Kuranda and west into Gulf Savannah Country

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I had felt sure that we would spend a few days in Kuranda but, much to Dean’s relief, we carried on driving after just a few hours there. I fell in love with this little hippy village during our visit in 2007 but it didn’t particularly float my boat this time. It’s very touristy and all the shops sell the same knickknacks. It does have a certain charm though and there is lots of creativity and art. As it’s in the midst of the rainforest, at an elevation of 1000 feet, it’s also nice and cool.






We swung past the Barron Falls on the way out of town, and Mount Hypipamee National Park to see the Crater and Dinner Falls (strangely named, but lovely, waterfalls). That night we stayed at a fantastic little camping spot in Ravenshoe which, at 3000 feet above sea level, is Queensland’s highest town. We still laugh because we were pronouncing it raven-shoe, whereas it’s actually pronounced ravens-hoe. Our by-donation camping area was beautifully set up with hot showers etc and basically Ravenshoe’s way of attracting visitors that will spend some money here. To their credit, the café makes great coffee and the chips that Dean bought from the corner shop are probably the best I’ve ever tasted.






The next day, we visited Undara to see the lava tubes. Now dormant, this volcanic national park features ancient lava tube caves that you walk into. You’re not allowed to enter the area unless you book a tour, so that’s what we did. At $50 a pop, we had great expectations but the tour was simply a 6km drive to the park and a walk to two caves. Very disappointing! We are still shocked at having spent almost a week’s food budget on such a poor experience and always one to give (positive and negative) feedback, I have already asked the tour company to ask for a copy of their financial report so that the mystery of the exorbitant tour fees may be solved!






Our next stop was the charming settlement of Georgetown on the Etheridge River which was the site of a gold rush in the 1870s. The town was originally called Etheridge but was renamed in 1871 in honour of an early gold commissioner called Howard St George. It’s the kind of place where you go to the fuel station to buy food and hear cows mooing in the distance. We found the sensational public pool which was a godsend in the scorching heat. We decided to freecamp by the side of the road that night and, amazingly, had no issues. After another swim in the morning, we drove on to Croydon, but not before checking out Terrestrial, an awesome collection of (4500!) gems and minerals created by Ted Elliott. I haven’t been so snap-happy with camera in quite some time. There were just too many things to photograph!






I still have to smile when I think that I’ve been to Croydon this week. However, it couldn’t be further removed from London suburbia. Gold was discovered in this area in the late 1880s and, in its heyday, Croydon was the fourth largest town in the ‘colony’ of Queensland. Today, it has a population of 255! We loved Lake Belmore, 4km out of town, as it brought more welcome relief in the heat. It seemed a little wrong to be swimming in a lake when a nearby sign read “freshwater crocodiles inhabit this area – they can become aggressive and cause injury if disturbed”. Apparently it’s the saltwater crocs that will do anything to make you into lunch and the freshwater crocs that are more opportunistic. Almost at melting point, we were willing to take our chances! That evening I cycled back to the lake from our campground (I’m not sure what possessed me to do that – I almost died in the heat!) and saw the most beautiful sunset as well as a black dingo! That night was probably the hottest night we have had so far in our van. We were tossing and turning, trying to get some sleep, and Dean even got up at midnight to have a cold shower. With the increasing heat, we have started using our aircon whilst driving (pretty proud of ourselves for holding off for this long!) so now we just need to figure out a way to stay cool at night.


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