WINDCHASERS GET LOST IN THE GHOST TOWN

So, two months at Elliott Heads gave Northern Territories enough time to be done and dusted with wet season and soon after Easter we packed up the caravan and headed north to Townsville, and from there west into the outback.

Being so far away from the beach is so alien to us. We feel like a penguin walking. Sure it can do it but not quite what they’re best at. It is hard to describe the feeling of “awkward” when you’re so out of your element. We love the ocean. I think that was pretty obvious by now, right?

Allow me a quick disclaimer. If you are one of those people that like the outback and the flatlands that, beyond a shadow of a doubt, have heaps of mesmerising beauty and could watch it for hours and days on end, please feel free to do so. We salute you. Seriously! Go for it! In all honesty, we do the same. But with the ocean.

So you can imagine, for the purpose of self-preservation, we shelled up and focused on the next fun thing to do in the outback and believe us, there’s plenty. They’re just very far apart. A bit self-explanatory really, as it IS the outback.

We ended up celebrating each kink in the road as if it was a win on the raffle ticket at the local pub out of sheer boredom. The road goes on and on and on in a perfectly straight line!!! For hours!!!!

We prospered for gold in Charters Towers, stopped at Hughenden and touched base with dino-history of the area, we hiked in the Porcupine Gorge, made friends with a fellow travelling family, watched the sunset in Julia Creek and checked out the dunnart (so cute).

At last, the road brought us to an abandoned town Mary Kathleen. It was quite unsettling to see the eerie remnants of a former town that was abandoned after the mining died off. There were plenty of concrete slabs left behind when the houses were sold and shipped off and lots of roads that connected them.

And believe it or not, we got lost in it!!!

Finding our way in was easy but back out was a problem. Google maps had roads noted where there were none and vice versa. We ended up circling the non-existent town for a fair bit and squealed with joy when we glimpsed the exit road.

We felt rather silly afterwards.

-To be continued-

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Lookout over Porcupine Gorge, Hughenden, QLD

The river has spent millenia to carve out the gorge

Rockpools teeming with life. Each was completely different to the other.

The Pyramid of Porcupine Gorge. It stands above the kink in the river that creates a great swimming pool.

Hughenden is full of dino features.

Panning for gold at Charters Towers.

Gold!!! We found gold at Museum. Cheekynes is contagious.

Kronosaurus Korner in Richmond. Could not resist making silly faces.

Very informative museum exhibits. We gave it five stars.

Sunset and live music at the firepit.

Dunnart, the small (and totally adorable) marsupial. Only found in this region.