Day 56 Friday 11th August

Today we travelled to Charters Towers and as we had an early start we arrived before lunch. We had booked into a Big 4 Caravan Park at Charters Towers and it had everything you could want. The swimming pool was huge and set in a beautiful tropical garden. We had noticed that the vegetation changed quite markedly on our way from Hughendon, with more trees and greenery. Following lunch we drove into Charters Towers, first visiting Towers Hill Lookout and Amphitheatre. This was a good place to start as there were many interesting information boards about the town. We could see the remains of the old gold-mining works and battery, the WW2 Bunkers where ammunition was stored, Seismographic Station and Pyrites works. Charters Towers was established in the early 1870s after gold was discovered. Some people became extremely wealthy and the town reflected the wealth. It is full of beautiful heritage listed buildings and they have all been restored. At one stage in its history it called itself “The World”, even having its own stock-exchange building. We enjoyed wandering around the main part of the town and looking at these buildings.











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