Passing through Mt Molloy we stopped for me to get a photo of the Hotel as relatives had the licence back in the 1930's.
The National Hotel at Mt Molloy
A historical storefront - Jack & Newell's
There were also some interesting Mining relics, and a very good soldier's memorial.
At Mareeba Cemetery I was impressed by the display at the entry with all the names of those buried, but they were missing the vital ‘where’, so I have to call the council to get more information.
Mareeba Cemetery
Atherton Cemeteries were a puzzle as there are 4! One has the main Highway running through it, but of course the first place we went was the wrong side. We had a lot of trouble finding the Pioneer Cemetery, and it turned out to be at the Waste Transfer Station and there was no sign on the road.
Wind turbines on the Atherton Tablelands
Just down the road was Herberton where we booked into the eccentric Wild River Caravan Park.
We were heading to look at the Maytown ruins, accidentally got on the Old Coach Road which took us through the Palmer River and we got stuck in the sand.
Ooops!
We had uncoupled the trailer to try and get the Isuzu out first when luckily along came a lovely couple, Lee and Leonie and Lee’s Dad who let us use their recovery Maxtraxx to get the Isuzu out, then they hooked up the camper and pulled it out no worries.
Sign on the tree above
We were just below Maytown.
The ruins were interesting, especially the stone gutters along the main street. Little plaques indicated where each store/shop/business was located and who the proprietor was, including several Chinese shops, 2 butchers, a school of arts, a couple of hotels.
This was the School of Arts
Stone gutters in the main street of Maytown
Historical plaques showing where the businesses were located
These gutters look in better condition than some modern ones
A typical miner's hut built by the historical society
I still can't get over how great these stone gutters are
We then found the Charcoal Burners before heading back out on the road.
Along the road were some property people looking for 2 dogs. We stopped at “The. Granite” for lunch again and spoke to a guy with fully decked-out 4x4 from Townsville - (Detroit Lockers) - he had done 10km of The Coach Road before turning back. He said there was no track, and it was pretty much just driving uphill over boulders.
Heading back east
Bob’s Lookout was the morning tea stop, and we headed for the. McLeod Rover just north of Mt Carbine to camp. This was a pretty flowing creek. We had a swim in the very cold water to wash off all the dust.
Fantastic huge paperbarks along the McLeod River
The dust finally got to Darryl
Again at night there were beautiful stars again and satellites.
There were lots of bananas & paw-paw farms up behind Lakeland. We passed a huge Solar Farm and Darryl saw an enormous brown snake on the road. Palmer River Roadhouse was pretty interesting.
Palmer River Roadhouse
We turned off into the Palmer River Goldfields and stopped at “The Granite’, (well a big dam nearby) for lunch.
Another victim of the road
Dam at 'The Granite'
Our trepidation on going in was allayed when we met car towing a van coming out. We could hear them from about 40km away on our CB, and eventually saw workers working on doing up the road.
Beautiful views
Is it a fossilised Dalek? No a historical cairn
This photo definitely doesn't capture how steep this road is in places
We looked at several historical sites (old mines and mills), then went to the campground.
After we set up another couple came along but went to the Upper Campground (we presume), then later another 2 vehicles came along and camped further down the river. We enjoyed a lovely night watching the stars, (as it was a very clear night), and a few satellites.
