After the Townsville Marathon: Charters Towers

The Route: Townsville → Charters Towers → Townsville Airport Logistics: About 135 km inland by road on the Flinders Highway, roughly one hour and 30 minutes. A hire car is the simplest option, and coaches and a train also serve the town, so check the timetables. Take the drive on a rest day, not the day after the race. Marathon Month: August Duration: 2 nights

Townsville ──(about 1 hr 30 mins by road, Flinders Highway)──> Charters Towers
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Townsville Airport (TSV) <──(about 1 hr 30 mins by road)─────────────┘

The Townsville Airport Marathon is run on a Sunday in August. Charters Towers is a contrasting extension, an inland town with the buildings of a boom that made it Queensland's second-largest city in its gold-rush heyday, and it suits slow walking and quiet evenings.

August in Charters Towers: the dry season. Days are usually warm, in the mid to high twenties Celsius, with cool, clear nights that can fall to single figures or the low teens. Rain is rare. It is the best time of year to visit, and the outdoor sights are comfortable. Pack a warm layer for the evenings.

Night One: The Town Centre

The town centre is compact and mostly level, with wide streets and grand brick buildings from the 1880s and 1890s. Mosman Street is the main street, and a walk along it takes about 20 minutes. The Stock Exchange Arcade is a restored building from 1888 with a covered arcade, and it houses a small museum and shops. Check the opening hours, because smaller sites often close on some days.

The World Theatre is a restored 1890s theatre, and the Zara Clark Museum holds a collection of local history and gold-mining artefacts. Both are indoors and easy on the legs, so check the current opening times and any charges.

For a bed, historic hotels and motels are scattered around the centre. Book early, and check the accommodation in advance, since a small town has limited inventory. For a meal, the pubs and cafés on Mosman Street serve hearty food, and check opening hours. Book on Friday and Saturday nights.

Night Two: Towers Hill

Towers Hill has a lookout over the town and the surrounding plains, and a sunset here is one of the best views in the district. The road to the top is sealed, so drive up rather than walk. There are remains of old mining works and interpretive signs, and the paths near the top are short and gently sloped. Check the current opening hours and any tour bookings, and bring a warm layer for sunset.

Ay Ot Lookout, a short drive from the centre, looks across the plain in the other direction. It is a quiet spot for a slow afternoon.

Return to Townsville by road, allowing for slow traffic behind road trains, and take breaks on the drive.

The Gold-Rush Buildings

Charters Towers was founded after a gold discovery in 1871, and in the years that followed it grew fast enough to be known locally as "The World", with its own stock exchange and a population that, at its peak, was measured in tens of thousands. The buildings that survive from that period are the point of a visit, and most are within a few hundred metres of one another. Many are still in use as banks, hotels and offices, so you can see the facades even when interiors are closed.

Look up as you walk. Iron lacework, arched windows and tall parapets survive on many buildings along Gill Street and Mosman Street. Gill Street has a good run of them, and the walk from one end to the other takes about 15 minutes. The historic Ravenswood road out of the Towers heads toward another old mining town, but the drive is long and best left for another visit.

Slow Evenings in a Dry Town

Evenings in Charters Towers are quiet. Restaurants are few and close early, so check the opening hours and book if you can. Pubs are the standard choice for dinner, and many serve grills and bar meals. In August the nights are cool, so bring a jumper. The stars over the town are bright, since there is little light pollution, and a slow walk after dinner with a jumper on is one of the pleasures of the place.

Getting Home