The history of the Gold Rush era oozes out of the sidewalks in Charters Towers, where immaculately preserved historical buildings line the wide streets of the city centre that was once the largest in the state outside of Brisbane. We hire an audio driving CD and map that lets us drive our way around the town’s many treasures over the course of a morning – then we return again after lunch to explore the main street by foot. It is all supremely engaging, even more so with Budge the “Pop-Quiz-Master” firing off questions to test just how much we are taking in. (Jack scoops first prize for the day – aided, no doubt, by some shrewd note taking in the backseat). Charters Towers also boasts a pretty drive-in cinema, which we are oh so tempted to indulge in – but having driven another stretch of five plus hours to get here – during which no less than four DVD movies were screened – we decide that another car movie experience, however novel, would probably be overkill at this point.
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| Outside the reconstructed Poppet Head above a mine shaft, just one stop on our driving tour of the town and Pop-Quiz-A-Thon (where even Benji gets his own questions ala "What town are we in? We'll give you a clue: it rhymes with Farters Powers"). |
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| History is alive in the city centre, where the streets look almost like film sets. |
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| Another city streetscape, this time with the Chamber of Commerce - one of the few regional stock exchanges in Australia and yet another reason why Charters Towers was affectionately known as "The World" during the gold boom, as in "the Towers has everything and there is no need to travel anywhere else". |
