Moving on

Deat family and friends







As planned we left Willows Gemfield on Friday morning setting off about 7.30am with the intention of returning next year for the annual Gem Fest which occurs each August.

We had such a good time there and made so welcome by all.





We headed north via the Gregory Developmental Road and what a long boring journey that stretched into as we travelled through Capella and Clermont. From Claremont through to Charters Towers, some 400 klms, there was one lonely old service station at Belyando Crossing which obviously had the monopoly on fuel and food, a little bit like the Nullabour when you pay an arm and a leg for anything. Thankfully we had enough of eveything till we reached Charters Towers.





The Bathurst Races were on this past weekend which meant that Ken was glued to the TV for the weekend. We did some shopping and some cleaning and today we will do some sight seeing.



Charters Towers is a very, very old place by Australian standards with a population of 30,000 people in it's hey day. the population is now only 7,000. It boasts the first pub outside Brisbane and it's own stock exchange from days gone by.







The architecture of many pubs and buidings is amazing.