Mount Surprise - August 2010

If for whatever reason you are only planning a couple of stops on the Savannah Way make sure that Mount Surprise is on your list; it was one of the best stops we made on our way to the coast.

 

There are 2 parks in Mount Surprise, one of these is behind the service station but the one of choice is Bedrock Village on the left hand side on your way out of town heading west to east.

 

If your like me I thought it was named from the cartoon “The Flintstones” but not so; the whole of Mount Surprise and surrounds sits on Basalt rock hence it was built on a bed of rock.

 

The park is really good, kept very tidy and most sites you can drive through then unhook. The amenities are first class with huge showers that are spotless; the staff and owners are terrific. The park has a pool which is somewhat of a godsend out west. Pricing during our stay was $27 per night or stay for seven & pay for 6; we were here for 8 nights and enjoyed every day of it.

 

 

Our site above; plenty of room to move and quite private; no slabs but the area under your awning is quite good, a rubber mat helps if you have one.

 

 

Wood fired pizza oven (I'm in heaven).

 

The park has its own bakery producing bread rolls, coffee scrolls and some other yummy things; the park also has a menu up each day and you can put your name down for the evening meal if you wish (the food is fantastic). On some of the days they put up a pizza menu to choose from, again you must order in the morning and nominate a time slot, everyone gets together in the outdoor eating area and the atmosphere is sensational.

 

 

Linda had a vegetarian pizza and I had a supreme; I had to take a picture of Linda's as by the time the camera came out I had scoffed half of mine. What you don't eat you take home for the next day (not me –  non left).

 

 

On one of the days we drove down to Einasleigh which is where Copperfield Gorge is; we mainly went to see the pub that houses one of the biggest collections of miniature cars, dolls houses and furniture, entry is by donation and it is well worth the trip.

 

Getting to Einasleigh can be either from Georgetown (better road longer distance) or from Mount surprise (20km bitumen, 45km of pretty shitty dirt). We took the short shitty way and I am still trying to find one of my fillings.

 

 

Einasleigh Pub; quite well patronised when the Savannahlander train brings the tourists in, yes if you want to do the train trip from Mount Surprise you can; it covers the pub, Copperfield Gorge and includes “smoko”, the cost at the time was $84 p/p.

 

 

The rail bridge just out of Einasleigh; as you can see by the tree jammed halfway up the supports it can flood down here.

 

 

One of the crossings which when in flood is not passable.

 

 

Mount Surprise has a free car wash (I towed the van through on one occasion); they encourage you to wash the dust off you vehicle whilst in town; nice gesture and I had 3 or 4 goes during our stay, it was great after you had been out to some of the sites on dusty roads. Mount Surprise is a gem fossicking area and you can hire equipment and a map from one of the local businesses in town.

 

 

Hard to see them in the photo but Mount Surprise is well known for the black cockatoos that are abundant in the area.

 

 

Linda & I went on the Undara Lava Tube tour and this was a highlight for us; it would take ages for me to explain but if you are interested it is worth using Google to get some information.

 

In brief the tubes were formed by hot lava running some 160km; as the outer lava cooled from the external air the internal continued to flow leaving these massive tubes of lava.

 

 

Some of the access points are quite steep and good footwear is essential; above is Linda heading down one of the rock formations, hanging on to the rope rail is needed to keep upright.

 

 

The photo of us was take in pitch black darkness; when the flash goes off it brings all the colours of the lava tube to life. Cost for the morning tour was at the time $74 p/p including morning tea; you can do an all day tour but be warned it is quite exhausting, it runs from 8.00am to about 5.30pm and includes lunch ($120 p/p).

 

 

 

Photo above of the Savannahlander train stopped at Mount Surprise station; this train on certain tours starts in Cairns and includes overnight stops at some of the tourist spots on the way to Einasleigh.

 

 

Mount Surprise  railway station; not very big but it does not have to be.

 

This is a great place to stop for a day or so or a week; if you are travelling east from Normanton or west from Ravenshoe put this on your “must do list”, we would certainly go back again (unless they have got rid the pizza oven).

 

Hope you enjoy the read and as always we wish you all well and safe travelling; we look forward to catching up with all of you at some stage.

 

Warm regards –  David & Lind –  The DavLin Rig

 

 

 

Croydon & Georgetown - August 2010

CROYDON

 

I am still trying to catch up but I believe I'm getting a little quicker; this may even end up being a record of the shortest time between posts (or not).

 

If you do travel the Savannah Way please make sure you stop at Croydon; it would be one of the best little towns we have stayed. The history, tidiness and hospitality was exceptional.

 

The caravan park is looked after by the council and they do a bloody good job considering the total council work force is 4 for the town. This is the only place I know where the council mows everyone's nature strip. All of the heritage buildings are kept in very good condition; the local all take pride in the town and it is spotless in appearance.

 

The park has very good amenities and the sites are very big and most being grass with some slabs (at least not dirt), the park even has a pool. The price was $25 per night and good value as there is plenty to see in town and close by.

 

 

 

Our site above; plenty of room, dusty in some spots but good grass on the awning side.

 

 

The Croydon general store is the oldest in Australia; almost on par with the sausage roll I bought (only kidding).

 

 

Some of the old heritage buildings with the original street lights.

 

 

The loo's near the information centre; doors are marked “Croydonettes” & “Croydonites”, there is a ladies and gents sign for the totally dumbfounded (like me).

 

 

Croydon being an old gold mining town has a lot of old stamp mills and equipment dotted around the town on display. The structure above is outside the information centre. Also make sure you go in as they have a great 20 minute show which is very good to watch and free to boot.

 

 

One of the old cars on display in Croydon at the information centre.

 

 

The old lock up; lots of posters and information boards are placed around town giving a run down on the local history. You can spend quite a few hours looking through all the old buildings.

 

 

This is Lake Belmore and is only 5 or so km from Croydon and is the largest body of fresh water in the region. The facilities here are really good with free (spotless) BBQ's, huge covered area with tables & chairs, free power points for jugs etc, enclosed swimming area with a pontoon and diving platform and all this is free. Great place to spend a few hours; this facility is once again kept immaculate by the council. BTW –  no camping is allowed.

 

 

As there are a number of disused mine shafts (most have been discovered and are sealed) the warnings are in case you find a new one so watch your step.

 

 

GEORGETOWN

 

Not too keen on Georgetown; the information centre is about all that is in town, there are some other places you can drive out to but for us we could not be bothered as most were quite a few hours away.

 

We stayed at the firs park as you come into Georgetown on the left hand side heading west to east; it is situated at the roadhouse; it was dry, dusty and the amenities were a little on the nose and not really kept to a good standard. We did pay for 2 nights as we thought the town may be a little like Croydon (not so).

 

We found out that just before leaving town before you go over the bridge there is a caravan park down the street on the left about 500m; we did have a walk past and it looks a lot better than the one we stayed in so keep this in mind if you plan to stay over.

 

 

Our site at the Georgetown “Dust Bowl” roadhouse; could not wait to get out of here.

 

 

Photo through the windscreen as we were heading out of Georgetown; even the cow's had had enough and were pissing off. Best view of here was in the rear view mirror or what the cows arse could see.

 

Well another post bites the dust; our next stop was Mount Surprise as we headed back to the coast, we had a ball there so that will be the next episode. Until then take care and travel safely (those that are).

 

Warm regards –  David & Linda –  The DavLin Rig

Karumba & Normanton - August 2010

KARUMBA

Still trying to catch up and not doing a real good job of it

We stayed at Karumba Point Tourist Park and were lucky to get in; it was only by luck that someone had moved out for a week to visit elsewhere that we secured the site.

Very nice park with friendly management and a great atmosphere; we were not sure if we would like it as this is mainly were all the fishing community meet this time of year and tend to stay for 3 – 4 months. We had a great time even though we did not fish.

Every day something was on in the park and Saturday night was a free fish BBQ; bring your own plate and salad and they supplied barbequed blue salmon and it was beautiful.

Park amenities were good and the price was very acceptable @ $28 per night. We would certainly recommend this park for a week or so stay (if you can get in).

Our site: you do need a dish if you want TV.

The park was full to the brim but very well catered for.

The Sunset Tavern was approximately 1km from the park; being on the western side of the Queensland mainland it makes for spectacular sunsets

One of the sunsets from the pub deck; the meals here are very good and the vista is magnificent.

Good friends we met at Karumba and stay in touch with on a regular basis are Dave & Mez; Mez is well involved in cardmaking, craft and handmade jewellery. The photo is of the small but well attended Karumba markets that are held at the pub grounds on a Sunday morning; although the bar is not open they do well selling breakfast, coffee and doughnuts.

We had a great time here and would love to go back some other time.

NORMANTON

Not so impressed with Normanton; it does have quite a few things to see and do but the caravan parks leave a little to be desired. We stayed at the Normanton Tourist Van park; the other park in town is part of the motel, we did look at this whilst we were in town but it sadly is not well looked after as far as amenities go.

6 weeks before we arrived the owner had leased the park and there idea of cleaning the toilets and showers was to hose them out. The cleaner was an old bloke, fire hose in one hand and a fag in the other; we queried the new owners why toilet rolls were not replaced on certain occasions. The response was people steal them.

The park is all dust and dirt so it can be quite messy; would not stay here again which is a shame, businesses in town are aware of the parks new reputation and are not happy as it will drive tourists away.

Our site; if you do want to stay in Normanton this is the pick of the 2 parks; my advise would be try to stay at Karumba and drive to Normanton for a visit.

The above shows the flood level on the Norman River bridge in 2009.

The big Barra; what everyone in the main is fishing for in this area.

The above is the old town well which was used for the towns water supply until 1965; next to it is the original light pole which was forged at the Stuart & MacKenzie foundary in Croydon.

Krys – The Savannah King is an accurate artists impression of the largest saltwater croc in the world. It was shot on the bank of the Norman River in 1957.

The croc measured 28' 4” (8.63m) and weighed in at over 2 tons; only a couple of photos remain, the rest were lost in the 1974 floods.

The famous Gulflander train that still runs overnight trips to Croydon; also does “Billy Tea & Damper” and “Sunset BBQ” trips.

The famous “Purple Pub” in Normanton.

Hope you enjoy the read and will get another post underway; stay well and keep safe.

Love & warm regards – David & Linda – The DavLin Rig

Gregory Downs - Lawn Hill National Park & Adels Grove - August 2010

Well about bloody time me thinks; I've been a bit slack what with travellin, relaxin, workin & boozin. The blog is way behind so time to kick things along from where it was left off.

 

Gregory Downs

 

We did get a reasonably early start from the Burke & Wills roadhouse to Gregory Downs; we had made the decision to stay behind the pub rather than at the free camp on the river. As the pub only has 8 powered sites it pays to get in early, also if you are planning to free camp at the river it does get quite busy and sites are at a premium; also it is a bit of a hike uphill to get to the free loo's and showers. The pub charges $30 per night but if you are not intending camping at Adels Grove then it is a better option to camp here than free camp and leave your van unattended for the day, we did hear of a couple of bad experiences of some unfortunate free campers taken to the cleaners.

 

The pub camp ground amenities were okay and the shower toilets were unisex; in other words go in a vacant one and it is complete with toilet, shower & vanity etc. We did not eat at the pub so unable to comment on the meals; drinks prices were high as to be expected in this area. Overall the Gregory Downs pub is a good place to stay for a couple of nights as we did, you would most likely need to take out a bank loan if you intended staying longer.

 

 

Our site at the Gregory Downs pub; plenty of other campers arrived throughout the day but if you want power make sure you are in before noon as they do not take bookings.

 

 

A pic of the free camp area which is only about a km from the pub; it was quite full when we went for a look.

 

 

The river that runs next to the free camp area; a very nice place to set up camp.

 

 

The above picture shows the pub at left and and yes it is a helicopter that is parked on the road in front; this bloke decided it needed a wash so he landed in front of the pub (we watched him coming in), grabbed a hose from behind the pub fence, produced a yard broom a washed his chopper where it sits. Happy with the result he put the hose back, packed up his brush, started the helicopter and took off. The things you see out in some of these places is quite funny to say the least.

 

 

The above sign is located approximately 10km from Gregory Downs; mainly used for the Royal Flying Doctor service in emergencies. The below picture clearly shows the runway markings on the Gregory Downs Highway.

 

 

Lawn Hill National Park

 

I know, I know; a National Park is a National Park and they all seem to look the same but this is not the case with Lawn Hill. Considering where it is situated and the vast amount of dry & barren countryside that surrounds it the visit is well worth the trip.

 

The park itself along with Adels Grove seems to come out of nowhere; from dry dusty roads with a spattering of common variety trees and scrub springs palms and lush green rainforest, hard to believe this exists some 1100km west of Townsville. 

 

 

One of the pathways that leads down to a major part of Lawn Hill.

 

 

You can hire canoes if you want to see the area from the water; there are places where you have to pull the canoe out of the water and drag it to the next section, they have made it easy by installing slide rails for the boat or mats in places.

 

 

A sign that reminds you not to be too complacent; we did not see one but the sign is enough to make you think twice before jumping in.

 

 

The view from the top part of our 6km walk (climb); I could not convince Linda to let go of the bushes and get closer to the edge.

 

Linda & I being the top notch bush walkers we are set of on what was noted as a 6km walk with an approximate time to do this particular track of 3.5 hours. We had a bit of a chuckle as we were sure we could do the 6km in about 1.25 hours; how wrong we were, a bit different from walking flat track to scaling mountains like a bloody mountain goat, I almost called the SES for an oxygen tank and tissues for the high altitude nose bleed.

 

 

Another great picture over the park.

 

 

Lawn Hill N. P does have a camping ground but not for vans; you may get a small pop top in but it is really only meant for camper trailers and tents.

Adels Grove

Hard to describe Adels Grove, it is the last stop before going in to Lawn Hill (10km) and does have cabin and caravan site accommodation so if you do want to be at Lawn Hill for say a week this would be the preferred option, but be advised it is not cheap to stay here.

Caravan sites for 2 adults was $32; does not sound too bad but there is no power out here; also the cost of staple food items is expensive to say the least, Adels Grove has a cost to bare so it is obviously passed on to the consumer. 

 

 

The above is part of the coffee shop, bar and meals area; make sure you bring a recent bank statement which can prove you are good for any debts incurred.

 

 

This is part of the Grove (looked more like a swamp to me).

 

 

The sign from the shop give you a good idea of the pricing structure used out here; all the bread is frozen. The prices shown reflects on the overall cost of other items you buy, tinned food, ice creams etc.

 

 

Not a real good shot but the caravan sites are just beyond the trees; reception is the just visible building to the right.

 

 

One of the road signs on the way out of Lawn Hill; hard to see for you guys but the top is “Gregory – 77km” and the bottom is “Hells Gate Roadhouse –  194km”.

 

 

I must say the road is not bad from Gregory Downs; the first section (40km) is well graded as it leads out to Century Mine, the road after that was still fairly good. We did see a number of vans heading in and out without problems but who knows what the end result was when they got back to bitumen. All in all if you did want to spend more than a couple of days in Lawn Hill then it maybe worth pulling the van in; in our case we were happy with the 2 night stay and drive in considering what was on offer at Adels Grove.

 

Sorry for the slack upkeep of the site and I am hoping to do another post (Normanto / Karumba) within the week and will mail out when done.

 

Take care, travel safe and keep well.

Love & warm regards to all.

 

David & Linda –  The DavLin Rig