{"id":2657,"date":"2012-03-03T21:46:16","date_gmt":"2012-03-03T11:46:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cewilson.offroader.com.au\/?p=2657"},"modified":"2012-03-03T21:48:16","modified_gmt":"2012-03-03T11:48:16","slug":"chillagoe-feb-12","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/cewilson.offroader.com.au\/?p=2657","title":{"rendered":"Chillagoe – Feb 12"},"content":{"rendered":"

Well I had the opportunity to go with work out to Chillagoe for a few days. We were doing a heavy rigid truck course with trailer and this was to be the final week basically. Having not visited the place for a lot of years I was looking forward to spending some decent time around the town, compared to the usual one nighter that tends to happen on longer trips.<\/p>\n

We left home early Sunday morning stopping at Caldwell and Tolga on the way there. The weather was actually quite good considering the forecast wasn’t as exciting! The road is in great condition at the moment, and is practically bitumen the whole way other than a few parts just before town (probably about 25km’s all up).<\/p>\n

Accomodation was at the pub which obviously wasn’t too my tastes (yeah right!). The rooms are basic but you don’t exactly expect 5 star out here. What it does have though is hospitality that any town couldn’t even get close too. The meals were fantastic and the company was a damn sight better than most places.<\/p>\n

Monday and Tuesday were spent driving. We went down the Kuranda range, down the highway and back up through Gillies on the first day. This was followed by a run to Mossman return through the gorge. Was a tad tight in places but nothing overly hard – more slow and steady.<\/p>\n

Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday morning I took the time to get out and look around. I was relegated to a newish turbo diesel Prado (it was actually manual, not auto!) however beggars can’t be picky. I did try to wrangle the 110 off of the back of the truck however I think they were onto me pretty quickly as the request was denied……<\/p>\n

Thursday we packed up and headed home. Copped a heap of rain in various places, and the road north and south of Ingham was either really close or was already over the highway. However we had a good run and arrived back in Townsville by mid afternoon.<\/p>\n

So what’s Chillagoe like? Well I reckon it’s a fantastic base for a couple of days. Walsh’s crossing is still a great place to throw a rod in or have a soak. The swimming hole is also a great place to waste a couple of hours with a coldie.<\/p>\n

The national parks are full of caves to go exploring in and there’s quite a bit of aboriginal art on the walls as well. There is the old smelter and old hospital sites, plenty of hills to climb for that elusive dawn\/dusk photo – and a real hidden treasure if you love old Fords like I do.<\/p>\n

I would gladly take the family out there for a weekend or part of a longer trip further west. Be aware that west of town is basically gravel only albeit a good flowing gravel road (read 100km\/h easy).<\/p>\n

Photos are below.<\/p>\n

Cheers
\nChris<\/p>\n