13/10/06. Sandra and I have driven out to Mount Morgan to go on a Sightseeing trip, and a gold mine tour. This is one of the best tour's that we have been on, the tour left from the Mount Morgan Railway Station for a three hour tour around the town and gold mine.
The Greatest Gold Mine in the world faced closure in 1902. The dam which supplied water to the Mount Morgan Township and Gold Mine was running out of water, the mining company appealed to the government to bring in three Train's daily with water. Between May & Dec they hauled in 136.000.000 litres of water until Rain fell, the railway saved the mine and town and in 1880 the population was 4000. The miner's carted out clay from on top of the mountain to make brick's to build the Smelting Stack's for the gold extraction, this clay mine was all dug without the aid of modern equipment and was a testament to there skill's in those early days. On the ceiling of one of these cave's, Dinosaur footprint's were discovered after the mine closed down in the 1900s so far they have discovered 64 of them.
Dinosaur Footprint's in Clay Mine
Mount Morgan Q.L.D.
The mount Morgan Gold mine is now abandoned,the excavation of the gold mine took the complete top off the 285 meter mountain and has left a huge hole, and now it is slowly filling with water, a depth of 40 meters has so far filled and is been filtered to extract highly toxic chemical's to make it a safe environment for the enjoyment of future generation's.
The Old Mount Morgan Gold Mine
( now slowly filling with water)
17/10/06. We have moved further south to the Calliope River Rest Area, this free stop is 48 hours only - and is patrolled by Council Ranger's, over the year's camper's have abused this lovely area by over staying. up early next morning Mike and I went fishing in his boat - San and Gerri fished from the shore, we caught nil but I had a very strong hook up and the 6lb line snapped like a piece of cotton ( Barra? ) Sandra was excited when we got back as she had caught a 28cm Sooty Grunter and a large Mud Crab. Mike and I went back up river to collect some firewood for the campfire this night, with boat chock-a-block of wood Mike could not start the motor and so we had to row a half mile back to camp ( we were stuffed ). That night Mike cooked up a beef stew and a great damper in the campfire which was washed down with plenty of beer.
19/10/06. We travelled further south just out of Gin Gin with M & G for the night,there are a lot of Cane toads near our van and Sandra is a bit nervous with them so close. Tomorrow we are going to Elliot Heads south of Bundaberg and will see our old fiend' Judy and Max Moore.
Up early for a cool start as today is going to get very hot. Passing through the cane field's south of bundy we almost collided with a cane train, the warning light's were late coming on, you should get at least 200 meters warning before you arrive at the track's the cane grow's right up to the road and this year there has been four fatalities on this stretch of road alone.
23/10/06 today we went to the Markets at Bundaberg, we were in for a pleasant surprise as we ran into old friends, John and Lyn Cosier that we met last year at Crescent Heads - they haven't changed - still full of life and are coming out to the heads for a B.B.Q later in the week. We were talking to an elderly couple who had a gemstone stall here and the old chap said if I bring the Sapphires that we had collected in Rubyvale he will cut them for us at $10 each. 25/10/06.
Took gems to Bundy and then out to Burnett Heads hotel with Max, Judy, Mike and Gerry for lunch and some light refreshments, on the way back we bought a 9 Litre bucket of tomatoes for $3 just down the road from the Moore's, there are a lot of Market Gardens close by with Pineapples at 50 cents each, Pumpkins a $1, sweet potatoes $1.50 a bag, Banana's $4 a kilo, Zucchini's $1 a bag - we are going to miss these cheap prices and good quality fruit and veggies down in N.S.W.
We have said good bye to Max & Judy, Mike & Gerri and that Bloody Black Bird that never shuts up squawking 24/7, I swear that there were at least 20 people that if a gun was handy they would have shot the darn thing. We have picked up our Sapphires on the way out of Bundy,Fred has done a good job of faceting them, he was able to cut six good one's.
We are now camped on the Mary River in the Tiaro Shire - at Petrie Park - which is a 48 hour free rest stop. The Mary River is the only river in Australia that flows North, there is a heavy fine ($15,000 -$75,000) if you are caught with a Mary River Cod in your possession and there are also Bass & Barra to catch legally, the Q.L.D. Lung Fish (up to 6ft in length) are in the river and they are a protected specie's. Up early next morning - no lights at night just brilliant stars and complete blackness - met other campers who were swimming in the river with San & I and the Lung Fish and Turtle's, that night at Happy hour one of the campers - Julie who is about 70 told Sandra that a Micky Muncher was under the toilet seat in the ablution block and scared the crap out of her, I said, back home we called them green tree frogs ( that just about bought the camp down). Awoke 4-30am next morn and went for a walk and then brekkie at about 8-30, Julie called out that there was a nudist carrying a canoe down to the river with nothing on except a life jacket and hat, he then took of the life jacket and went for a paddle up river.
Nudist at Petrie Park
No comments:
Post a Comment