Days 19 & 20
This was my night spot and I took the pic next morning.
I was off to a good start as I wanted to cover quite a few km before the day was over,
I had no Internet or phone reception last night so I wrote the day's adventures as a document that I will try to add to the blog
Blog 27th
June
There is no phone or Internet here so I'm writing this in Open Office
and will transfer it tomorrow at Walkamin. There's only just over
250km to go so I should be there in the morning.
This is the rest area where I spent last night. There was a bit of
truck traffic but that wasn't what kept me awake. I had an email from
APIA about my accident with my little Getz and they needed some more
information. I hadn't opened the pdf so didn't know what they wanted
to know. My mind kept coming back to it though and with that and the
fact that it was warm and too hot with the doona I couldn't get to
sleep. At midnight I put on the light, grabbed my kindle and read for
a while until I felt tired and so finally went to sleep. It turned out all they need is a drawing of the intersection and the position of the two cars - not a prob at all as daughter Sue will do it for me.
There was a choice of route today – stay on the coast and put up
with the traffic and towns or take an inland route that was new
territory for the first bit heading for Charters Towers and a well
remembered road up past Greenvale. Of course I took the inland option!
A sign said that the road ahead had a steep and twisty climb that was
not suitable for buses, trucks, caravans or trailers! I'm not one of
them I thought – I'll give it a go! What it didn't say was that
there was 45km of gravel with countless dips where water crosses when
it rains. There were little bits of bitumen into and out of the dips so
they were not too bad and the gravel was OK if you took it easy.
The twisty climb was OK - with Yemmy in 2nd gear we flew
up without a problem and eventually arrived at historic Ravensthorpe
and the bitumen. It was definitely a driver's road and I enjoyed
every bit of it!
From Charters Towers onwards it was all plain sailing and after
buying a flat white coffee in a takeaway cup at Greenvale, I soon got
to The Lynd and joined the Gregory Development Road.
It was hard finding a place to camp but where a road turned off at
the sign to all the places mentioned, there was a spot with only one
caravan there. They were a nice couple and were pleased to have
someone camping with them.
I did a bit of walking before it got dark.
These goats were streaming across the road but by the time I'd stopped and got the phone ready to take their photo they had crossed and were in the bush.
This huge bull is at the entry to Charters Towers.
The Towers is also a town that features Country Music and that is highlighted by a guitar but I didn't get a pic!
The gravel wasn't too bad but I was quite pleased to get back on a sealed road.
It was a big day and I had just about 260km left to get to my destination at Walkamin.
I may as well continue with today's happenings on this page. There will be no photos that could tell what an eventful morning I had. It started with light rain that got worse the further I drove and the the ferocious side-wind started. Conditions got even worse as I got to Ravenshoe and its countless twists when there was thick fog added to the nearly horizontal rain.
It cleared a bit before Atherton and I was feeling relieved to be so near my destination but was caught by a zealous policeman for doing 73k/ph in a 60 zone. After he had done the paperwork and I'd blown into the breathalyzer, he asked if I had any questions. "Just one," I replied. "Why did you have to be there?" "Because my boss told me too,"he said.
Getting to the van park was a relief and I was soon telling my story to lots of friends who had spotted me driving in. I've set Yemmy up for a longer stay - at least until the end of July.
It was great to be back here again and tonight was barbecue night and once again many old friends
Tomorrow will be another day - a better day I hope
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