The owner, Owen Davies is an adventurer and lanky, khaki-dressed bush whacker who spends a lot of time out bush.
He has a colourful background as the manager of Pungalina Station in NT, a pilot, and a goat trekker who covered 1000kms with his dearly loved, but now defunct dingo companions. At night, after unfolding his swag under the stars, he made two fires: one for himself; and one for the goats who loved it, and seemed comforted by the warmth.
The interior of Camp 64 is really well done, lots of memorabilia, a giant painting of Owen with his goats, and a classic thunderbox in the cafe garden out the back.
A great touch was to serve coffee in cups beautifully adorned with pictures of galahs, cockatoos and lorikeets.
Various mates of Owen were present, including a cafe-owner from Yungaburra. The German waitress tried hard and successfully to sell us on Owen and to buy his books.
Sadly, the enterprise was due to close in a couple of weeks due to lack of tenants who Owen was wanting to recruit for a 7-day, 12-hour caretaking routine which must have been too daunting.
En route to Chillagoe, we pulled over for lunch under the trees at the old Pioneers' Cemetery at Koorboora. Such an evocative place, slumbering graves of the miners' families surrounded by knee high long grass. Outside a poignant sign simply said: Thus Was Life.
From Dimbulah, we drove on to Chillagoe and across to Mungana to see the Aboriginal cave paintings and visit the refreshingly cool caves at The Archways.
Our stop for the night was the Chillagoe Observatory and Eco Lodge which had lovely bush pitches, complete with romantic bush dunny, cool breezes and visiting Pied Butcherbirds, Little Friarbirds, and Kookaburras.
The evening clouds prevented us from doing the observatory tour, but the dawn unfolded in glory; and we will definitely be back.
The whole Chillagoe region once was at the bottom of the ocean many aeons ago, so is known for its limestone features, caves, fossils, and huge slabs of lustrous marble dug from the ground where we also saw large marble boulders naturally revealed by creekbed erosion.
Sadly, the enterprise was due to close in a couple of weeks due to lack of tenants who Owen was wanting to recruit for a 7-day, 12-hour caretaking routine which must have been too daunting.
En route to Chillagoe, we pulled over for lunch under the trees at the old Pioneers' Cemetery at Koorboora. Such an evocative place, slumbering graves of the miners' families surrounded by knee high long grass. Outside a poignant sign simply said: Thus Was Life.
From Dimbulah, we drove on to Chillagoe and across to Mungana to see the Aboriginal cave paintings and visit the refreshingly cool caves at The Archways.
Our stop for the night was the Chillagoe Observatory and Eco Lodge which had lovely bush pitches, complete with romantic bush dunny, cool breezes and visiting Pied Butcherbirds, Little Friarbirds, and Kookaburras.
The whole Chillagoe region once was at the bottom of the ocean many aeons ago, so is known for its limestone features, caves, fossils, and huge slabs of lustrous marble dug from the ground where we also saw large marble boulders naturally revealed by creekbed erosion.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Comment: