Population 43.2
Friday was a bit of a chillout day. I didn’t do much other than get my clothes and things ready to take for the weekend camping, then take the bike into town and pick up a few bits from the supermarket. In the evening we went to Sea Bean, a tapas restaurant I’ve been to before, then home and a quick whisky before turning in to be ready for an 8 o’clock start in the morning.
We set off only 10 minutes later than intended, and headed for the first stop, Mareeba, where we got fuel and also stopped for breakfast at a small but impressive deli where we could sit outside with Murphy. We were heading west towards our final destination, the outback town of Chiilagoe. We were on a main highway into the the interior of Australia at the start of a bank holiday weekend, but unlike home we saw more roadkill kangaroos than we did cars.
We made an unplanned stop when we saw an art-deco looking train as we were about to drive through a small settlement called Almaden, and stopped for a closer look. Seeing it waiting at the station you could almost expect Bonnie and Clyde to appear, and we initially thought it was just a museum piece albeit in an unusual out-of-the-way location but the blackboard in the Station Hotel advised it runs twice a week, Wednesday and Saturday, and as we were sat outside having a drink a crowd of people appeared and alighted. The steps were taken away, the doors manually closed, and the train slowly drew away in no great rush, and in keeping with the total vibe.
I looked it up online after we got home and found the train is known as the Savannahlander, with carriages around 60 years old although the interiors have been updated for passenger comfort over the years. It runs a seven-day round trip between Cairns (where the airport is) to Forsayth 424 kilometres inland, a Boom-and-Bust Hub which earned its nickname of the Poor Mans Goldfield because nugget gold could literally be found sitting right on top of the ground. Wouldn’t it be nice…
The blackboard also told informed us that the population of Almaden is 43.2. One of the train passengers wondered if the point 2 was due to a pregnancy, but the barman didn’t confirm or deny it or give any more information, so we still don’t know.
As we got nearer to Chillagoe we came across more frequent, often black, rock formations, ranging from the size of a small boulder to a respectable tor. These were made up of limestone and coral as millions of years ago in the past the whole area had been under the sea and huge coral reefs had formed. Closer inspection the following day showed the rock also had the patterning made by the sea that you see in the silt at the bottom when diving. It must have been similar to the Great Barrier Reef today, and where the black outer layer had broken away you could still see some colour from the long-dead coral.
We also began to see increasing n umbers of kangaroos and wallabies, but fortunately alive and well this time. They even came exploring the campsite after everyone was asleep, and going to the toilet block in the early hours I got quite close to a few. After my shower on Monday morning I also saw a couple of peacocks wander along the path, and numerous other small birds.
During the 2 days we explored the town and local area, visited the old copper smelters which also produced significant quantities of gold and silver over the years but must have been an awful place to live and work with the heat, dirt, noise, scarcity of water and insects overrunning everything, a couple of the limestone and coral caves which were even more impressive close-up, and the famous balancing rock. The collection of old Ford vehicles was closed Saturday afternoon and Sunday, so instead we spent the afternoons at the creek cooling off and throwing sticks for Murphy. Conor tried the rope swing as a means of entry into the water, but Kerry and I had to give it a miss as we were needed to watch Murphy and photograph the action. Conor unselfishly did it a few more times just to give us the chance of a good picture!
On Saturday night we ate at one of the two pubs in town before going to the observatory where the night sky displayed a different view of the stars to that at home, then spent several hours under those starswith Ebony and Jacob, friends of Conor’s, around the campfire. Sunday night we cooked kangaroo burgers (NOT from the roadkill) over the campfire before turning in around 10.30.
Monday we headed for home, having spent 2 days with no phone signal and infrequent internet access. It had been a great weekend though, and it wasn’t finished. Although Conor was working at Salsa in the evening we had time for a bike ride first, so met Andrew on his Indian at the petrol station before riding up to the Daintree Beach Resort. Finding it closed we continued to Daintree Village where we grabbed a quick beer then headed back, observing speed limits all the way (though not always sticking rigidly to them!).
Kerry and I took Murphy for a walk along the beach, I cooked a prawn and crabmeat pasta for tea, And we just enjoyed a chilled evening.
Although I may add some more pictures later, the ones below are the train and station at Almaden, the Railway Hotel, driving on the dirt road, various shots of Chillagoe and the area, and our campsite with the swag in the foreground where I slept.
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