Clermont

Clermont is gold mining - and coal. Tony has been tossing up about getting a detector for a long time and finally he has done it and he could get a lesson on his new machine here. It is one of those nice sized towns that seems to have everything but is very rural. Except of course when the whole of Qld seemed to be covered by The Dust storm … lol The storm might have been red in some places but the day we copped it, it was just plain dust!

The best thing to do here is go on the coal mine tour which takes all but 4 hours and very interesting. They go out to the coal mine and although you can’t get out of the bus you get very close to all the workings. 5 trains a day leave with 3 engines at the front and 2 in the middle. The value of each train at the moment is about $900 000. No wonder they get the best roads and electrified rail lines!!!! We also saw the drag line clearing of the top burden.

Then we headed for the museum and that was the total cost of the trip - $4!! A very good museum it was too. It had the usual inside bits and pieces, lots of great machinery outside, an old train carriage, some wonderful old buildings brought in from the outlying areas and a hall full of old articles about the district. It is a very clean well looked after place.

Then around the town lagoon with its great walking track, past the piano up the tree to signify the height of the terrible flood in 1916 that killed too many people. The flood was so bad they decided to move the town to higher ground. The Commercial hotel was in the old town and was shifted by steam traction to its new location. Took weeks and it never stopped trading!!! Opposite the pub, one of 4 in the town, are 4 railway carriages that have been specially painted up. We had seen then once before but I never realised that the artist has placed a green frog in each one to give you something extra to look for.

Then though the town itself out to the once thriving township of Cooperfield, where you guessed it, copper was first found. Sadly it is now reduced to a single remaining chimney where 20 chimneys one stood and one can hardly believe the old general store. Apparently the owners simply walked out and left everything in the store. It is only opened as part of the tour but you can see the biscuits still in the old biscuit tins. The counter is wooden planks and the store room next door holds things from the old house that was part of the store. Wonderful stuff.

It is also only 20 km out to Theresa Dam. There are lots of campers out there and it’s a great place. $10 a night, no power and only minimal water but I liked it in the town because I could walk to the shops while Tony was out fossicking much of the day. The damn is also a lot further to the places where you are allowed to fossick. But take a picnic lunch at least and watch the water skiers and boats.

Oh and don’t ask how much gold was discovered. Pics are in groups, just hope people can work out what they are!!!