The Rambling Retirees: The Wheelbarrow Way to Chillagoe

Journal entries Wednesday, 6th April to Friday, 8th April

Wheelbarrow Way icon

Wednesday-- The road from Mareeba to Chillagoe is known as the Wheelbarrow Way, so called after the gold mining pioneers who trudged this way carrying all their worldly goods in a wheelbarrow in search of work or to make their fortune. Very few found either!

After leaving Dimbulah and the orchards of mangoes, lychees, and sugarcane, the landscape changes dramatically. Huge boulders and rock formations set the scene for our visit to the sandstone cave area of Chillagoe.

Tours are conducted here by NP rangers into three caves and there are areas that you can explore on self-guided tours. We booked two cave tours - Royal Arch at 1pm today and Trezkin at 11am tomorrow.

There is more to Chillagoe than the caves though, and we spent the morning exploring the copper mining history of this western town.

Mining area Chillagoe smelter

Chillagoe in 1900's

Smelter tower in Chillagoe

Copper mining in Chillagoe

The area was originally mined for copper and the remains of the old smelter works can be viewed from an interpretive walk on the outskirts of the town. The brick smelter tower can be seen as you enter the town. In the early 1900s the smelter employed over 1000 people. Although there is a lot of history to explore in and around Chillagoe, the main attractions now are the wonderful caves that can be explored on guided tours.

'Old Man' image in Royal Arch cave

The Royal Arch cave tour takes about 90 minutes. There is very little lighting in this cave and each person is supplied with a torch before entering the cave. There are a few steps throughout the cave and a few "squeeze" spots to manage but it was worth it to see the amazing natural colours of the underground limestone.

Light phenomenon in Royal Arch Cave

Spider web on stalagtite

Back above ground we finished our first day of exploring with a visit to the local "bird" lady - Ann runs the local souvenir store and has put together a book of all the birds she has photographed. The OWO was happy to spend an hour chatting with her and looking at her photographs. She has some beautiful photos but I think the OWO has many comparable photos that would make a wonderful book.
Back at camp we enjoyed a cool off in the pool and met another "crazy" travelling photographer named Val. We spent a delightful hour chatting with Val and listening to her very entertaining stories of her travels. We do meet some interesting folk on our travels!

Trezkin Cave Entry

Balancing Rock

Thursday-- still very warm at 32 degrees but very little humidity so far more pleasant exploring this region. Today we toured the Trezkin cave with tour guide Macca. A much smaller cave than the Royal Arch but there were more stairs and ladders to climb. This cave has been appropriately lit to enhance the beautiful formations. About 800m in length the tour took about 40 minutes. There is quite a climb before you even get to the cave entrance and then a steep descent into the cave via ladders.

Climbing to Balancing Rock

Theodore joined us to climb the Rock

After the tour we explored the track to nearby Balancing Rock (looking for a peregrine falcon that the 'bird' lady had mentioned to the OWO!). No falcon seen so we took a drive further out of town to explore the ruins of Mungana town and one of the nearby caves.

Shall we explore?

With torch in hand we entered the cave with a little trepidation not knowing what to expect. It was so beautiful! No artificial lights needed to highlight the beauty of this cave. There were a few micro bats inside and crevices that allowed chards of light through.

Let's go exploring

There was a really tight squeezy spot and a few low overhangs where we had to get on hands and knees, to
avoid any head banging, but all that was so worth the effort to explore this beautiful natural phenomenon.

... a few micro bats here ...

... a little squeezy ...

..and a little dark..

Nearby the cave there is a pioneer cemetery but there are only 3 or 4 graves marked. It is so sad to see the resting place of the pioneers in this country cannot be identified or acknowledged through lack of interest in settlements such as this.

By now Mrs OWO was getting fatigued so it was time to return to camp for a cooling swim before a meal at the Post Office Hotel. Along the road back into Chillagoe one cannot help but to be amazed at the very large blocks of white marble that have been carved out of the surrounding limestone hills. On further investigation we found that most of this beautiful marble is processed in Chillagoe and then exported to Italy!

Friday -- leaving Chillagoe today we had to once again change our travel plan. Originally we were to leave this region and travel west through to Karumba then onto Normanton. Unfortunately the roads through to Karumba are still closed to traffic so we backtracked to Almaden to travel along the Ootan track. Leaving the boulders and rocky outcrops behind we are now in dry schlerophyll forest areas, driving through creek crossings and into Savannah grasslands.

The Ootan track follows the railway line most of the way to Mount Surprise. The "Savannahlander" runs this line once a week from Cairns to Georgetown passing through Dimbulah, Petford, Almaden, Mount Surprise, Einasleigh, and Forsayth (by the end of our travels we will have visited all those places except Mount Surprise!).

Although the track was quite rough in some places we had no problems towing our Ada and we found a lovely free camp spot beside the Tate river.