by the museum. Google had enthusiastically agreed to host a robotics workshop, and we signed up for a session.
The robotics team had set up a series of mazes on the floor that we had to build and then program a Lego robot to navigate. It was incredible how quickly the boys gained the gist of the click and drag programming concept, and before long we had little robots wizzing all around the place.
The robotics workshop was a real buzz for the kids - and we were very glad we had decided to stay an extra day to attend the workshop. Just don't tell them they're learning something!
More robotics
Our time in Townsville done, we packed up and bade farwell to Chris and Shelly. Millie looked almost as upset as the boys as we pulled out of the drive and started heading west.
I thought the Burdekin River at Macrossan Crossing would be a great spot to stop for morning tea. As we started driving across the sand to the waters edge we started sinking lower and lower into the soft river sand. The inevitable happend and we ground to a halt. As I let the tyres right down, the kids explored the river having a great time on the waters edge.
After reversing back to firm land, the family again checked out the Burdekin River Flood Markers as I pumped the tyres back up. What is even more impressive is that the bridge is a long way above the river - and these markers go above the height of the bridge! One cannot begin to fathom the amount of water that comes down this river in a big wet!
The Burdekin Flood Markers
Charters Towers has a rich history in gold. Nicknamed 'The World' by locals, in supported the first and only regional Stock Exchange in Queensland, where calls were made three times a day. We visited the former Stock Exchange Arcade and admired some of the ornate architecture of the town.
That evening we made our way to Tower Hill, where gold was first discovered by an Aboriginal horse handler named Jupiter. At the summit, you get an excellent view of the city, but a real treat awaited us for after the sun went down.
After dinner, we enjoyed a short video entited Ghosts of Charters Towers, explaining a lot about the history of the town, and doing a pretty good job of bringing many of the old characters of the town to life. The movie was screened in a purpose built open air cinema at the top of the hill, and was most interesting.
The following day we visted the Zara Clarke Museum in the main street. Of great delight to Jo was the flying fox that used to be used by the cashier in Pollards shoip. Jo rememberd it in the old shop (today Target) and the example in the museum was really a shadow of the entrigue and spectacle of seeing money, receipts and change wizzing around the shop up until around 1990.
The kids enjoyed some of the examples of toys and schooling paraphernalia on display, but a ride on Skippy, and old working kids ride was pretty hard to beat!
Charters Towers had charmed us and both Jo and I enjoyed revisiting parts of the town we had seen in our youth. It was time for us all now to ventre further into an ancient landscape and start looking for something completely different. Dinosaurs.
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