Journey by photograph: Charleville

There was a bakery…..need I say more. Two visits before we left town……he is sooooo spoilt.

Vortex guns used in 1902 to try and create rain in Charleville...they failed.

We had intended to visit the Cosmos Centre (star gazing etc) however the sessions were booked out over the weekend and Monday dawned cloudy and stayed that way all day. Even had a shower or two of rain so that ruled that visit out. Sounded a lot like the Planetarium at Mt Cootha in Brisbane so don’t feel too hard done by. They also have a captive breeding program here for the Bilby but again we were not able to go. We shall return however so no problem. The stay here has been quiet and peaceful and certainly a park we would recommend.

visitors at the van park

We went for a walk downtown this morning (after a cuppa at home) and were surprised at how quiet the main business area was. I had a long conversation with the lady running a curtain/dressmaking/haberdashery store in town (and has done for 9yrs). She told me she would be closing at Christmas and she has a night job packing shelves at the local supermarket in order to make ends meet. The Internet has become the shopping choice of locals and businesses in town are feeling it. Even the local newsagent (once a licence to print money) are not making ends meet!! She was telling me she charges $20 to change a zip in jeans etc, takes at least an hour and a half to do, so not charged by time, and due to our increasing import of cheap clothing folk can go to the local Target store and buy a new pair for cheaper, so why replace the zip? She also told of folk going into the local dress shop and trying clothes on and then going online to order so what chance the small business?? There are some empty shops already in the main street and she holds little chance of them being started back up. It is a sad fact about the small country towns.

Leaving Charleville behind we headed out next morning for Quilpie, 210km further west. The road has narrowed however it is all bitumen so with some extra care with approaching traffic there is no problem.

Cattle, sheep, kangaroos and emus are seen along the road as well as kangaroos and wild pigs as road kill. There is certainly plenty of that.

Quilpie is much smaller than Charleville but we had no problem finding the van park, only one in town!! The water supply is from the artesian bore and exits the ground at 71degrees Celsius and is then cooled before it is piped around the town. In the van park they have a spa fed by the bore and again the water has to be cooled to 38 deg before going into the spa. The showers are great and the water seems so soft, you just have to ignore the sulphur smell that comes out of the shower head as well.

Boulder Opal is found around Quilpie and there are a couple of opal shops in town. I am saving my opal fix till we get to Lightening Ridge and I hope to be able to have a good look around.

Quilpie is also the end of the railway line out this way. The line was finished in 1917 and was a main loading port for sheep, cattle and wool as it began the trip to markets back along the line. In 1935 a regular twice a week passenger service was begun and this continued till 1994. There is now a twice weekly bus service linking Quilpie and Charleville for passengers wishing to travel on the Westlander.

the end of the line at Quilpie.....literally

During our stay In Quilpie we took a ‘loop’ drive of just over 200km to Adavale and back. The total population there is 23 and the hotel has this year won an award for the best outback pub. The western road there was all gravel and surprisingly quite good to drive. We saw lots of emus and kangaroos along the way and there were a couple of crossings of the Bulloo River. This is a ‘landlocked’ river and in flood times feeds the channel country and Coopers Creek system. The water currently is a dark chocolate brown and in places just seems to be waterholes. The return ‘eastern’ road to Quilpie is patches of bitumen along lots of gravel road and this was rougher than the all dirt road.

road to Adavale

Adavale Pub

In 1963 11 men spent the night on the roof enduring cold pelting rain waiting till morning to be rescured from the raging flood

During the night they were allowed (by the police) to fire a gun every hour to let them know the building had NOT been washed away. They did hear the church bell ringing during the night and found out next morning the church had been washed away.

They were unhappy that the publican only allowed them one bottle of rum for the whole night!!