We left Mackay yesterday morning via the Peak Downs Highway to Clermont. Clermont which dates back to 1861 is famous for the big flood of 1901, many people were killed, the town was 10 metres under water and there is a replica of a piano stuck in a tree. The real piano rotted away long ago.
Our next stop along the highway was Capella. The distinct Peak Range is a group of gigantic dome topped mountains just north of the town and there is a viewpoint for taking some photos.
Then it was on to Emerald in the middle of the gemfields surrounded by towns such as Rubyvale, Sapphire and Anakie. We visited each of these towns and tried our hand at sapphire fossicking at Rubyvale. We bought a bucket of “wash” ie a bucket full of rocks and dirt and you sift through it again and again and wash it in water again and again. We got very grubby and very hot but it was heaps of fun and we have a handful of tiny sapphires. Sapphires, by the way, come in just about every colour in the rainbow, clear, yellow, orange, brown and of course blue which of course makes it really difficult for the untrained eye to spot a gem. We found a few and then a lady who works there came to show us the ones we’d missed and she found a handful of tiny stones in a few minutes. One of stones we found is just big enough to make into a small piece of jewelry.
We stayed overnight in the town of Emerald and headed off this morning towards Longreach. We stopped at Alpha which is known at the Town of Murals. There are 27 murals painted in buildings throughout the town. Each mural depicting a different aspect of pioneering life.
Travelling along the Capricorn Highway, an almost straight road we didn’t see too much traffic at all but we did see a lot of road kill, some of it in the middle of the road. At one point there was an animal, possibly a large wild pig or maybe even a cow right in the middle of the road, of course that happened right at the time when vehicles were coming on the other side of the road.
We saw quite a few eagles, bush turkeys, emus, an echidna and lots of small termite mounds.
The next town we stopped at was Jericho. There is a sculpture in the town “The Crystal Trumpeters” which tells the story of the Battle of Jericho.
A little further up the road we stopped at Barcaldine which is famous for the Tree of Knowledge which is now dead after being poisoned in the 1960’s. It was the central meeting place for the Shearers’ Strike during the upheaval in 1891. This all lead to the formation of the Australian Labor Party.
There are a number of heritage listed buildings to look at such as the Masonic Lodge and St Peters Church. We also visited The Australian Workers Heritage Centre which is a vast museum with many displays, artefacts and memorabilia and in the centre it has an artesian bore. It was very interesting and we spent a couple of hours there.
Our next stop along the highway was Capella. The distinct Peak Range is a group of gigantic dome topped mountains just north of the town and there is a viewpoint for taking some photos.
Then it was on to Emerald in the middle of the gemfields surrounded by towns such as Rubyvale, Sapphire and Anakie. We visited each of these towns and tried our hand at sapphire fossicking at Rubyvale. We bought a bucket of “wash” ie a bucket full of rocks and dirt and you sift through it again and again and wash it in water again and again. We got very grubby and very hot but it was heaps of fun and we have a handful of tiny sapphires. Sapphires, by the way, come in just about every colour in the rainbow, clear, yellow, orange, brown and of course blue which of course makes it really difficult for the untrained eye to spot a gem. We found a few and then a lady who works there came to show us the ones we’d missed and she found a handful of tiny stones in a few minutes. One of stones we found is just big enough to make into a small piece of jewelry.
We stayed overnight in the town of Emerald and headed off this morning towards Longreach. We stopped at Alpha which is known at the Town of Murals. There are 27 murals painted in buildings throughout the town. Each mural depicting a different aspect of pioneering life.
Travelling along the Capricorn Highway, an almost straight road we didn’t see too much traffic at all but we did see a lot of road kill, some of it in the middle of the road. At one point there was an animal, possibly a large wild pig or maybe even a cow right in the middle of the road, of course that happened right at the time when vehicles were coming on the other side of the road.
We saw quite a few eagles, bush turkeys, emus, an echidna and lots of small termite mounds.
The next town we stopped at was Jericho. There is a sculpture in the town “The Crystal Trumpeters” which tells the story of the Battle of Jericho.
A little further up the road we stopped at Barcaldine which is famous for the Tree of Knowledge which is now dead after being poisoned in the 1960’s. It was the central meeting place for the Shearers’ Strike during the upheaval in 1891. This all lead to the formation of the Australian Labor Party.
There are a number of heritage listed buildings to look at such as the Masonic Lodge and St Peters Church. We also visited The Australian Workers Heritage Centre which is a vast museum with many displays, artefacts and memorabilia and in the centre it has an artesian bore. It was very interesting and we spent a couple of hours there.
No comments:
Post a Comment