Day 55: Sun 19 Jun - Chillagoe

Day 55: Sun 19 Jun - Chillagoe

15 – 28°.  It was a mild morning with a clear sky, and almost no wind all day. It was the perfect sunny day all day. An early morning walk from the caravan park was followed by a bike ride to the old Chillagoe Smelters, once the centre of a thriving mining industry for a range of minerals between 1901 and 1943, today it's a fascinating ruin. Now the area has just a small zinc mine and some marble quarries. The area has become better known for its extensive limestone caves of which there are between 600 and 1,000 in the Chillagoe-Mungana area. After lunch we drove 15km out of town to the Archways for a self-guided walk through some wonderful caves, the Mungana rock art site and the old Mungana Cemetery. We returned to the caravan park at about 3:00pm, and although there was still much to see that we had on our list (including other self-guided cave walks), we decided to call it the day, and save them for another visit. By the time we packed up for tomorrow's departure to Port Douglas, it was time for evening drinks, followed by dinner under the stars, then another evening of star-watching. Tonight we saw 9 satellites (of 4,852 active satellites orbiting earth), and 4 shooting stars. Another very enjoyable day and evening, with a few laughs.

Sadly though, we decided today that we would not proceed to the cape from Cooktown, our next destination after Port Douglas. The reasons are the last rain event which impacted our travel plans means travel north would coincide with school holidays starting at the end of this week - which we were trying to avoid, and the roads to the cape are already busy. There is also talk of another heavy rain event developing. There is still so much more that we can see and do, we will save our planned trip to the cape for another year. 

Beautiful morning light - the moon hanging around a little longer than usual

Outside the caravan park at the old railway station

Outside the caravan park - car wreck

Lovely rock formations

...and waterways

View from a hill at the smelters

Old mining smelters. Chillagoe was the smelting centre for a the surrounding region from about 1890 to 1943. The site processed mainly lead, copper, and some silver and gold from small mines within a 50 to 150km radius  

View from a hill at the smelters

Slag heap at the smelters

Stack looking a little worn and fragile


Marble stockpile

Marble stockpile


Marble stockpile

Abandoned machinery

About the Wheelbarrow way

The Wheelbarrow way

Dave - the Elasmosaur

About Dave the Elasmosaur


A lovely billabong


Nearby Weir


Swimming hole near the Weir

Swimming hole near the Weir

Smelter stack


Outside the caravan park

Mungana Archways

Mungana Archways

Mungana Archways

Mungana Archways


Mungana Archways

Mungana Archways

Mungana Archways

Mungana Archways

Mungana Archways

Mungana Archways

Stalactites - Mungana Archways

Stalactites - Mungana Archways

Mungana Archways

Mungana Archways

Munagana Rock Art site

Munagana Rock Art site

Munagana Rock Art site

Munagana Rock Art site

Munagana Rock Art site

Munagana Rock Art site

Old Mungana Cemetery

Old Mungana Cemetery

Old Mungana Cemetery

Stare down along the main road back the the caravan


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