LEODESTRAVELOZZ

20240630 We left Collinsville travelling along the Bowen Developments Rd following the Newlands Railway System,  a relatively smooth road  in which the coal trains continually run day and night, t his is why the trains are constantly running passed Collinsville, just up the road is the Sonoma Mine where the coal in loaded then further along is the open cut mine and it’s massive, this is where I wish I had a drone. This Train loaded with coal ready for its journey to who knows where. The Sonoma Coal Mine is an open-cut coal mine located approximately 6 kilometres south of Collinsville at the northern end of the Bowen Basin in Queensland. It’s a never ending task mining in the outback. Inside the Sonoma Coal Mine complements of Google. Newlands railway system in Queensland opened in a series of sections between 1922 and 2012. Coal started to raile to Mount Isa in the 1930s, a distance of 1,230 kilometres (760 mi), then line was upgraded in the 1960s as coal volumes grew ena...

20240628 I set the nav to Collinsville, a mining town that discovered coal in 1866 but it was not until 1912 that large-scale mining operations commenced. The town was originally known as Moongunya, an aboriginal word that roughly translates to place of coal, that’s if we even make it that far as we are still looking for a camp on a creek but after passing over some bridges we noticed the river inlets are all dried up so I’m thinking we have a fat chance of finding any creek with water in. OMG you are never going to believe this story, there was Des and I pigging out on dinner at the Workers Club across the road from the camp ground when I looked up and bugger me dead their was Chris and her friend Fred about to sit down at a table beside us, we were just blown away, what the hell, I think it even Chris was taken by surprise as it took a minute for her to even register who it was. We had a great night with live music and Chris and I even got up for a boogie, man I can’t  remember t...

20 240624 Proserpine next for some supplies and a coffee then onto Bowen to check out the seafood, Des is hanging out for some fresh prawns. We are expecting a bit of rain and we know there is no free camping in shitty Bowen, we know that after a bad experience the last time in Bowen. Apparently the councillor has dibs on the caravan parks and won’t allow free camping even though the locals are screaming out for tourisam so I’m keeping my eyes out for a spot off the road.  We stopped for lunch in front of the Big Mango and while there we pig out on a Mango ice cream, why not. We passed the salt works heading into town, it was in the mid 1920s when the Cheetham Salt works produced 29,000 tonnes of crude salt per annum. The shops are full and the trawlers are happy with there catch and are now ready for their next trip to sea, Des is one happy chappie, he’s got his prawn fix, now to get the hell out of Bowen.  The Rubbish Bins in front of the fish markets, cute. One of the scean...

20240622 With a full belly and our shopping completed  we hit the A1, Bruce Hwy to check out the Kuttabul Pub that’s just after the Leap Hotel where we have stayed in the passed but the camp grounds are close to the road and you get a lot of traffic noise so we thought, why not check out the Kuttabul, if it wasn’t for the pub it would be easy to miss the town of  Kuttabul.   The hotel opened prior to 1877 as the Wauraltee Hotel and was renamed the Port Victoria Hotel in 1981 and here it stands today as the Kuttabul Hotel just an half and hour from Mackay off the Bruce Highway and it has free parking. We parked up the back and I grabbed my camera and head to the pub while Des searches for water, I don’t know what he expected to find down the back near the cane fields but he sure shit himself when a snake slithered behind him, there was no peeing outside tonight. The Mummas Boys are a non-profit group of good old boys who choose to ride old school choppers for charity and i...