Wed, 31st August - Ravenshoe

Ravenshoe is Queensland's highest town at 950 metres above sea level and is located in the Misty Mountains.  It lived up to its name and the day started off misty and cool. We needed to have our 7-pin plug (connecting the car to the van) replaced, so we went to see an Auto Electrician in town.  He couldn't help us out until 8am the next morning, so we returned to the Railway Museum and unhooked the van so we could do some sight-seeing.  First stop was the Little Millstream Falls just outside of town.  There are a lot of falls in the area and we ended up visiting 5 of them.

We decided to move on to Big Millstream Falls but somehow missed the turn and after about 15kms of twisty, narrow road ended up at the beautiful Tully Gorge.  We backtracked and eventually found the turn to Big Millstream Falls which is reportedly the widest single-drop waterfall in Australia.

After having lunch back at the van we had a walk up the main street, looking into a couple of interesting little craft shops.  We then took another narrow and twisty road to the Mungalli Creek Dairy, stopping briefly in a quaint little town called Millaa Millaa on the way.  We came across a quirky statue in the main street ... click on the second photo below to enlarge the explanation.  The Dairy wasn't far down the road and was all a bit of a disappointment, however we purchased some cheese and a tub of yoghurt.  On the way back to Ravenshoe we drove a loop past the Zillie, Ellinjaa and Millaa Millaaa Falls.  There was a small busload of young people swimming at the Millaa Millaa falls even though it was overcast and only about 20 degrees in the rainforest.

As we headed into the Zillie Falls we were met by what we think was some type of turkey that actually crossed the road and headed straight for us.  We gave him a wide berth and he disappeared into the surrounding bush.

Little Millstream Falls

Big Millstream Falls

Quirky statue in the main street of Millaa Millaa ... note the tree in the background

The explanation for the statue

Ellinjaa Falls

Zillie Falls

Not what you would call a 'pretty' bird

Millaa Millaa Falls ... note the person swimming at the bottom of the fall

Tues, 30th August - Ravenshoe

It was already 25 degrees by 8am ... we expected a hot one again.  We were travelling on another developmental road, meaning some stretches were single lane.

We stopped for a short time 50kms later, just 20kms west of a small town called Georgetown.  We had a closer look at the Cumberland Chimney which is all that remains of a gold crushing plant built by cornish masons.  Nearby was a dam covered with beautiful, white water lillies and birds everywhere.  

We continued into Georgetown and went into the Visitors' Centre.  Also housed in the same building is the Ted Elliott Mineral Collection called TerrEstrial.  This is an exhibit of over 4,500 minerals, gemstones and fossils from local mines and other countries.  Ted Elliott began gathering minerals as a teenager in 1946 and this display is his work over a period of 50 years.  One of the stars of the display is the largest cut and polished agate in Australia and perhaps the world.  It measures 50cm x 30cm x 10cm and was found by Ken Collins in 1950 at Agate Creek south of Georgetown.  Ted Elliott acquired the agate in 1976.

After spending quite a bit of time in the Ted Elliot display we continued to Mount Surprise and had lunch in the local park as it had turned out to be a pleasant 27 degrees.  Mt Surprise is a railway town on the old Cairns to Forsayth Railway line.  It is a centre for gem fossicking with topaz, quartz, spinel, garnet, cairngorm and aquamarine to be found. We wandered across the road from the park and had a look at a shop called the Gem Den.  I didn't find anything in the way of jewellery that I couldn't live without and Rick didn't find anything that he could live with!

We continued on for about 55kms to the Undara Volcanic National Park.  Approx. 190,000 years ago a major volcanic eruption produced 23 cubic kilometres of lava, most of which flowed down the western side of the Great Divide.  This created what is known as the Undara Lava Tubes.   The tubes distributed lava over 100km from the crater, the longest flow in the world from a single volcano.  Unfortunately, there wasn't another tour of the tubes until 3:30pm which would have been too late for us, so we had to keep moving.

We stopped 150kms further down the road at Ravenshoe.  Here we were in a totally different environment to what we were used to.  We were now is lush, green, rainforest and it was cool and overcast with spits of rain.  We were going to spend the night in the free camping area at the rear of the Railway Museum which happened to be in the main street.  Many more campers pulled in for the night and we had a good night's sleep in the cooler weather conditions.

The narrow single-lane developmental road

White water lillies on the dam

The remains of the chimney

Another beautiful gem ... Amethyst Crystal

Our camp in the Railway Museum

Mon, 29th August - Gilbert River

Last night we had dinner on the lawn of the local tavern, overlooking the ocean and watched the sun set.  It had cooled down a bit and there was a lovely cool breeze.  Interestingly, Karumba usually only experiences one high and one low tide per day.

Before leaving Karumba, we called into the Barramundi Discovery Centre.  The centre is run entirely by volunteers and it is the only hatchery in the world that breeds the Gulf strain of barramundi for eventual release into the Gulf river systems and dams.  There were several tanks in the centre where we could watch and feed the barramundi.

We then called into Raptis and Sons to pick up another 2kg of freshly cooked prawns and Rick couldn't resist buying a cooked mud crab.  After doing all the usual stocking up and refuelling, etc. we drove about 230kms to a little town called Croydon.  The Navara was telling us it was around 37 degrees outside, but we still got a shock at the heat when we got out of the car.  It was nice to walk into the quite new and air conditioned Visitors' Centre.  We didn't spend too much time there as it was getting a bit late in the afternoon.

We continued another 70kms to a free camp for the night at Gilbert River.  It was a terrific spot except that it was full of bull dust which rose in little clouds with every footstep.  We managed to find a small area that had a bit of gravel underfoot making it a bit more pleasant.  There was another van parked there before us and the occupants, Kay and Glen from Innisfail joined us for a drink before sundown.  It was an extremely hot night ... still 34 degrees at 8pm and there was lightning visible in the distance.  Several more travellers pulled in late in the evening.

The view from the lawn of the Tavern

Rick having an eye-to-eye with a large female barramundi

A tin man outside the Croydon Visitors' Centre

Another funny sign along the road

Gilbert River camp during 'happy hour'

Sat, 27th to Sun, 28th August - Karumba

It was a really warm night for sleeping, but fortunately the traffic on the highway was minimal.  When we rose at 8am on Saturday it was already up to 21 degrees in the van so we knew we were in for another hot one.  We continued north to the Burke and Wills Roadhouse which turned out to be just a fuel stop in the middle of nowhere. The road we were travelling on from Cloncurry to Karumba in the north is classified as a Developmental Road.  After the Burke and Wills Roadhouse and for a distance of about 150kms the road narrows to one lane only in sections of 10km and 20km at a time.  Fortunately, there isn't much traffic so passing and overtaking doesn't create too much of a problem.

When we arrived at Normanton it was 37 degrees and being a Saturday afternoon there wasn't much happening!  We called into the Visitors' Centre and were amazed to see photos taken around 1974 when the town was totally flooded.  A short distance down the road is a replica of Krys the croc - the biggest croc ever shot by a woman.  Click on the photo below to enlarge for the full story of Krys. 

Leaving Normanton we passed lots of small creeks that were slowly drying up, leaving only small puddles.  There were birds everywhere making the most of what was left of the water, especially Brolgas.  They would be hoping it wouldn't be too long before the wet season would start again and the creeks would start to flow.

We arrived at Karumba at around 3:30pm and had a look at all three caravan parks.  We had been advised earlier not to stay at the park near the water as the people there supposedly weren't friendly and were a bit 'clicky'.  After looking at all the parks we decided this one was in the nicest area, so we would risk it.  All the parks were pretty well packed out, but we were able to squeeze into a shady site where we had mobile phone and internet, but only poor TV reception.  It turned out that the couple parked directly behind us were from Cobargo so we joined them and their neighbours for a few drinks later in the day.

On Sunday we were woken early by all the fisher 'people' heading out fishing.  Almost everyone in the park has a boat as they come here to catch the elusive Barramundi but often settle for a lot of Blue Nose Salmon, which we have tried and found to be very tasty.  There are groups of people in the park who stay here for 3 months every year and have permanent site bookings.

We walked a short distance to the waterfront to check out the Sunday morning markets and had a coffee overlooking the beach.  While there, we watched as a fellow lifted his crab pot from within the mangroves and carefully removed two mud crabs.We then went for a drive around the town and ended up having lunch at a seafood cafe on the Norman River.  We also bought some tasty prawns for dinner for $15 per kilo.  After lunch we returned to the air-conditioned comfort of our van as once again it was 37 degrees.  I did a bit of work on this blog and Rick went for a quick swim in the pool, before returning to watch footy.

Some of the very straight and narrow Developmental Road

Krys the croc (Savannah King's) story

Our 'squeezy' camp site

Looking back towards the town from the boatramp

The view of the Norman River from the Cafe

Frid, 26th August - Cloncurry

We didn't end up looking at much in Mt Isa.  It is a strange town in which a lot of the roads seem a bit dangerous.  In fact, we saw a major crash during the short time we were there.  The people of the town didn't seem very enthusiastic about anything and everything cost a lot of money.  Rick wasn't comfortable about the whole place so we left the very next morning.  However, the country surrounding Mt Isa is beautiful as you travel through the Selwyn Ranges.

We stopped about 120kms further down the road at Cloncurry and visited the Royal Flying Doctor Museum commemorating the work of Rev. John Flynn and the beginnings of the Royal Flying Doctor Service.  The initial flight of the first aircraft supplied by Qantas to the RFDS was on 17th of May 1928 to Julia Creek to attend an injured stockman.

While in Cloncurry we ran into a fellow and his wife in a 5th Wheeler who happened to know Wendy and Greg from Bathurst ... it's a small world isn't it!

We had lunch and at about 2:30pm drove into a service station in town to fuel up.  While there, two young ladies in their early twenties (and dressed for a night out) walked across the road and approached Rick to ask if we could give them a lift into Mt Isa.  Rick was most disappointed that he had to say 'no' as we were headed in the opposite direction.  We watched as they walked down the street and approached anyone else who might have been able to give them a lift. 

We decided we were going to go to Normanton and then Karumba on the Gulf of Carpentaria so we left Cloncurry and headed to a free camp 80kms north.  We had a pleasant night cooking sausages over the open fire and watching the sun set over the hills in the distance.  It was going to be a warm night as it had been over 30 degrees during the day.  As usual, we met some lovely people who were also camped for the night.

The Selwyn Ranges ... leaving Mt Isa

A quarter scale model of the first aircraft supplied by Qantas ... the Victory

Sausages over the open fire

Another beautiful sunset

Thurs, 25th August - Mt Isa

We were a bit reluctant but eventually decided to leave our lovely spot on the river at Camooweal.  There is a 48 hour limit on staying because it is such a popular spot.  We figured it would get a bit busy too by the weekend as the town was hosting the Drovers' Festival.

We drove 190kms into head winds again to Mt Isa.  Much earlier in our trip we were using about 13.8 litres per 100kms.  We had now increased our usage to 15.1 litres per 100kms with these wretched winds.  We checked into a Top Tourist caravan park and did our washing and shopped for groceries.  After lunch we went for a drive into the Visitors' Centre.    The exterior of the building looked a lot better than the inside.

We had been told that you could camp in the car park of the RSL club in Mt Isa for a gold coin donation.  As the caravan park we were in wasn't much to rave about, we thought we would spend one night there and then move to the RSL Club for a night.  We called in to the RSL to have a look and ran into a couple who had been parked next to us on the river at Camooweal.  We were talking to them when two official looking guys approached us.  It turned out they were from the Council and were telling all the caravanners that they would have to move on.  Council were happy for the car park to be used as an overflow during the recent Rodeo, but now that the crowds had gone they wanted the car park cleared of campers.  We decided then that we would have a quick look around the next morning and leave Mt Isa and head to Cloncurry.

The exterior of the Mt Isa Visitors' Centre

A larger than life reptile inside the Visitors' Centre

Nothing like a bit of smog ... Mt Isa Mine

 

Mon, 22nd to Wed, 24th August - Camooweal

We slept quite well considering we weren't very far from the highway.  We heard a couple of road trains during the night but not enough to be a problem.  It was cool again for sleeping which was nice.  We headed off and drove on to the NT/Qld border in strong head winds again.  It was a bit of a deep drop off the edge of the bitumen to stop and take a photo of the border sign, and the bitumen actually cut a slit in one of the van tyres.  'Welcome to Queensland' the sign says and what a welcome it was!  We changed the tyre and continued the 15kms to a little town called Camooweal just on the Queensland side of the border.

We found a lovely peaceful and free camp spot on the Georgina River (along with lots of other people).  There were water birds and Brolgas everywhere on the river.  I baked a lovely fresh loaf of bread with some Chia seed that we had purchased in Kununurra and it was delicious.

We had a lovely 31st wedding anniversary on the Tuesday.  I forgot about it, but Rick and his brother John remembered.  We drove into town to look at the Drovers' Camp but found it closed for the week.  The town was getting ready for the Drovers' Festival on the weekend and didn't want tourists.  There is nothing really in Camooweal ... it has a population of only 310.  I spent a quite a bit of time catching up with the blog ... boy it takes a lot of time!

On Wednesday we had another sleep in and the wind started up again at about 9am.  We drove around the town and all along the river.  Some vans left and some more arrived.  I spent a bit more time on the blog ... I'm actually up to date now, so maybe I can go and relax for a while.  Rick went into town at 4pm and had a beer on behalf of his brother John.  It was pretty quiet so he was home again by 5pm.  We walked down the river to watch another guy pull in his 'Red Claw' net.  Red Claw are a fresh water lobster.  There was nothing in it, but he said he had caught quite a few over the last couple of days.  Apparently, night-time is the best for catching them.

Welcome to Queensland!

Brolgas on the edge of the Georgina River

Cooking dinner in the twilight

Our campsite from across the Georgina River

Looking down the river

Sunset across the paddocks near our campsite

Sun, 21st August - Wonarah Bore

We left Banka Banka thinking we wouldn't bother staying there again and headed towards 'Threeways' which is a major 'T' intersection about 30kms north of Tennant Creek.  As we were so close to Tennant Creek we decided we really should go and have a look at the town rather than turn left towards Queensland and miss it altogether.  Tennant Creek is a very ugly town.  The businesses are either closed up or barred and shuttered.  Being Sunday it was very quiet, although surprisingly, the supermarket was doing a roaring trade.  We had a quick look through an Aboriginal Art and Craft Gallery before getting a gas bottle refill and dumping the toilet.

We continued on, stopping briefly at Barkley Station and paying $1.97 a litre for fuel.  We were driving into very strong headwinds so our fuel economy was blowing out badly.  We even came across a sign warning that headwinds alter fuel economy and to watch fuel use, so it must be a common occurrence in this area.

We decided to head a further 220kms to a free campsite at Wonarah Bore.  This would place us about 180kms from the Queensland border.  We ended up being one of about 30 or so vans camped there for the night.

Normally, driving along a highway, you would see signs showing a number of kilometres and the initials of the next town.  Out here, there are no towns, so all the signs show how many kilometres to Qld.

Camping at Wonarah Bore

The broken windmill at the Bore (probably destroyed by strong winds)

Another photo opportunity at the Bore

Sat, 20th August - Banka Banka Station

It was a lovely cool night for sleeping for a change and was only 13 degrees in the van when we got up.

We left Daly Waters and drove on the Renner Springs where we stopped to have lunch.  Dave and Leonie (a couple we met the night before) were also stopped for lunch and to let their dogs out for a walk.  As we went to get into the van Rick noticed one of the tyres on the van was fairly flat.  We were aware it had a slow leak but it had gone down quickly this time.  Because Rick's wrists still needed to be treated gently, he enlisted Dave's help to change the tyre and Dave kindly plugged the leak for us.

We then drove a further 70kms to a place called Banka Banka Station where we camped for $20 per night.  Here we had beautiful spring water at our site but no power, mobile or TV.

In the morning we walked a short distance up the hill behind Banka Banka where we could look down over the camping area.  There was a 2km walk to a waterhole but we asked another couple whether or not it was worth doing and they said it wasn't so we didn't bother.

Our site next to a rather pathetic looking Boab Tree at Banka Banka

Looking down over our campsite with the highway in the distance

Fri, 19th August - Daly Waters Pub

Our destination this day was the Daly Waters Pub.  We had heard so much about it on our trip that there was no way we would miss it.  On the way, we passed through a place called Larramah which has a pub called the Pink Panther Hotel with a zoo and little else.  We were intrigued so we stopped to have a look at the zoo.  We were surprised to find about 10 large fish tanks all containing different (and quite large) snakes.  Out the back were lots of aviaries with beautiful parrots, emus and even a saltwater and freshwater croc out the back.

The next pub was the Daly Waters Hotel.  At the back of the pub is a camping area with power and some basic amenities but no water.  You are told where to park your van and they pack you in like sardines as it is a popular spot.  When we checked in we were advised to book if we wanted to have their famous 'Beef and Barra' meal for dinner followed by some entertainment.  We decided that sounded good and booked for 6:30pm.

We set ourselves up and then had a look through the inside of the pub.  There is so much to look at.  It seems that everyone who has ever been there has left something behind, whether a business card, foreign banknote, bra, cap, jocks, socks, thong or other weird item with a message on it.  We spent a long time looking around before walking across the road to a souvenir shop. The souvenir shop across the road was quite interesting too.  We had quite a lengthy and enjoyable conversation with Kathy, the proprietor and maker of a lot of the souvenirs.

In the evening we had our Beef and Barra meal and then the free entertainment started.  It was a comedian named 'Chilli', who had us in fits of laughter for a good hour and a half.  I was expecting some bloke to come on and sing a few songs but Chilli kept us entertained with his wonderful sense of humour.

The front of the quaint pub

Many funny signs inside the pub

The saltie out the back

In the next pond was a freshie

Someone has a sense of humour ...

The Pink Panther Hotel

Looking back across the road to the Pub

Some of the business cards, etc.

Trust Rick to spot all the bras above his head ...

A small part of the thong tree out the back

Not sure how the helicopter got onto the roof

Crammed into our site at the back of the pub