We checked into the Cue Caravan Park which is lovely. It appears to be operated by the Cue Shire and is very neat, modern, and clean. The amenity blocks were big with a number of unisex ensuite units as well as separate Male/Female toilets. They were spotless as were the laundry facilities, kitchen area, and TV Room. I'll give them 5 Stars!
Once we got settled in the girls got some laundry started. Sandra and I took a walk around the town site in the afternoon. It was a Sunday and the streets were literally deserted. Only saw two people during our walk. The town is beautiful with lots of historic buildings. Unfortunately, the majority of these seem to be vacant and we didn't see any active businesses. The original Gaol is located at the caravan park as well. Was having some renovations done as a storm had ripped off the roof.
The afternoon was spent cleaning and relaxing. Monday morning the four of us jumped in the Jeep for a ride out to the historic Big Bell Town site/Ghost Town. Big Bell was a thriving town of some 850 established in 1936 that emptied in the mid 1950s when the mine closed. The Hotel was still standing as were pieces of other buildings including a Church. Sad to see that not much is left.
From there we traveled on to Walga Rock. The road was unsealed most of the way but excellent. Very wide and hardly any corrugation. Walga Rock turned into one of the pleasant surprises of our current adventure. The first feature of note is the significant Aboriginal Art display at the base of the rock on the west side. At 60 metres it would be one of the larger displays we have seen with a fair amount of variety. The Second impressive feature is that this is the second largest Monolith in Australia behind Uluru. Approximately 5 Km in diameter and 1.5 Km long. The climb to the top was fairly easy and the view from the summit was outstanding. We got lots of photos and enjoyed our morning tea at the summit.
We headed back to town for lunch stopping to take some photos of wildflowers that are just starting to come out.
After lunch we headed back out to explore some sites to the North of town. First stop was Nallan Lake Nature Reserve. This is a huge lake area that was all but completely dry. Would be full of bird life and wild flowers during the wet season and later in the year. Quite a nice camping area for us to keep in mind for a future trip.
We also stopped at Milly Soak which was a well a meeting place in the early days of Cue. Not much to see now unfortunately. We then stopped at an unnamed rock formation just on the edge of town. It reminds us a lot of the Breakaways near Coober Pedy. Beautiful colors with lots of shiny quartz.
The Cue Lookout was our final stop on the return journey to our caravans. Good view of the town site but not much else.
We topped up our diesel supplies and made trip preparations in the later afternoon. Cue is a lovely little town with a great caravan park and lots of history. Unfortunately it is going to need a few more active businesses to prosper as a town or a tourist location.
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