Day 11 - Hughenden to Charters Towers

What better way to start the day with breakfast – at the FJ Holden Cafe. We liked it yesterday – and we liked it again this morning. Sooz had the sausages and eggs this morning and I went for the simpler baked beans and toast. We continue to be amazed by how much memorabilia is shoe-horned into the cafe – obviously a labour of love for the owners. It was all I could do to not go through the pile of singles to see if Jamie Redfern’s ‘The Little White Cloud' was there. 

On the way out of town Sooz spotted the minion saying ‘Bello' (as they do) so we had to go back so I could snap a photo – with the phone – I don't trust the dashcam to take photos when I ask it too. Hmmm – I still haven't had a look at it to see what the issue is – and I still need to download the photos that it has taken. I know it will bring back some moments from the trip so far!

We drove back to Charters Towers today – and stopped in at Pentland again to have a look at the echinda who didn't come with us last time. More's the pity, it was just as reluctant to come with us this time so we will have to make do with the chicken cup Sooz got last time, and the kingfisher that did decide to come with us last time.

The highlight of my day was that I overtook two road trains (not at the same time) on the highway. Yes, it was with an assist – but that was only possible because Wayne had given me a lesson in overflogging – as he called it – yesterday on the way out to Porcupine Gorge. Keeping that in mind, I held back so the road train could see me and then started inching over to see what was on the road ahead – and then when it was safe, the road trains both put on their right indicators to show that it was safe to go. I was excited – and am now looking forward to more overflogging on the open road.

Once in Charters Towers, the WAZE navigation app refused to play ball straight away and we had to pull over to try to talk some sense into it so we could find our motel – not the one where we stayed on Saturday night because that was full. Good luck with that! I had to look up the address of tonight's motel before it would even pretend to look for it. It would have been much easier if I had realised where it is – right next door to where we stayed on Saturday night. I was so surprised when I turned the corner on the way to the Towers Hill Lookout – and there it was – with their ‘No Vacancy' sign out.

I did the “tourist" thing again this afternoon. First to Towers Hill Lookout – I think I remember riding up there when I was a kid – the World War II bunkers looked familiar; and then out to the Pioneer Cemetery – which was used during the late 1800’s. It looked interesting and I would have gone in to have a closer look at the headstones that were there – and the unmarked graves - had I not forgotten the most critical thing – Sooz or someone else to be on the lookout in case I ran into a snake.

Next up I was an ‘Uber' driver. Wayne is set up at one of the caravan parks and spent most of the afternoon trying to fix some damage to his van. We had planned to have a cuppa at his van site but I ended up driving him around the various hardware stores to find the bits and bobs he was after to do the job. It was fun – especially when he found the large rivets that would greatly simplify the job. The nearest Bunnings is in Townsville so we used the local stores including a very large Mitre10. It was on the way there that we saw the Charters Towers welcome – which Wayne and I are planning to photograph tomorrow - that's how impressed we were. Golden!

Sooz and I went to The Rix for dinner tonight. I'd found out about it from the woman who checked us in to the motel. Apparently it's recently won an award as the best regional restaurant in Queensland (but don't quote me on that). There was a decent enough-sized menu and Sooz and I had no trouble choosing the Bottletree Rump and the Crackling Pork Cutlet. Sooz had been reading the reviews this afternoon and she was saying they were fairly mixed – and over the same general time period. If I was giving a score it would be more than 7.5.