Chapter 5 - Into the Tropics

Day 27 – Wednesday 24 June – Lake Maraboon to Theresa Creek Dam - 183 km

We were on the road by 9am and stopped in Emerald a short time later for diesel (as it was cheap), cream (for fire-side dessert tomorrow) and local mandarins (because they are so good).

West was our preferred direction and we stopped at the Anarkie crossroads to have a coffee and take photos of the excellent stained glass structure. There was a coffee van on site so we had a sausage roll for morning tea – because we could.

Above: Two views of the stained glass – one from underneath and one from the side

We drifted north to Sapphire - so called because of the gems that are mined locally. There was not much to see but Shirley somehow directed us to “The Red Barn”. There we met Ron Pearce and all of his art and metal work. 

Ron is a real country character and worth driving a long way to see. His story started when he asked around for a few “picks” (as in the implement to dig dirt and rock) to try a bit of sculpture work. He ended up with over 100 and decided to build a “Pick-et” fence. Note the photo below. He has picks everywhere.

Above: "Pick-et" fence

Ron also collect ‘billy boulders’ to make various animals – see photo below. ‘Billy boulders’ are rocks that are found usually where there are gems. The fossickers look for gems, Ron looks for billy boulders’.

Above: Sir-Loin made from a Billy Boulder

Ron's sister is his OH&S officer. Every time he builds a 'billy boulder' sculpture his sister has to drink two bottles of wine (for the horns).

We spent a long time with Ron and his ‘Dad’ jokes and were sad to depart. He has a painting called his "Pick-asso" painting. 😜

If you are liable to be travelling through/near Sapphire give Ron a ring (0428 384 500)and make sure that he is at home and not out scrounging.

We headed further north through seemingly quite remote country.

Above & Below: Two views of our drive

Maybe two hours later we were pitching camp at Theresa Creek Dam – a lovely camping spot.

Above & Below: Two views of Theresa Dam from our camp site

Around 3:30 I lit the fire and the beef stew started a short time later. Not long after we invited Ian and Mary to join us around our fire. Ian and Mary are Queenslanders and clearly have a hobby of mocking Victorians. That’s Ok, we had campfire stew for dinner – they didn’t.

Day 28 – Thursday 24 June – Theresa Creek Dam

It was chilly overnight, with the diesel heater coming on at 7am. We utilised the great showers with no competition as everyone else seemed to be still in bed.

A few housekeeping jobs were addressed around the caravan, some completed, some a work in progress. A couple of purchases required some older things to be discarded - at last.

A bit of moisture in the bottom cupboard under the sink - nothing to worry about - meant a couple of items need to be aired – and the cupboard cleaned.

Late morning coffee happened.

We had a drive to the other camping area at the lake, anti-clockwise. It was that close we could have walked. Also a nice spot.

Lunch consumed the remaining roast pork from a few days ago.

The we did a walk clockwise along the dam edge until we ran out of path at the bank of the dam. We saw numerous birds, waterlilies and turtles.

Above: Australasian Swamphen

Book reading, blog word creation and sudoku followed. The day was sunny, then overcast and windy, repeat, repeat. Solar was good, bad, repeat…………

I lit the fire around 2.45. The apple & date damper went on at 4:30 pm, as well as spuds and sweet potato into the coals – in foil.

Drinks at 5.05 were around the fire. The Italian sausages were on the fire plate about 5.40 over superb coals with some zucchini.

Above: Waiting for dinner

It was a great sunset to precede an excellent camp-fire dinner – although we ate inside.

Above: Sunset over Theresa Creek Dam

After a two course meal we did not need supper.

 

Day 29 – Friday 26 June - Clermont

Another casual start, then exercises, then a drive into Clermont (pop. 2952). We stopped at the Visitor Centre ala Museum ala Historical Centre. They have an excellent history of the area. We wandered around the many farm and home implements for some time.

Clermont is known for its coffee mining, its severe floods, a tree piano and three pubs that were relocated (on roller and skids) to the new town location in a higher position. Each pub move took about 30 days and was still open for drinks, food and accommodation during the move. Today’s OH&C people would have issues with that.

Above: Two of the Museum exhibits

Below: A photo of a photo of one of the pubs being moved.

Above: One of the three pianos that were wedged in a tree fork during a severe flood 

It was time for a coffee and that worked out be a problem. At 11:45 we found a place that closed at 12:30. However the coffee was worth waiting for. The door was closed before we left. A pie was selected for lunch at the bakery and we ate them on the banks of a lagoon that presented photos of an Australasian Darter and a good-looking goose. Note the superb colour patterns on the Darter.

Above: Australasian Darter showing its colours

Below: A good looking healthy goose

The four murals at the railway station were also captured.

On the way back to camp we smiled at the large farm items sitting at the top of posts in front of farms. We also stopped at the former copper mine.

Above: Copperfield Mine Relics

Below: 'Monuments' at the front gate of two farms

We never saw the sun during the above drive and wondered why we did not wear more clothes.

 

Day 30 – Saturday 27 June – Theresa Creek Dam to Belyando Crossing – 197 km

I was awake before 7am and decided on an early shower. Shirley was woken by a Samoyed and also decided on an early shower.

By 8:30 am we were on the road. Soon after we stopped to top up the diesel at Clermont as there were not many options for the next 400 km – which is Charters Towers.

We set Spotify to play Aussie Errol Gray for the next 180 km. He has some great larrikin-style songs. We had plenty of laughs.

The countryside was mostly heavily grassed with a few hills. The biggest groups of animals belonged to a flock of Brolga, many of whom were dancing. There must have been 200 of them, or more. A few emus looked on bemused at the activity. 

Above: Dancing Brolga

Below: Nearby Emu

Click here to see more of the Brolga dancing.

We stopped for the night at Belyando River Crossing Roadhouse about 200 km south of Charters Towers.

Day 31 – Sunday 28 June - Belyando Crossing to Charters Towers - 203 km

It was a bad night for sleep. Firstly, electricity is generated locally, so we have multiple diesel generators throbbing all night, about 100 metres from the caravan. Secondly, we are camped adjacent to maybe 100 cabins that provide a bed for remote workers. Note that the nearest town is 200 km away. Luckily not many of the cabins were occupied. Even though is was Sunday those workers in residence mostly departed before dawn.

I had a shower at 6.30. Shirley slept on.......

I missed the sunrise thanks to proof reading the blog. However we were on the road by 8:30 and casually headed towards Charters Towers. Again we had perfect driving conditions. The road varied from superb to very ordinary. The roadside was similar to yesterday.

Above: The road 100 km south of Charters Towers

Most of the road today had a 'radio protocol' for road-train drivers to communicate their presence as there were many spots (manly bridges) where two road train could not pass each other. Luckily (maybe being Sunday) we saw very few road-trains.

Our main piece of excitement for the day was to spot a small caravan of camels. They seemed as interested in us as we were of them. All looked very healthy - not that I am a camel expert. 

Above: Queensland Camels

Camp was established in Charters Towers (pop. 8040) in time for lunch.

Above: Our best grass site of the trip to date

Not much happened after that.

Day 32 – Monday 29 June - Charters Towers 

The first day of our second month on the road provided three firsts for the trip. It was the first time our outdoor butane cooker and hot plate had been used, we had bacon & eggs for breakfast and we had breakfast outdoors - in shorts and t-shirts. It was about 20 degrees at 8:45 am as we ate breakfast.

The sun appeared as we ate our last mouthful.

We headed into town and chatted to a very helpful lady at the Visitors Centre, the result of which we headed to "GoldTower" - the site of the biggest mosaic in Australia. Before we departed I took a photo of a huge mural in the middle of town.

Shirley and I are not experts in art but we were blown away by the size and quality of the "GoldTower" mosaic work.

The following image gives you a poor quality distant image of the overall 5 million mosaic tiles.

Click here to see a close up of each section. 

My photos do not do the work justice.

Above: This image includes my hand and gold Rolex so that you can get an idea of the size of each mosaic tile. All 5 million tiles were virtually the same size (albeit some were cut obliquely to fit an angle).
This boy can be seen in the 8th image in the link above in the image titled "Life in the Gold City"

The afternoon was a quiet time during which I finished my latest James Patterson (Alex Cross) book.

Day 33 – Tuesday 30 June - Charters Towers 

The washing was on the line before 8am. Drama then ensued when my phone decided that calls and SMS messages were off the agenda. The SIM card had gone on strike. Sometime later a lady in the phone fix-it shop extracted the SIM and used her Micro broom and mini-blower to remove some Outback dust. Hey presto - all OK. Phew!

We headed 15 km north to Burdekin-Falls Weir to see the large amount of water coming down the Burdekin River. It was amazing how much water was in the river compared to how dry the countryside is.

Above: The Burdekin River, the weir and a lot of water

Below: Downstream

We watched a kite grab a stick inside a tree then fly round and round with the stick. The photos are not good but they provide an idea of the bird v. stick.

Above: Kite with stick

Lunch was hot dogs.

After lunch we headed to the miners memorial where we learned that Charters Towers has the worst mining record (per miner) of any gold mining area in Australia. Many many lives have been lost. There was no explanation why.

Some of the mines were adapted for munitions storage by the RAAF during WW2. There were many signs warning of possible unexploded ordinance and uncapped mines. We kept to established tracks.

For dinner we had our second meal of Murray Cod that we bought in Griffith some time ago. It was cooked on the BBQ with some potato wedges and served with salad. Excellent.

Day 34 – Wednesday 30 June - Charters Towers 

The day alternated cloudy and sunny all day. A few jobs were completed around the caravan. We did $130 worth of grocery shopping. We relaxed. We got ready for a departure north tomorrow,via Townsville.

We had a communal pizza around the park camp-fire for dinner and met a couple from Canberra - one of the few big Aussie cities colder than Melbourne in winter.

The pizzas were pretty good. 

*** This chapter is now complete ***

Last updated at 8 pm on Wednesday 1 July 2026

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