Capella- star of the caravan parks

Chris tells me Capella is the name of a star- in line with the series of stellar-named towns in these regions, all due to Leichhardt's spotting a comet when he was in the area.  It's a nice town, and this is a great caravan park, with level drive-through sites, concrete slabs for both caravan and annexe, shady trees, and terrific amenities including a really good book exchange.  We've come across a few of these before, but this is the best example, with many books to choose from.  You're meant to leave the same number of books behind, which is fine because they take up space in the van anyway and presumably you've already read them.

                                           Both vans settled in at Capella caravan park.


In the afternoon, Chris and I walked through the town. There's a long park between the main road and the railway, where there's a monument to the Aust Light Horse Brigade, which had historical connections to the town.  There's also a set of murals painted on the light posts (Chris says they should be called postals) depicting scenes from the town's history.  There are not many shops, but there are several motels and a big pub, which serves great counter lunches, we were told in Emerald.

Capella boasts a large cultural centre which caters for conventions and functions, a library, and a large aquatic centre which is open 9 months of the year.  The pools are solar heated and the complex also has mini-golf and BBQ- it's known locally as 'the beach' and picnics are encouraged.

The streets are wide, there are many trees and the whole place is well cared for.  A place you could think about living in.

The town is booming in one sense, because there's quite a lot of new housing, but the shops don't seem to be getting the benefit.  Emerald's only 50 km away so I suppose people go there to shop.  Much of the housing is in the form of dongas for workers, but there are also a number of new homes and villas.  Quite a few permanents in the caravan park, too, which usually indicates workers who haven't been able to find cheap accommodation.

We were treated to a splendid sunset which Chris captured with his camera.