Tuesday 2nd September, Coal, Clermont and Calm

Today we drove through a region that had many significant coal mines. The roads that were near the coal mines were excellent and we could tell when we weren’t on a road that serviced a coal mine as the quality of the road dropped away significantly. We saw many mining towns and accommodation sites as well as various mining vehicles on the roads. In several places we noticed infrastructure for the mines as well as huge piles of tailings from some of the mines. We called into the town of Clermont before heading out to Theresa Creek Dam. Clermont originally was a town built on gold mining but is now a rural and coal mining centre. In 1916 a terrible flood killed 65 people out of the 1,500 people who lived there. Lyn and I went for a walk in the cemetery which had a special area for the graves of some of those killed in the floods as well as a very tall cross which showed how high the flood waters had reached. We drove on to Theresa Creek. Rob and I had stayed here in the past and thought it was another lovely spot to introduce to Lyn and Steve. Therea Creek Dam is the main water supply for Clermont and the surrounding area. We settled in and enjoyed a relaxing afternoon near the water. I went for a late kayak on the calm waters. I wanted to be here out on the lake to watch the sun set. It was quite beautiful. We continue to be blessed with warm, weather.