Pops, Picture, and Pioneer Village in Capella

Last night the caravan park managers put on a movie, Warhorse, in the camp kitchen- we chose not to go because we'd seen it (great movie), it was cold, and there were for a change some good shows on TV- John and Marg went to the movie and enjoyed it. I've said before that this is a particularly well run park- another example is that when hundreds of birds, mostly lorikeets, decided to roost in the trees above our caravans, the manager came and shooed them away with a starting pistol or some such.  Pop! Pop! and chatter chatter from the birds, but it worked.  They found somewhere else to sleep and to crap.

The temperature plummeted overnight and was 10.1 degrees inside the caravan at 7am but the day proved to be another beautiful, cloudless one.

This morning we visited the Pioneer Village here, an excellent museum made up of pioneer buildings transported from their original sites and set up here in the town. The homestead was made entirely of timber, pit-sawn, and constructed without a single nail.  The uprights had vertical grooves and the wall timbers were slid into the grooves. The ceilings were also timber, and the roof was timber shakes.  There was a shady wide verandah and the building was roomy and spacious, with the kitchen built as a separate part at the back, a common occurrence because the old kitchens often caught fire, and this separation prevented the whole house from being burnt.

Peak Downs homestead transported from its original site and restored in Capella without a single nail being used.

John is really into detail and it took ages for him to look at it, then he decided to photograph it so all up, about an hour after entering, we'd only seen one building, with many more to go.  The next was the shearer's shed, a museum in itself, showing many aspects of early rural life from agriculture to mining and including education, boy scouts, sewing and crafts.

Chris then entered a huge shed full of tractors, from whence he emerged much, much later.  I was hoping John wouldn't notice the shed, but Chris had to show him, and the two of them were in there even longer.  Some of the tractors were mildly interesting but not enough to make me go into the dark interior.  There was one outside which had been made from an old army tank cut down.

                                     Improved army tank
In another shed John came upon an old army truck which resembled one he used to have, right down to the hatch which opened above the passenger seat for the gunner to stand on the seat and use his bren gun.  I swear they took half an hour just looking at this truck, even to popping the bonnet and looking inside.  They didn't even notice the big harvester next to it.

                                                     Secret Men's Business


Another unusual recycling was the old watertank turned into a bar.  The barman goes inside via a door cut into the back, there are two porthole windows and a fan on top for ventilation.

                                                    New use for a water tank.


The museum also has an old train carriage and several other sheds of farm equipment, which luckily John didn't notice.  We'd been at the place for a good two hours before we left on our drive, which turned out to be a tad disappointing.  We were on the self-drive tour known as the mines drive, and we did see an open cut coalmine (in the distance) and the gateway to an underground coal mine, as well as the washery and loader (a bit closer, but still at a distance), and that was it for coal mines- we see more every time we drive to Newcastle airport past the coal loaders, or up the Hunter Valley past the open cut mines.  We didn't even get out of the car on this drive, no nice place to stop for a cuppa, but we did have another look at the Peak Range and we all enjoyed the drive, despite its not being what it was cracked up to be.

We had our previously packed lunches- back at the caravan park!

Passing through the Peak Range

The four of us went for a long drive through the Peak Range, which thrusts itself up from the plains not far from here.  No wonder Leichhardt called them the Peaks, (he named them all after the members of his party).  They are strange rocky protuberances, some pointy, some dome-shaped, some just couldn't make up their minds.

The most spectacular is probably the adjoining set of The Lord's Table and The Anvil, where we stopped for a cuppa.  The rocky cliffs soared above us- I imagine they have been climbed by intrepid rock climbers but it's hard to see how you would approach the task. Most of the peaks are on private property- there is a national park at Lord's Table but it's quite undeveloped, not even a track into it.

                             This photo shows The Lord's Table with The Anvil on the right.

Geological note:  Chris says the Table is a mesa (wider than it is high) and the Anvil is a butte (higher than it is long)

                                    The Anvil seen from our picnic spot on the southern side

                               The Anvil and Lord's Table with happy snappers Marg and Chris.

                  Enjoying a cuppa in peaceful bush setting next to Lord's Table and The Anvil

                Scott's Peak in the distance (it's actually quite high) and Calvin's Peak

So, another perfect day, great weather, mid-twenties temp and light breeze.  We have to keep reminding ourselves that it's almost winter- Queensland's having a cold snap at the moment, and it is a bit chilly at night, about 12 or 13 degrees, but warms up by about 9 am so quite pleasant.  

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.

Catching red claws at Lake Maraboon

We had a great day yesterday, drove to Lake Maraboon, the body of water formed by the Fairbairn Dam outside of Emerald.  Perfect conditions, 28 degrees with a nice cool breeze, surrounded by water, lovely lawns and big shade trees.  Interesting birdlife and actually caught a few redclaws!

                                                   Reflections, Lake Maraboon

                                          Look out red claw, here comes Chris!

     Catch of the day:  this little fish got into the trap by accident.  Yes, it was returned to the water.

Chris waited till I had my back turned before taking a tumble so I missed the photo opportunity.  He was lucky not to hurt himself as he apparently came down hard.  (I told him not to walk on those slippery rocks!) As it was, he ended up with only a little graze on his elbow and mud all over his back.

                                      After the fall: Chris and John go down to check the traps.

The men set nine traps and lost two as the cord broke when they were pulling them back in.  The other traps were mostly empty but it appears the red claws ( a type of yabbie) prefer dogmeat to sweet potato as John snared most of them, including a nice big one.  Five altogether, enough for all of us to have a taste.
Delicious.

Red claw yabbies (they turn red when cooked)

                                          Picnic area, Lake Maraboon

OOPS! Someone put his foot in it!

Because we were lucky to notice that some caravans were located in the showground, and because it's not a well known fact that you can camp here, Chris decided this morning to be helpful.  He was walking past the Information centre so he went in to tell them that there is camping here.  The woman was confused because she hadn't been told this, and rang the council.  When Chris arrived back at the caravan park, a few minute's walk away, he was met by the caretaker who announced he'd just been told there is to be NO Camping forthwith!
Even the semi-permanent people have to move out.  We're allowed to stay till tomorrow night (which was as long as we wanted to, anyway) but Chris feels terrible about having the others kicked out, and for banning future visitors.  We've both fired off emails to the council to complain, not that I think it will help.  We used our separate email addresses so it would look as if two separate parties were complaining.  Oh dear.

They badly need this site because the two caravan parks are full, the free site is overflowing, the Ag ground is overpriced and doesn't deserve to be used, and we saw at least 10 caravans roaming around town in search of a temporary home.  There are about 20 vans involved here at the showground so that's quite a lot of people.

I pointed out in my email to the mayor that we've spent more than $1000 in his town (car service and parts, fuel, groceries, some camping gear etc) and although most couples wouldn't spend that much, everyone tends to stock up in a town like this because you don't know what to expect in the next town in terms of groceries and fuel availability and prices.  Providing caravan sites has to be a plus for the town.

Fairbairn Dam

Yesterday arvo we drove to Fairbairn Dam with John and Marg as they hadn't seen it.  They checked out Higher Ground, where we stayed, and the caravan park at the dam, as well as the lovely park there.  They are thinking of staying at Higher Ground for a few days but we want to move on so we'll probably spend the day at the dam park tomorrow, put the traps in the lake, hopefully catch a few red claws, and have a feast, then we'll move on and they can catch up with us later.

                                            One of three tortoises we saw at the dam

Lake Maraboon from Fairbairn dam- the dam park is located on the peninsula we are looking at.

Chris has taken the Prado in for its service so not much happening for the next few hours.  We'll top up the groceries this afternoon ready for some free camping in the next week or so.

Here at the showground we noticed a cattle train on the siding close by.  Apparently it was loaded during the night from many road trains which were arriving in a steady stream in the afternoon.  The train moved out during the night- a very, very long train with each wagon carrying about 30 beasts.

I saw two more cane toads last night, bringing my total to 6.  Chris has seen only one.  They are not as big as I expected, and are seen only at night, usually sitting quite still on the periphery of light, they must find it easier to catch insects that way.  The small ones will hop away but the larger ones are quite fearless, just look back at you even with a torch shining in their eyes.

Cloudy but fine in Emerald again

Woke to a cloudy day but should be fine.  Packed up the two vans and left Sapphire at 9am.  Arrived in Emerald Showground, selected a site and all set up in time for morning tea.  Now for a nice quiet day doing nothing in particular.

Chris holding forth at morning tea , John and Marg listening. Ruby's more interested in the photographer, or perhaps in showing her best side.

There's no doubt that owning a caravan means you have a permanent hole in your wallet, there's always some other little or not so little thing to buy.  We seem to visit camping stores in every large town, and buy some necessity.  The latest purchase is a set of traps to catch red-claw yabbies, and some de-flappers to stop the awning flapping should a big wind come up.  Not that we've had a big wind, mind.

I think I previously mentioned the lovely railway station in Emerald, I finally got a chance to take a photo of it as the camping store's across the road from it.  I even managed to score a pause in the traffic!

 Emerald Railway Station, built 1902. The line is electrified from Brisbane to here. but we haven't seen any passenger trains so not sure if any operate. Scores of 2 kilometre coal trains running though.

Now that we're all set with traps and bait (sweet potato), we'll be off shortly to Lake Maraboon, the water retained by the Fairbairn Dam to put the traps in and hopefully catch something other than a cold.