Thursday 11th August Ayr

  We had a lovely day touring and doing walks around the areas surrounding Ayr. We drove a short distance over the “silver link” bridge to the town of Home Hill. Here we visited the tourist information centre and found a very helpful woman who suggested things we could see or do in the area. The centre housed a fantastic collection of old photos of the old Burdekin bridge and also many of the building of the new bridge in 1957. Both Rob and I found it very interesting and we enjoyed our time there. The bridge is actually longer than the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Rob also used the virtual reality facilities to experience a dive on the wreck of the Yongala, a ship that sunk during a cyclone, off Ayr, in 1911 with all 122 lives lost. We also read about an incredible event that occurred in 1945, when a goods train was swept off the former bridge, the Inkerman bridge, which is now the Burdekin bridge. Two people were drowned and four others survived by freeing the cattle on board and then “riding” down the river by holding on to the cattle. After visiting the centre we did a quick historical walk around Home Hill before heading first to Charlie’s Hill where there was an old World War 11 RAAF radar station and then moving on to Mt Inkerman which gave us magnificent views and stunning scenery of the area. We returned to Ayr for lunch before heading out to explore the small town of Brandon and then doing a lovely walk around the beautiful Plantation Park in Ayr.