The locals were friendly, the jute box was playing and Terry was full of stories. He had bought the pub on a whim whilst driving past a couple of years earlier and had big plans for its development. He gave me a guided tour with his four year old son, Clancy, and James in tow. He had dug out by hand about 60 cm of dirt from the rooms below the pub and created sitting rooms adorned with his collection of memorabilia, a couple of bedrooms and a whisky room with an unbelievable assortment of spirits...valued, he said, around the cost of a new car! It was quite remarkable. I doubt he ever sleeps. And he was in the throws of excavating an adjacent room to create a cigar bar.
RAILWAY HOTEL RAVENSWOOD scores a 3. Out the back of the pub it's a bit of a junkyard and the parking surface is rough, pretty uneven red dirt. Not a spot to stay when it's wet! Power and water is available (at a small cost). There are facilities at the pub and Terry is amazing. Next time I'll stay at the showground and walk the short distance to the pub.
Next morning the sun was shining brightly, the ground was dry and Terry had provided me with a list of things to check out around town. James and I headed off on foot starting first with the Post Office and General Store built in 1885.
Next stop Thorp's Building (1904) and the Imperial Hotel (1902)
From there we walked along a few old tracks and found the remains of the gold mining operations that drew over 5000 residents to the town between 1868 and the early 1900's when mining the ground in the area became too difficult. There are still lots of old brick chimney stacks dotted through the bush.
Five kilometres out of Ravenswood (by car this time) we found the White Blow. The large white quartz rock outcrop dates back some 300 million years. On the way back into town we went up to the lookout and were able to view a non-operational open cut gold mine. It was operated early in the 2000's. The Carpentaria Gold Mine still produces gold in the area and employs 250 miners. We also drove past the showground which offers free camping. There were several vans parked there and it looked really good.
Charter's Towers was the next destination. It was just over an hour's drive. There is no free camping close into town (there are a couple about 30 km out) but there are several caravan parks. After a drive around I opted for one that looked nice and was located right beside the golf course. The Dalrymple proved to be a good choice - big grassy sites, complimentary date loaf on arrival and a community fire at night. Nice one!
Saturday I played in the comp. It's not a bad course and the greens are in very good nick. I reckon its the longest course I have ever played though with a couple of consecutive holes on the composite Lakes course about 500 metres apart. I should have taken the offer of a lift. I had to go like bloody hell to keep up with my buggy and the others in carts. It was great fun and excellent company but I was stuffed by the end!
Sunday we headed north on the Gregory Highway. For the most part it was an excellent, easy drive on good bitumen, though there were some narrow, one lane sections. It was 337 kilometres to my planned overnight, Einasleigh. At The Lynd Oasis Roadhouse I refueled before hitting the dirt for the final 75 km. I was somewhat relieved to find out from a fellow traveler at the roadhouse that the road ahead was in good condition. About half way down the road I saw several caravans camped by a river. I drove in and checked it out. There was not a lot of room but it was certainly a beautiful spot. I would have been tempted to stop over for the night but I couldn't fit the van in on the river bank and I had no phone signal, so I continued on. Einasleigh River freecamp is one I've made a mental note of however.
Mid-afternoon we pulled up at the Einasleigh Pub. It offered free camping and there were already two vans parked on the grassy lot beside the pub. John, the publican, was happy for me to stay the night so I backed into a spot as did two other vans that arrived within the next few minutes.
Einasleigh's major tourist attraction, Copperfield Gorge, is just across the road. The gorge was formed when the Copperfield River eroded a channel through a sheet of basalt laid down by an ancient lava flow. It's a stunning natural formation.
As the afternoon wore on the four couples in the other vans all introduced themselves and we swapped our travel stories. As it turned out we all decided to take advantage of the $10 dinner deal and had a great night all sitting together by a roaring fire. It was one of my favorite nights on the road!
EINASLEIGH HOTEL gets a 4. The ground is flat and grassed and there are basic pub amenities. It's close to the gorge, John and his wife who have only been running the pub for two weeks are lovely and it has a great atmosphere. And the meals and drinks are ridiculously cheap. The downside for me was no phone signal.
Next morning we walked to the end of the gorge and down onto the river. It was just beautiful.
Surprisingly there was no mobile coverage at Einasleigh. That was a bit of a problem as I wanted to move on to Cobbald Gorge but as it is on private property it must be pre-booked. One of the couples had just come from there and it was apparently full. They could only stay one night. In the end I used the pub's landline and managed to book three nights. I would have to fill in one night before I could arrive, so I drove onto the small town of Forsayth just 73 km down the road. I was very pleased I arrived early in the day as I got one of the last sites available in the tight little caravan park. There's not much at Forsayth - just a pub which is also the Post Office and General Store, a park and a few houses. It is only 46 km from Cobbald Gorge so lots of people use it as a base from which explore the area, hence the reason the caravan park does such a good trade. Not bad value at $25 per site.
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