Kiwikoala: August 2013

5^th July 2013

It is time for the Malanda show again. This is a local show for the showing of the local cattle and dairy animals. With a few sideshows and rides for the ones who dare to, No we did not have a go at any of the rides. Also in the pavilion the local ladies and school children have a chance to put their veggie growing and cooking talents to the test as well as art work and quilting, scrapbook work and many beautiful locally grown flowers.

This year Marg decided to give it ago again with her folk art paintings. She got two first and a second. Photos below.

Now that the silage is done and the fields re planted. John thought is was a good time for us to go to Chillagoe for a few days . Monday was a overcast day with showers due , fingers crossed there is sunshine in Chillagoe.

We stopped at a rest area by the Eureka creek for Monday night. A lovely spot for a happy hour sitting along side a stream listening to the kookaburras and cockatoos and other birds. While we were there 3 local ducks decided to be friendly and pay us a visit. Yes I felt sorry for them and gave them some biscuits. Photos below. We were the only ones there for the night . In the morning a couple from Victoria arrived around 9.30 am. Don and Margaret told us they were going to stay there for 3 nights. Time for a cuppa and a chat. We found we had a lot in common as they had not long sold their dairy farm and had just started touring around Aussie.

Eureka Creek Rest Area

Locals

Chillagoe is 215 km (3 hours) west of Cairns via Mareeba, Dimbulah, Petford,and Almaden on the northern end of the Atherton Tableland. We stopped at Almaden for lunch . This is a small village of a population of 30. They have a railway station where the train still stops twice a week. It arrives on a Wednesday from Cairns and returns on Saturday. The local hotel patron Shane was telling me that they are looking at ending the trains in 2015 .This would be sad as it is their only way of bring money into the area. The Railway Station Hotel is the main gathering waterhole for the local stations in the area.

Petford Railway Station

Wheelbarrow Way is where every year they have a wheelbarrow race from Mareeba to Chillagoe on a fundraiser. Many teams from different cities participate in it and it is 140 kms is the total distance. This year was the 10th anniversary and the teams raised a total of $461,000. They travel 50 kms a day pushing a wheelbarrow and a lot of fun is had by all. ( Google the great wheelbarrow race and check out the times people achieve, you will be surprised )

Almaden Railway Station

Resident Cattle Herd in the Centre of Almaden

Railway Hotel at Almaden

Once we arrived in Chillagoe our first point of call is the information centre. Wonderful friendly people. They directed us to the local Rodeo ground where we could park up for $6.00 a caravan with no power for the night. Great price we thought. There were only 4 other vans here. Once we set up , we decided to walk into town and have a look around. Not a lot to see, a craft store that sold local marble which was quarried in the area. Lovely pieces but sad to say a little too heavy for us to carry around in our van . Popped into the Chillagoe Hotel for a glass of dark tooheys' ale. Very refreshing and had a talk to the local people which is always interesting to learn about the local area.

Says it All

Caption Says it All

10^th July we rose to a lovely sunny day. After breakfast we went to have a look at the Balancing Rock in the National Park. A wonderful walk to it, seeing the local bird-life and trees. John spotted a Bloodwood tree on the way to the entrance of the caves. Its sap is red (like blood ) and was dripping from the bark onto the ground.

Balancing Rock in The National Park

Area Around Balancing Rock

Looking Down from The Entrance to the Trezkin Cave

Bloodwood Tree

Sap Oozes out of the Bloodwood tree

Aboriginal Art

We wanted to visit the Royal Arch Cave and do a tour . This tour is very popular as when we went to buy tickets they had sold out as only a limited number of 28 are allowed on each tour. It is an hour and a half to go through.

We went for a drive around the local area visiting the cemetery. We found a couple of graves that were in the 1890's. They died so young back then.

Visited the local picnic and swimming hole that would be lovely for swimming.

Weir and swimming hole

From here we went to the Old Chillagoe Smelter works . Here they removed copper , silver, lead and gold from Ore mined at the turn of the 20^th Century. It is now a historical, industrial site that includes pits and tanks and contaminants. Photos below.

Old Chillagoe Smelter Site

Along the road coming into Chillagoe we noticed a lot of marble blocks. These are all quarried in this area. Sad to say a lot of the blocks that have been cut are just left to the elements. The average weight of each block is 22 tons and the marble is only about a metre below the ground in some areas. We asked a ranger as to why there were a lot marble blocks around the area and his answer to this is once the marble has been quarried from that area a large hole is left, so to stop the animals falling in these holes the not so good marble blocks are placed around the holes to prevent this.

Disused Marble Quarry

Marble Rock at the I-centre in Chillagoe

The Royal arch tour was very interesting. On the outside of is a rock formation that looks like the queens mother hence the name Royal Arch. Just before you start the tour you are given a led light with a battery pack to put around your waist. These batteries last for 15 hours if required. As this cave is over 100 years old they have decided not to put lightning in it but leave it as natural as possible for the public to see the rock formations and not to disturb the small bats that live in the caves. There were many stalactites and stalagmites to see which were thousands of years old. In this Cave system they grow at a rate of about 5mm per year.

Queen Victoria Figure in the Rocks

It was meant to be an hour and half but lasted over two hours long. During the tour people who wished to have a go at crawling into a small space then end up coming out into a small cave could do so. Both John and I declined due to us both not liking that idea. We saw very small cockroaches that live on the floor of the caves, these feed of the poop left by the bats. Then the spiders a few large ones deal with the cockroaches.

Walking back to the Rodeo Grounds from Shopping

Inside a termite Nest (ant hill )

Kiwikoala

Monday 12 August 2013

Chillagoe Caves