Day 54: Sat 18 Jun - Yungaburra to Chillagoe

Day 54: Sat 18 Jun - Yungaburra to Chillagoe

Towed 190km

13 – 28°.  Overcast and cool in Yungaburra, becoming sunny with clear sky and increasing in temperature reaching 28 deg by midday in Chillagoe. I had another short walk along the lake and up the Avenue of Honour this morning before we packed and left just after 8:00am. The roads were very good, apart from a few stretches of unsealed road about 30km out from Chillagoe - Noeeleene got excited that we were finally driving on dirt road. Along the way we saw an array of crops including citrus, banana and even cotton, but the main crops were avocado - there were endless km of avocado plantations. About 95 km into the drive, between Mareeba and Chillagoe, we stopped at the small town of Dimbulah for morning coffee. After our coffee fix, we continued to Chillagoe, the road got a little hilly in places, but it was mostly very good. We reached the tourist information centre in Chillagoe shortly before midday, and purchased tickets to a Ranger guided tour of the Royal Arch Cave. We checked into one of two caravan parks in Chillagoe - the Chillagoe Observatory & Eco Lodge. What a gem of a park this place is. Plenty of open space, large sites with plenty of bird life. We booked our cave tour for 1:30pm, so we quickly set up camp, had a bite to eat, then headed 6km out of town to meet the ranger in a carpark for our tour. It was a short 250m walk to the cave entrance, walking into a labyrinth of passages with wonderful limestone formations and ancient marine fossils. The cave tour was superb - one of the best I have ever done - the caves were simply spectacular. We arrived back at the caravan at 4:30, had a brew, then Greg and I went for a 2.5km walk to the top a nearby group of steep hills with great views across the plains on the opposite side and across Chillagoe. We wrapped up the day with pre-dinner drinks outside in the warm air and clear sky, had a nice BBQ dinner then sat and watched the stars for a while. It was one of the nicest evenings so far - this is what it's all about. 


Morning walk up the Avenue of Honour

Dimbulah Railway Station

Dimbulah - a Lovely neat little town

The road to Chillagoe - Greg and Wendy ahead

A bit of dirt road - it didn't last long


Chillagoe outside the Information Centre - the Old Bank of Australasia Vault

Chillagoe - an old mining town

Marble stone in Chillagoe - once mined here and sent to Italy for processing

Chillagoe Church

Post Office Hotel Chillagoe


Heading towards the Royal Arch Caves


Heading towards the Royal Arch Caves

Entering the Royal Arch Caves

Leaning Tower of Pisa - Royal Arch Caves

Royal Arch Caves


Royal Arch Caves


Royal Arch Caves - Bob the Guide


Royal Arch Caves - Elephant formation


Royal Arch Caves


Royal Arch Caves


Royal Arch Caves


Ancient Marine Fossils

Ancient Marine Fossils


Royal Arch Caves

Royal Arch Caves

Royal Arch Caves

Royal Arch Caves

Royal Arch Caves

Royal Arch Caves

Crawling through the laundry shute - I was reasonably happy until I got told that I look like Scomo in the photo.


Exiting the Royal Arch Caves


Hilly climb to nearby lookouts

Wonderful views over the area

Wonderful views over the area (air strip behind the tree)

Beautiful views - a bit warm on the climb though (squinting because I'm looking into the sun)


Lovely rocky outcrops
Beautiful scenery

View onto our camp site

A lovely park - great setup and very quiet








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