There's Plenty to do in Charleville

There's plenty to do in Charleville.  We've been here for 3 days and there's been plenty to keep us busy.

We arrived from Lake Houdraman and its emus with a large chip and several big cracks in our windscreen, having been hit by a stone from a passing car.  Our first stop was the Information Centre to get a list of windscreen repairers.  Whilst there we booked into the evening show at the Cosmos Centre and Thursday's Bilby Experience and got some information on things to see over the next few days.  There's heaps to do here, and that's with some attractions closed until easter.  We settled into the Bailey Bar Caravan Park and spent the hottest part of the day in air conditioned comfort in the caravan.  Unfortunately the show at the Cosmos Centre was cancelled due to cloud cover, so we transferred our booking to Thursday night.

The windscreen replacement has been a story itself.  The correct windscreen, with rain sensors built into the glass, would not be available for 6 to 8 weeks as it needs to come from Japan.  The repairer has managed to get one without sensors and we dropped the car off Thursday afternoon.  We've transferred our Cosmos Centre booking to Friday night because we might not have the car back until Friday.  As it happened, the car, with new windscreen, was delivered about 6pm.  NRMA Insurance have been helpful.  They are arranging for a new windscreen, with sensors, to be ordered and we'll get the replacement fitted when we're in Townsville - in 6 to 8 weeks.

Thursday morning we set off to do a tour of the Meteorology Station and watch the release of the weather balloon.  Unfortunately the tour was cancelled as the station was having technical problems so we decided to visit the Royal Flying Doctor Service Visitor Centre instead.  We watched a short video about the RFDS in Queensland and looked at the displays and memorabilia.  This is such a vital service to the country.  It free to use and provides all manner of medical and ambulance services.  The RFDS is funded by donations and fundraising.  There are regular clinics as well as emergency and GP consultations.  We get a real sense of security knowing that such a service is available to outback residents and travellers.

At 10.30am we arrived at the Parks and Wildlife Centre for the Bilby Experience.  These native marsupials were known as "rabbit eared bandicoots" because of their long, paper thin ears.  They are quite big animals with females weighing about 1kg and males up to 2kg.  They are opportunistic omnivores and will eat anything available from seeds and grasses to insects and small reptiles and mammals. We sat through a presentation on these cute animals, followed by a video about the 2 guys who set up the "Save the Bilby Fund".

This centre has an active breeding program and is helping to repopulate this endangered species.  Then we walked around the enclosure area, looking at their burrows.  Bilby burrows can be 2m underground where it's cool, about 22C.  They are nocturnal animals, so we didn't see any in the enclosures.  After our walk we were introduced to a female bilby.

She was very soft to touch - the fur was soft and fine like cat fur.  Apart from the long ears, the main distinguishing feature of the bilby is its tail.  The tail is about 20cm long, black with about a 10cm white tip.  It has a "mohawk" with fur on the top and bald underneath, and has a bone hook near the tip.  This was a great experience and we really enjoyed it.

The Wildlife Centre also has several yellow footed rock wallabies.  These are distinguished by their tails which have definite light and dark fur rings marking them.







The heat of the afternoon saw us back in the caravan waiting for the car with it's new windscreen.  At 40C it's a good place to be.  There are many interesting buildings in Charleville and we've seen some well restored high-set "Queenslanders" too.  The Hotel Corones has been host to many famous people.  Amy Johnston stayed there and bathed in champagne.






Clement Wragge had a theory that firing rain producing gas into the atmosphere from the Vortex Cannons would cause rain to fall.

Friday morning we drove into the shopping centre to visit the Historic House Museum.  This was very interesting with plenty of memorabilia from Charleville through the ages.  The house itself was the first bank in Charleville with a main chamber, vault, manager's family home and maid's quarters.  There were several very interesting scrapbooks covering various topics - the 1990 floods, bullock drays, fire and ice - which have been put together by a scrapbooking course.

We set off for the Cosmos Centre in the evening and and few minutes down the road received a call cancelling due to cloud cover.  Our visit was just not meant to be - maybe next time.

Saturday we are heading northwards.  The weather is certainly warming up now with expected temperatures around 40C.