With the rain making the camp at Augathella muddy we moved down to Charleville.

Having stayed in both of the caravan parks there we thought we would give one of the outer bush caravan parks a go, and the one we picked out was 2k’s out town, describes itself as quiet, large sites, no smoking, no pets, no children and has a happy hour every night without fail. We arrived around 11 only to be told that they had no room as the place had rain and they had shut  down half the sites, and while they were low on numbers they were expecting a big group which would fill up the remaining sites later that day – so we went to the better pick of the caravan parks in Charleville. We also filled the car up – over 870k’s at 209.7cpl for close to $280…..at least the lettuce’s were cheap!

The rain had gone but more was expected later in the week. With the Birdsville races on this week the rain had been widespread and because of it, the caravaners and motorhomes had been turned back at Quilpie and would need to go around the long way. We were glad to be in early to the caravan park as things were filling up quickly. No sooner had we set up and sat down to lunch, a group of camper trailer people came in (9 of them) and the tour leader setup next to us. Turns out it was a touring group from a 4 Wheel Drive Club from Melbourne. They were due to stay in the bush camp just out of town but did not like the look of the sites so came to the caravan park – you guessed it, this was the group that had booked the bush camp but had not paid a deposit so they left.

We have been to Charleville (pop 3500) a number of times and seen most of its attractions before so we didn’t redo any of the main ones such as the Cosmos Centre (stargazing – very good), the Vortex Guns (rain making guns from the early 1900’s that were setup and before they were fired the drought was broken with flooding) and the museums. Here, $205k will buy you a renovated Queenslander on 750sq metres (the house photo is from Morven). Want 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms – $160k for a Queenslander that needs a scrub up! It is also interesting how the council shows the flood heights around town with info boards. The SES shed has info showing what happened in the last big one, and how you can help yourself to be prepared. The pics of the flood info board are from outside the butchers (so is the pic of the cow!). 

Not sure if you knew it, but Charleville was the centre of a secret US Air Force during World War 2 and had around 3500 US personnel out here during the war’s middle years. To remember that there is now a museum being setup onsite (the airport) and with stage one completed and planning for stage 2 underway. Wandering around the exhibits and reading the accounts of those who were there was interesting. The base cost (in the 1940’s) $1.2M to establish and get operational, and while a joint effort between Australia and the US they did bring 3500 men out here. The base had the super secret Vardon Bomb Sight that turned out not to be too secret at the end of the war, and the base was designed to be inland far enough so enemy aircraft couldn’t reach there without refueling.

Also displayed was some of the liner Queen Mary’s details with the main one being that every time she sailed to Australia she brought over 16000 men on board. From some of the accounts of the Australia men and women who were based here and/or lived in Charleville there was plenty of references to the Brisbane Line from that time – we come across references to the “line” often in our travels but I think many people these days fail to see the significance of what the Brisbane Line was and why.

On the day we due to leave Charleville 30mm of rain came down, so we stayed put and went out to Morven (pop 250) and checked out the museums there (the usual sort of thing plus a small building with replicas of many of the local buildings), had a couple of chats (one bloke had been there all his life). The new motel in town has a bunch of cabins spread around its property and is called “The Pick a Box Motel”! The pub looks new and it is – it burnt down some years back and a handful of local farmers got together, threw in some cash, ran the pub for a year and then sold it. From there back up to Augathella for lunch at the pub before back to Charleville.

Sunny the next day, and we have had enough of the crowds!

Next stop – not sure!