R&R in Ravenswood

We've had a pleasant couple of days in Ravenswood, a heritage listed town between Townsville and Charters Towers (on the way to Burdekin Dam).  We're parked on the sunny side of the showground and have enjoyed sitting soaking up the sun outside our van.  Although sunny, there's a chilly wind which is stronger over the other side where John and Marg are- we're so glad we decided to up stumps and move across the showground.  It also meant that we have TV reception (so we've been watching the Diamond Jubilee celebrations- the Brits sure know how to throw a party!)


Yesterday we drove out on the road to Ayr to look at the sights.  We could have saved a lot of kms by driving here directly from Ayr rather than going further north, up to the highway, but we're so glad we didn't use this road, especially in the heavy rain that was prevailing at the time.  It's mostly gravel and very steep in places, and would have been very slippery towing the vans.  There are some lovely valley views and from what we saw of it the road would be OK as long as it was dry.


One unusual feature is a big quartz mound called White Blow- I'm blowed if I know where it got that name.  Quite amazing to see, and great views from the top.  

                         White Blow, entirely composed of quartz

                      Little tree tryiing to grow in the quartz


This morning was the coldest we've had, 6.5 degrees in the van, but the temp got into the mid 20s (tempered by that chilly wind).  Today we've been looking around this little town, a remnant of its former self- there were over 30 pubs here at one time.  There are still 2 pubs, both attractive structures, and the one where we ate lunch today, the Imperial, has interesting interiors as well as facade.  The former Catholic Church on the hill has now become non-sectarian since the other churches were demolished or removed.  Apparently it's very popular for weddings, people from Townsville come here because it's much cheaper than getting married there. They're expecting 150 people (same as the town's population) this weekend, so the hotels are totally booked out.  There's also a motorhome convention, with 6 buses/motorhomes here already and many more expected for the long weekend.


The town's obviously benefited from the gold mine which is still operating, with many fly in-fly out workers housed in dongas.  There are a number of reasonably new, though modest, homes, and we saw an ad for a house to rent for $220 a week.  Remember this town is over 80 kms from either Townsville or Charters Towers, and there's only a PO cum fuel stop cum tiny grocery store here- some mine workers go to the pubs for lunch.

                            Railway Hotel, Ravenswood

                             Imperial Hotel

Catholic Church. The rear section, the original church, has exposed exterior framework popular in this area in the early  1900s.


We will move on to Townsville tomorrow:  John and Marg will stay here a bit longer and meet up with us north of Townsville next week.