This Adventurous Age

Adventures travelling and working around Australia.


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1998 Travels December 13

SUNDAY 13 DECEMBER     RUBYVALE

We had to get up early, in order to be at bowls in Emerald for their 9.30am start. They play in the mornings, so as to avoid the heat later in the day. We miscalculated – it was further to Emerald than we’d thought, somehow – and had to really hurry. But they were late starting, anyway.

It actually seems a bit short sighted, to be heading back in to Emerald, just after moving out to Rubyvale – but never let common sense get in the way of a bowls game!

We were both happy with the games we played. My team drew its game. John’s team came in second, and he won an electrical power board – a practical prize. It was sweaty work, playing.

When we got back to camp, found that JJ had called in here during the morning and left a message to go out to his place tomorrow morning.  Good!

John watched cricket on TV through the afternoon. I read the Sunday paper I’d bought in Emerald.

Later in the afternoon, as it began to cool down, we went for a bike ride – out the Capella road, to the north east. That is the road that runs behind our site. It was a pleasant ride on a gravel road, with very little traffic. The claims, houses and shacks do not extend very far out that road. Rode out for just over 5.5kms, then turned and came back. Did 11.2kms altogether.

Tea was cold roast lamb, with salads.

I phoned K and asked him to send the mail express to here.


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1998 Travels December 12

SATURDAY 12 DECEMBER   LAKE MARABOON TO RUBYVALE   88kms

We did not have to get an excessively early start today, since we are not going far.

We had the usual straightforward pack up and uneventful hitch up and departure. Stopped off in Emerald, where we posted the insurance renewal for our rental unit, bought a paper and then visited the book exchange for a big buy up.

Thus well equipped, the run to Rubyvale was easy.

We set up in the Rubyvale Caravan Park, for $70 a week. The owner was very friendly and helpful. He is a similar age to us, has a sapphire mine, and a replaced hip. His wife runs the Post Office that is at the front of the caravan park.

We set up on a site on the side fence, with a road behind us, but with shade. The amenities block is pretty basic, but clean. There is a small swimming pool – good! It seems a pleasant place. There is one permanent dweller, and we are the only tourists in – so it is going to be very quiet. The park is across the road from the hotel, and it is an easy walk to the shops.

After setting up, we rode the bikes out of town to where a jewellery sale was advertised in flyers we’d seen pinned up. There were a couple of interesting looking items, but we did not buy anything. Saw many houses and shacks for sale, some on claims. Rode 5.4kms in total, which was quite enough in the heat.

There was no sign of JJ, who was supposed to look us up here, this afternoon.

I had a swim – the pool is quite adequate for cooling off in and a bit of exercise.

There was a cooler breeze in the evening, which was pleasant. We could hear lots of fruit bats squabbling in the trees around the park.

Tea was roast lamb and vegies. Probably not a great choice, in view of the weather, but nice.

Today, it was really hot in Melbourne and Adelaide – in the 40’s. Cyclone Thelma, which went very close to Darwin, as a Category 5 cyclone, a few days ago, is finally exhausting itself inland from Derby. It was a nasty one and really battered the Tiwi Islands. It has been responsible for some massive rain falls up north.

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1998 Travels December 11

FRIDAY 11 DECEMBER     LAKE MARABOON

We drove into Emerald again, in the morning, as John had phoned a dentist and made an appointment. There was nothing wrong with his tooth, that she could find, and thinks it is just the fact that it has a huge filling in it, that is making it ache. She gave him an Amoxyl script, just in case he needs it to settle the tooth down. That visit cost us $56.

We shopped – a big food stock up, enough to last for at least two weeks. Just in case we get engrossed in being out on the gem fields and decide to stay on there.

Posted Xmas parcel to P and K. Bought diesel – 65cpl.

Back at the van, I did the washing.

We have settled on Toowoomba as the place to hole up for Xmas and New Year. I hope that its elevation will make it rather cooler and less humid than down on the coast, and we need to stay away from the crowded holiday places. I phoned a caravan park there and discussed options, then made a booking. That is settled.

We cleaned Truck, and inside the van.

Did some preliminary packing up.

Had quite a long chat with the Tasmanian couple, in the next door van. They have been on the road since 1995. Four years – we aim for that, and more.

Tea was frozen supermarket packet fish that I cooked, with fries.


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1998 Travels December 10

THURSDAY 10 DECEMBER     LAKE MARABOON

I finished P’s vest and think it looks good. Whilst in sewing mode, darned a torn shirt of John’s and sewed a button back on another.

R phoned to say she has decided to do an Articles course next year. John is pleased by this decision.

Later in the afternoon, we went for a 10km cycle along the lake edge, It included some rougher tracks. The man from the van next door came too.

There was a brief rain shower about 4.30pm. It was really just a few heavy drops, but enough to cool the air a bit.

Tea was satay chicken and rice.

John’s sister M phoned, in the evening. It is pleasing that some of John’s older siblings can relate to our travels and are interested in same.


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1998 Travels December 9

WEDNESDAY 9 DECEMBER     LAKE MARABOON

In the morning, we drove into Emerald to go to bowls. They play in the mornings, when it is a bit cooler.

I was fairly pleased with my game. John was in a team with a young, novice, boy and didn’t have a great time.

We did a little shopping. Went to the Information Centre, looking for any extra material on the sapphire fields. Also for information on parts south. After being in this area for a few days, we think it will be too hot to stay here over Xmas.

Mailed the Xmas cards, and most presents – cost $60 for packing and postage.

For the rest of the afternoon, I worked on the vest.

John had a toothache and slept for a while. He has had several very late computer game nights, lately!

John had leftover steak and kidney for tea, I had some salad.


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1998 Travels December 8

TUESDAY 8 DECEMBER     LAKE MARABOON

It was quite hot today – but it is a fairly dry heat.

I spent most of the day doing Xmas cards and letters. Also worked on the knitted vest present.

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We have lots of very “friendly” Rainbow Lorikeets visiting our camp

John went off in the Truck, in the afternoon, to try to catch some red claw yabbies in the lake. He managed to back into a tree, down there, and came back quite upset about it. There is a noticeable dent in the upper back on the driver’s side. He said he’d gotten out of Truck and checked to see if it was clear to back. Guess he didn’t look up!

He didn’t catch any yabbies, either.

In the late afternoon, we walked up to the lookout area, for some exercise.

Tea was steak and kidney, with dumplings.


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1998 Travels December 7

MONDAY 7 DECEMBER     LAKE MARABOON

We drove to the gem fields for a day trip. Took the highway for 45 kms to the west of Emerald, then turned north on a sealed road.

Cruised around Anakie, Sapphire and then went on to Rubyvale. It was just the usual sort of lightly timbered grass and scrubland until we got to Sapphire. Here the houses were somewhat higgle-piggle  – it did not look as if the place had ever been surveyed or properly laid out. There were rough sign boards advertising gems for sale and some cottages that seemed to be on claims.

Just out of Sapphire, we crossed the Tropic of Capricorn. There is a bottle shop and drinking establishment built there.

Between Sapphire and Rubyvale, could see signs of large scale machine mining, in places.

Rubyvale appeared somewhat more of a “normal” township – at least along the main street. But once away from that, the straggle of camps on claims became more evident.

In the tourist information, we’d seen an ad for Old Mick’s gem cutters and shop. The name had appealed to John, who calls me “Mick”, so we had to go there. It is actually run by a lady, but named for an old timer on the fields.

We spent some time chatting to J, the shop owner. I ended up buying a ring from her – a lovely parti-colour sapphire (mostly yellow) on a nice broad band. It cost $340 and is to be my Xmas present.

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At Old Mick’s Gem Shop with my Xmas present

J recommended that if we wanted to go fossicking in the area, to go to the Washpool Fossicking Area. There are several designated fossicking areas around the gemfields – where large scale machine mining is not allowed, and where claims are not pegged. The Washpool area is to the west, a few kms from Rubyvale. We tucked that information away for possible future reference.

Moved on to a place that was on a claim, along one of the winding, unsealed tracks that make up most of the township. It provided the gear, and taught visitors how to sieve the gravel wash and look for sapphires in it. This cost us $5 each for a bucket of gravel each. We found some bits of sapphire. John is better at the sieving than I am and gets the interesting bits more concentrated in the middle of the sieve load than I can. He found two “cutters” – stones that were big enough, and uncracked enough to be worth faceting.

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A typical scene on the fossicking areas – but with “green season” grass

I’d asked J if she knew of JJ and she told us that he was living out on Mt Leura station, on the Keilambete road, several kms out of town. So we drove out that way, found the property and drove in. A man came out to investigate, at the noise of the vehicle – and it was JJ. He was surprised to see us, obviously, but seemed pleased. We spent a couple of hours there, talking with him. He has a sort of caretaker’s role at the property, as the owner is away a bit. So he has a cottage to live in, there. He has a cute little Chihuahua called Zac. J offered to take us “specking” – looking for sapphires – on the property, if we came out to stay at Rubyvale, as we told him we were thinking of doing. We arranged to meet him next Saturday, in Rubyvale.

Back in Rubyvale, drove past the caravan park and thought it looked alright. Nothing lavish – one would not expect that, out here.

Drove back to camp, thinking it had been quite a fruitful day, and thinking that we would move out to Rubyvale next.

I made lentil cakes, with a lemon yoghurt sauce. Got the recipe from a newspaper. John did not like them and I wasn’t all that keen. Don’t win them all!

We drove 214kms today.


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1998 Travels December 6

SUNDAY 6 DECEMBER     LAKE MARABOON

I got up early. John slept until later.

It was nice sitting outside in the early morning – with a little cooling breeze and lots of birds.

After breakfast, we drove to Emerald and bought the weekend papers. Emerald is much more of a “proper” town than I had expected. I had associated it with the gemfields and assumed it was typical of such settlements. But it is not on the gemfields at all – they are some 80kms to the west. It is a service town, predominantly for the surrounding agriculturalists. It is growing very fast, due to the growth of irrigated cropping and new cotton farms nearby. From what we heard on the local news, aerial spraying of crops is a hot local issue, due to possible contamination of beef from the sprays. We did see some crop dusting as we drove – those pilots are crazy!!

On the way back to camp, bought some mangoes from a roadside stall.

We had a phone call from our Canberra friends. They are off to South Korea soon, for a month, and after that soon off again – to India for three months. Obviously, overseas travel, especially in Asia is what they enjoy most. Each to his own. I have no wish to travel overseas, these days, whilst there is still so much of this country to experience.

I phoned K to report our location. He says he is getting the pool ready for summer. That is good to hear.

Had a quiet day after that. Read the papers. Knitted some of a vest that I am making for P for Xmas.

We tried to phone JJ – the ex-husband of a close friend, who we knew had moved to the sapphire fields near Emerald. I found an address and phone number for him in the local phone book. But the number will not connect. Has he moved? Died? Not paid his bill? Gone south?

In the late afternoon, walked up to the lookout over the dam and read all about it on the information board there.

Tea was tinned fish, salad, leftover noodles.

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Sunset over Lake Maraboon


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1998 Travels December 5

SATURDAY 5 DECEMBER   CHARTERS TOWERS TO LAKE MARABOON   518kms

We were up at 6.15am and away at 8.10, after a good, uneventful pack up.

It was a hot day, of course.

We found it a rather monotonous drive south to Emerald. From Charters Towers, as far south as the Cape River – about 125kms – the road was mostly just a one width strip of bitumen; after that it was a normal two lane road and was pretty good. There were a couple of long stretches of road works on the single width sections.

We wonder whether weekends are THE days for moving extra-big loads? Had to pull over – right over – for five different lots, all with police escorts front and rear. Two lots had big dredges or machine buckets; one was a big shed or building; two were big machines, with huge double sets of wheels hanging over the edges of the tray of the carrying vehicle. They were monster loads.

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It is a good thing that the road has wide shoulders – south of Belyando Crossing

The country was a mix of scrub and grazing lands, but was pleasantly green.

We stopped at Belyando Crossing for a drinks break. Truck finished up parked by a big stock road train that came in after us, which dwarfed our rig. We worked out that the road train had 62 wheels. Would cost a lot to get new tyres on that!

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Our rig is dwarfed by a road train at Belyando Crossing

There was a big coal mine – Blair Athol – just north of Clermont.

We did not deviate to drive into Clermont township, which is slightly off the main road. We had originally thought of overnighting there, but John was feeling able to push on to Emerald.

We had lunch at a roadworks site, south of Clermont.

The Peak Range in the distance, to the east, made the last 100kms or so, more interesting to travel. Closer to Emerald, we came into farming country which was quite lush.

We bought fuel in Emerald – 75cpl. It is hard to account for the variations in fuel prices that we are encountering.

Then drove on out to Lake Maraboon Caravan Park, by the Fairburn Dam, some 20kms south of Emerald. We had decided that this sounded a more pleasant place to stay than in the town.

The Fairburn Dam was built across the Nogoa River for irrigation and forms the second largest dam in Qld, after Lake Dalrymple on the Burdekin. We drove over the dam wall and spillway to get to the caravan park. The road over the dam wall was not all that wide and it is definitely not the sort of feature I like driving over! We got good views, though.

The caravan park looked ok, so we booked in for a week. It cost $81 after Top Tourist discount and we get a free night. Pretty good deal, we thought. The place turned out to be rather busy and noisy today, though, with a large group out here for a Xmas party – with many children. There is some sort of cafe place attached to the park that obviously caters for such things. There were also motor boats and water skiers down the hill at the lake. But, we have a pleasant site. Hopefully, things will quieten down after the weekend.

There are lots of rainbow lorikeets and apostle birds around the park.

After we got set up, went for a walk along part of the lake side, where there was a path. We needed some exercise after the day of sitting.

Tea was vegie stir fry with hokkien noodles.

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1998 Travels December 4

FRIDAY 4 DECEMBER     CHARTERS TOWERS

Another fairly quiet day, as it was even hotter.

We did some grocery shopping. Checked out the Post Office, in case there was any more mail – there was not. Fuelled up Truck – 63cpl.

Drove up to the Rotary Lookout, which gave us a very good view over the town. The gold mines of early Charters Towers were so spectacularly successful that, for a time, it was – rather egocentrically – known as “The World”. From the Rotary Lookout, one can see a large water tank on another hill, with a “The World” sign on it – a very prominent feature.

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Towers Hill, and its water tank with The World painted on it.

During WW2, Charters Towers was an important military base.

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Charters Towers town centre from Rotary Lookout

John played more of his computer game. I had a swim. We did some preliminary packing up.

Late in the afternoon, we went for a long walk around the neighbourhood streets.

Bought fish and chips for tea.