August 21 - Charters Towers. Unexpectedly doubling the collection

We are starting to feel we are on the way home now with only a couple of places left that we want to see and needing some one night fillers to get us there. Charters Towers was a good four hour drive that had the most road kill and potential road kill we had seen. Plenty of roos, some cattle and even an owl were amongst the carnage on the road. I managed to miss quite a bit of cattle, eagles, crows, bustards and even a couple of deers cutting in front of us. We avoid driving early morning and at dusk because of the threat of meeting the local wildlife head on. However today for some reason, they all came out to say hi.

Charters Towers is typical mid-size country town. A few pubs, some op shops and a couple of Chinese restaurants. It is home to one of the first stock exchanges in Australia due to the gold rush, and as such, it does have some beautiful architecture. Stretching the legs after the long drive we come across Gill Street Antiques and Collectibles Secondhand and music store. The shop from the outside promised nothing other than being one of those museum type, antique furniture type places where even the dust goes to die. On opening the doors though, it was a treasure trove of collectible stuff from collector cards, pop culture ornaments, ginger beer bottles, original tin signs, bricks, Australian army memorabilia and most importantly, a great stash of vinyl. We matched our 7 record haul from Coffs a few weeks ago without too much trouble, and went back the next day before we left just to make sure we didn’t leave anything behind.

Dalrymple Caravan park google review

A pleasant one-night stay with adequate facilities and friendly chickens that come and say hi. 4 stars.