Outside the town limits of Lighting Ridge,
the Green Door drive, snakes it way through opal leases to a rise that
overlooks mining claims in the valley below.
Amongst the leases is this incredible stonework. The brilliant reds, oranges and whites shine
through the rocks as the sun sets. I’ve
yet to figure out the story behind it, but when I do I’ll let you know. There has to be a story for it
somewhere. At the moment I’m settling on
Lighting Ridge Stonehenge!
In a country town almost always on a crossroad
in the main street you will find one of those watering holes. That if walls could talk, tall tales would be
told. The ‘Vic’ hotel started out as
single story, shingled building that people use to ride their horses to. It was said some rode their horses in and
lassoed themselves a drink. In the 1956 flood a gentleman took his boat
into the bar. Well I guess he couldn’t
miss happy hour!
Sometimes getting to a destination, you have to take time out and enjoy
the scenery flashing by at a 100km an hour!
Central Queensland has the wide open plans, the cotton fields, sandstone
cliffs, lone trees. You name it, it has
it. Or slowly climbing up a hill you get
the tree, sandstone cliffs and a magic view, altogether, you hit the breaks for, and just enjoy.
Well we may not have been able to camp there
but! (since found out if we had kids and where there in QLD school holidays;
Easter, winter spring we could. Not even
going to go there – think of bubbles) Anyways….Carnarvon Gorge is one of those
spectacular places to put on the travel list.
Located in Central Queensland, nature trails head high and low, and walk
through the gorge will take you through some spectacular countryside. We only got to see a little bit of it a 10km
hike along the bottom of the gorge took us to the amphitheatre. Towering cliffs of sandstone shelter the
velvet moss growing at ground level. It
truly is amazing what the elements can do over thousands of years.
Excited about arriving at Carnarvon Gorge
National Park. Image our surprise when
we arrived and you can’t camp there.
Shock horror Qld National Park & Wildlife. A
perfectly good camping ground hot showers, yet a big ‘no access’ on the gate to
the camp ground. Such is life and the
way it goes. Only 8km down the track is
a privately run campground, with sites for $35 unpowered, and cabins etc; so
when you are nearly 150km from anywhere you go with the flow. Only ‘we don’t want your rooftop tent near
our trees’ was my greeting when booking in.
Again such is life; let’s go with the flow and, no sir only staying one
night ‘thank you’. Joys of travel but
when you come across the calm river you take a big breathe and enjoy the
scenery with red drink or bubbles in hand! :)
Charters Towers lies 130km west of Townsville
and was the centre of gold rush in that area in the late 1800’s. At the height of the gold rush era it was Queensland’s
second biggest town. It still has a lot of
the old buildings left over from an era gone by, and it is great to see them in
such good condition. I’m sure if the walls could talk at the local
PO and pub there would be a few ‘interesting’ tales spinning around.
On the road again... bound for
adventure on the Just 4 Kids Car Rally hitting the red centre of
Australia. So keep an eye out we will be travelling through some
amazing parts of central Australia, and hitting north end of Flinders
Rangers and bottom end Lake Eyre; oh and that 'little' rock in the
middle - Uluru. With that, may come some reception 'issues' but be
assured taking a photo everyday for you and post when I can....... :)
We are in for an exciting
month of travel in the Red Centre.
Raising funds for the Just 4 Kids charity and seeing some amazing
countryside and playing in my favourite place of Oz - the Outback. I thought it was very important to take time
out. To pay respect; to the five diggers
that lost their lives in Afghanistan only two days again. It was our darkest day since the Vietnam
War. Our hearts going out to their
families, friends, and colleagues mourning their loss. May they rest in peace. Lest we Forget.
