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Before getting underway today I did a very quick visit to the main street of Charters Towers to see the old Stock Exchange building which is now a shopping mall, followed by a visit to Tower Hill for a view of the city from above and to note the conical hills in the distance which are (according to some theories) responsible for the "Tower" part of the towns name.

The only really notable feature of todays ride was the abundance of bright yellow wattle along the roadside. It looks like the construction of the road left a sizeable strip of bare ground on each side of the pavement and the wattle plants were one of the winners in the race to colonize that ground.

Late in the day I pulled into the town of Clermont and started looking for a place to stay. I could not get answers from the various motels and the caravan park so finished up getting a very small room at the Commercial Hotel. It must have been a nice place in its day but now it seems like a pit into which the owners could just throw money. Though still a good place for a beer.

Clermont is a major coal mining town.