We'd woken to really strong winds again, and we were tired of them so a drive inland seemed like a good idea. Sure enough, the wind dropped as we went inland, but the rain started instead. Wipers were going for nearly the whole time we were away, but luckily it eased off when we were having morning tea in a nice little park in Collinsville, and later when we returned for lunch, as we'd not found anywhere better. There are several small parks in the area, but this one had some shelter as well (just in case).
We were visited by a very inquisitive bird, who turned out to be a juvenile pied butcherbird, still in brown rather than the black and white he will sport when he grows up.
Collinsville is strictly a mining town, but on a slightly different model from the others we've seen. Instead of dongas housing a hundred or so people (mostly men), they have a number of smaller, house-sized, buildings scattered through the residential areas, each with 5 or 6 rooms, communal kitchen and laundry. We don't know how the locals feel about having these people in their street- certainly the people of Moranbah, shown on 4 Corners last week, don't like it. And we did notice a disproportionate number of VERY BIG dogs amongst the normal houses.
The argument given in the program was that all these single men are living in residential streets (where the husbands may very well be away for 10 days at a time working) and nobody knows them. They are there themselves only to work, they have homes elsewhere, so they don't participate in the town's activities, etc. It's not like having normal neighbours. There's no incentive to do anything except drink, and the crime rate, especially rape, has skyrocketed. The husband being interviewed said his solution was, guess what, a very big dog.
We tried to find the Collinsville weir, but it was inaccessible; We did see a number of open cut mines, including a new one just being started up, and we were approached by a road-train driver for directions- fancy asking us! We didn't even have a map but we thought he was on the right road to Nebo, which turned out to be correct.
Back through the rain to Bowen, which was still windy but bone dry- the first drizzle was starting as we arrived there. Kim had invited us in to the motel for dinner, which was very pleasant, and we were joined by a motel guest who hailed from the Central Coast. He's the owner of Aurora Tours, which does tours for Seniors-they pick up from their home and take them to the airport, then they are met at the other end. He's investigating tours in this area. He said they have one client who's 94 and has done several tours.
We've had to change our plans on hearing Burdekin Dam is currently being upgraded and really doesn't have vacancies at the moment. We've decided to stay at Ravenswood instead, and do a day trip to Burdekin. From there we'll go to Charters Towers for a few days before heading to Townsville. No internet connection at Ravenswood, as mobile coverage is poor.
Kim's given us the use of a canoe, which should make the red claw fishing more interesting for the guys.
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