500km to the coast (Mar. 28/09 - Alva Beach, Australia, mileage 484km)

We had a lot of ground to cover today to reach the coast, and the scenery was very monotonous, much like yesterday. So little traffic uses this road that the cows actually look up when a car goes by, wondering what all the noise is about. The daily roadkill tally was two snakes, a cow, a dingo, and nine kangaroos (side note: rotting kangaroo flesh on a 40°C day does not smell good!) We took a break at a little park in the middle of nowhere that marked one of the places that the earliest explorers through this area passed. The crazy German guy walked 5000km from Brisbane to Darwin in a year and a half!


The biggest town in this part of the outback is Charters Towers, where we found ourselves early afternoon. This is an Australian "wild west" kind of town, like something you might find in New Mexico or Arizona. It was the biggest city in the southern hemisphere during its peak in the late 1800's, but now it's just your average big town. Gold was discovered here in 1889, so the town's buildings and heritage reflect the busy gold rush days of the late 19th century. We drove down the main drag to see the architecture, but quickly found out that the museum we wanted to see was closed. As a compromise, we learned that the local rodeo was on today, so we drove out to the grounds to see some Aussie horses and cowboys in action. Driving our Hippie van through the mayhem of the rodeo parking lot, we could've been at any equestrian event back home - trucks and trailers parked everywhere, with horses tied up or being fed or groomed or tacked up, bales of hay and water buckets scattered everywhere, and people running around with radios, food, and last minute show supplies. We followed the stream of spectators and mounted competitors to the entrance, but were disappointed to learn that it costs an arm and a leg to get in. So much for that! If it had been a completely unique event (i.e. kangaroo roping or something) then we might have gone for it, but it looked like roping and barrel racing are the same here as back home. Oh well.

Onwards we went, another 200km to Townsville, on the coast. We didn't have a game plan for Townsville, as it sounded like a big touristy town whose main attractions are seafood restaurants and the Great Barrier Reef offshore. We hoped to visit the maritime museum to get some background on the wreck of the SS Yongala that we intend to dive tomorrow, but it too was closed. Weekends are not good times for museums in this country! To get a taste for Townsville, we walked along the seafront promenade, past a busy kids' waterpark, a deserted beach (thanks to deadly box jellyfish in the water), and under palm trees full of screeching black cockatoos. The town was actually pretty quiet, so we drove to the top of castle rock for a great view down over the town and the surrounding country. With plans to go diving tomorrow morning out of the town Alva Beach about 100km south, we returned to the highway and claimed a campsite for the night just down the road from the diveshop. Today really didn't seem like our day in terms of luck and in the ratio of things to see versus time on the road, but it was a great day nonetheless. All Saturdays are great!