There is quite a lot for the
size of the town, and it all comes with some good outback character.
Chillagoe
Motel & Tourist Village
This
tourist village is in the main street and has a caravan park as well as
six self contained units with fridges and TVs (four are family units
with a kitchen, a queen size bed and two singles; two are studio
apartments with tea and coffee making facilities - one with a single
bed and the other with a double.
Chillagoe
Guesthouse
This great accommodation is in a lovely old historical building in the
main
street. There is a self contained family unit, a deluxe
double room with ensuite, a twin room with shared facilities and three
double rooms with shared facilities. Complementary breakfast.
Chillagoe
Cabins
Also in the main street, this lovely accommodation
has three cottages themed as old
historical miners' huts. There
are
two cottages with a double bed and one with twin beds. The cottages
have kitchenettes, ensuites and private courtyards. There is also an on
site restaurant and tours.
Post
Office Hotel
Also
in the main street, this
is the 'Top pub' in town, and like other Aussie pubs it has a
public bar downstairs and hotel rooms upstairs, where you can enjoy the
shade of the large verandah. There are single, double and twin share
rooms.
Chillagoe
Hotel Motel
The
Chillagoe Hotel Motel is the town's only other pub, also called the
bottom pub. One street back from the main street, it is still walking
distance to everywhere. It does not have upstairs hotel rooms, but
ensuite motel units.
Marble
Creek Cottage Also one
street back form the main street but still walking distance to
everywhere in town (in a little place like Chillagoe everything is!),
this place has three fully self contained bedrooms with WIFI and
Foxtel. There is a swimming pool, and pets are allowed.
The
Observatory Eco
Lodge Even further back from the main street but this
place is very popular.
Powered and unpowered camping sites with BBQs and fireplaces; rooms
with three single beds; double rooms with ensuites, two-room family
units, some have ensuites and some not. There is an observatory, a pool
and an onsite licenced restaurant.
Chillagoe
Creek Homestead
Bit
further than the Eco Lodge, this great accommodation is an
experience with swimming in Chillagoe Creek, cheap camping, homestead
garden setting, hot showers, campfires and woodfired barbeques, a
knowledgeable host, a fossil collection and a small reference library,
tours available, you sure learn some local stuff.
Chillagoe
Real
Estate Want to
stay
longer? Not a bad idea! Chillagoe is not a bad place to buy, if you can
stay away from the coast and the fishing, and can actually find a job
here - the property prices won't exactly disappoint you. One of the
best places to buy in the area this website covers, and a bunch of
friendly locals to neighbours.
Chillagoe Caves
If you are into caves they are
some of the best in the
country, and even if you are not, you are likely to at
least visit this national park while in Chillagoe.
It is well known, it is close to the town, and there are more things
than just the caves.
It is all thanks to limestone
- the most usual rock in the Chillagoe country, left
behind by ancient coral reefs from about 400 million years ago when the
area was in the bottom of the ocean. Limestone
is a rock that easily reacts to acids. So when it rains, the rain water
and carbon dioxide form a weak acid that
erodes limestone, forming
caves and bluffs like those found around here.
So first, there are the caves,
and there is a group of four closest to the town. Bauhinia and
Pompeii you
can do without a guide. Pompeii is
quite large and easy inside, while Bauhinia
is small, steep and not as easy.
Donna and Trezkinn you can
only visit on guided walks.
There
nowadays are Aboriginal guides so on top of the geology you
also get to hear a bit of indigenous.
Nearby and also close to the town,
... are the famous Balancing
Rock,
... and the Wullumba
Aboriginal rock art site.
The above was all there is close to the town in the Chillagoe Caves
National Park.
Further south, you can either walk or drive, is the Royal Arch - also
only doable with a guide.
And west of Chillagoe,
near the old township of Mungana,
... is the Archways
cave - one of the most impressive of all the caves,
... at least out of the ones you can do without a guide.
Mungana
You can
easily drive past it without noticing, except there are the signs to
the mine, the old
township, and stocking yards. What
there is for travellers
apart from the old township, is also a rock art site, an old cemetery,
and the Archways - one
of the best Chillagoe - Mungana caves.
It is quite an interesting historical site where you can still see the ruins and
some old foundations.
The tent town was established in the late 1800s for workers of Lady
Jane and Girofla mines. Later came four pubs, a post office, a shop, in
1897 smelters were built, and in 1901 the railway line was
extended until here (which came to service more mines including OK as
far as 75km away).
The mines produced copper, lead, silver and limestone, and once the
mining declined, some properties were sold to the Queensland government
in the infamous "Mungana
Affair".
In the early 2000s gold
was found by
Kagara Zinc Ltd, and the
new mine is still here, now (2014) owned by Mungana Gold Mines.
Across the highway from the town and the mine are the old cemetery, an Aboriginal rock art site,
...
... and the Archways
- one of the Chillagoe-Mungana caves, and one of the better ones of
them.
You can do them yourself, you don't need a guided tour, and they are easy to do, but still
spectacular.
Get
this 50 pages
guide totally for FREE.
It
contains information that helps you getting started with planning of your trip.
You get to make early-stages desicions such as when to go, how long time you
should take, how to get
there and get
around, where
to stay (general info), what
will it cost..
and a short insight to what is there to see and do in Cape York.
This complete 300 pages
travel guide is all you need before and during your trip. Besides the
background chapters on the peninsula's history and wildlife; and the comprehensive detail about all
the places (down to prices, opening hours and full contact
detail), it has invaluable information on at least 10 four wheel drive tracks,
at least 30 guaranteed FREE
camping spots on the Cape (and at least 150 on your way to
the Cape), at least 40 best
swimming holes, all mapped; as well as practical things -
from fuel, roads, wireless internet and mobile phone reception,
how to deal with the national
parks booking rules; and Aboriginal land entrance and camping permits
and alcohol restrictions - to vehicle preparation and accessories and necessary recovery
gear by my vehicle-recovery-guy partner).
Not to mention locals'
tips on how to spot that croc and palm cockatoo ;-)
If
you liked the books or
this website, let others know about it!
Link to it from your website, your blog, your forum post... Share it on Facebook, Tweet
about it...
Every link helps other travellers!
Thank you for doing the
right thing and letting others know :-)
This site uses British
English, which is the English we use in
Australia.
Disclaimer:
Although
best efforts have been made to ensure that all the information on this
website is correct, this site is not to be blamed should there be a
mistake.
This is the ORIGINAL Cape York Travel Guide run Locally on the Peninsula.