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Published: December 7th 2006
Blog7
I did go swimming under the Millaa Millaa waterfall and very refreshing it was too , the tree kangaroo did return and all who were camping on the site gathered to view it.
From here we forged our way inland through Ravenshoe , stopping briefly to look at the Capella steam train and millstream falls , the widest in Australia , alas no swimming, then on to Undara national park , the leaflet looked promising , we would have the Undara Experience . About 190,000 years ago the Undara volcano erupted violently , its molten lava flowing quickly though the low points in the landscape, as the top layer cooled and formed a crust , the fiery magma below drained outwards leaving a series of long , dark , hollow tubes , it was these lava tubes we had come to see. We arrived 10 minutes to late for the last trip of the day , and so we booked a site for the night and reserved our seats the next morning at 8.00am. It was very hot and dusty , it’s what they call an eco site , this is not the first eco site we have stayed on , to me it means dodgy toilets , full of wildlife ,and brown water showers , I was not wrong. I wont tell you what was in the toilet , reading through it sounds like I have a strange obsession for them, alright I will tell you , there was the biggest stick insect I have ever seen , sitting on the corrugated dividing wall he was not very well camouflaged, and 2 gecko’s, I didn’t hang around long enough to study what was in the cobwebs that hung down like mosquito nets. We spent the evening in the swimming pool chatting with others who had also had to wait over. One couple from new Zealand Rachel and Jim , we were to see again at our next two sights , and a honeymoon couple from Melbourne, who we would also meet again. W e were up bright and early , our guide was Tim, ’’G’day my name is Tim and I shall be your guide ‘’ , he was certainly dressed for the part, battery pack , torch , funny hat and shorts. He drove us out to the site , he never stopped talking, although for the life of me I can only remember one thing he said , he pointed out a tree that we had wondered about for many days it had no leaves, just green fruit like figs, it was a kapok tree.
We were two groups amalgamated for the first 2 hours, then we would split up, those who had only booked 2 hours would be taken back to the eco site, ( that’s us ) and those who had booked a whole morning would have coffee and biscuits and go down another tube. He rattled on and on, the tubes I must say were spectacular , but he didn’t have a clue what he was on about, when he threw himself open for questions, he didn’t understand the question, let alone come up with an answer, his grand finale‘ was turning his torch on the rocks so we could see natures art gallery, this was fun , he would ask what we could see, we would call out what came to mind , some of the lads from Germany were really good at this, then he would tell us what he thought it was , good game , good game .And so after 2 hours we packed up and left , you see we had travelled 60 kilometres down a dirt road to get there, and it was another 60 kilometres back to the main road. New motto don’t believe the brochure.
We travelled through Georgetown, stopping at the butchers for fresh meat and the veg shop for fresh veg and then on to Croydon, it was here we net up with Rachel and Jim again, they were also taking a gap year but heading for Darwin for Christmas, they had family there. Rachel was into bush tucker in a big way picking mangoes, lemons and limes , she stocked us both up , we then went to the local pub for a roast dinner and a few drinks.
Corydon like most gold mining districts, grew rapidly when gold was first found in 1885, peaked in 1888, when there were 8,000 people, water was scarce, disease and fever swept through, there were 4 undertakers in the town and old timers used to say’ when one hearse was going to the cemetery, another was coming back, they used to work into the night.’’. you could have a tooth extracted at ten o’clock at night by the chemist or blacksmith depending how rich you were. The current population stands at 280 with 40 children attending the school. You can take a self guided walk around the town looking at the old buildings dating from 1894. We said our farewells to Rachel and Jim , they were going to stay in Normanton, we were going up to Karumba point. We arrived at Normanton at lunch time just right for an ice cold beer before going on to Karumba. There are 2 pubs , the one tourists favour called the purple pub and another one. I found myself talking to two aboriginal women who were sisters and now lived near Cairns, they had returned to Normanton to attend their mothers funeral. One had 6 children but they attended boarding school, she was determined they would be educated, she wasn’t. Her husband was talking to Dave , he had , had a chance to go to school. They were quietly spoken , and pleased we had sat with them , other whites sat at the other end of the veranda.
We were surprised to see Rachel and Jim at the campsite when we arrived, too many blacks in Normanton apparently.
In the pool we saw the Melbourne honeymooners, we joined them and had a good laugh about Tim the guide. W spent the evening at the sunset tavern discussing our next destinations, Rachel and Jim were staying put for three days, before heading south to Cloncurry then across to Darwin , they were towing a caravan and the roads were too rough to burke town , the honeymooners were heading for burke town and then on to Lawn hill national park all dirt roads but they had a good 4x4 and did a lot of off roading, swimming holes waterfalls etc. We were going part way to burke town ,see what the road was like and then decide which way to go.
Our purpose was to see camp 119, which was the last camp set up by Burke (who had no experience of the bush ) and Wills on their great expedition to find a route from south Australia , Melbourne to the north, the gulf of Carpentaria. They left Melbourne with many people lining the streets to see them off, Burke and his second in command ,Landells, who was taken because of his knowledge of camels , (24 had been specially imported from Peshawar), and William Wills, a man of science . Burke and Landells fell out before they were out of touch with inhabited parts, and Landells returned in ill temper. The party was so immense it took all day to leave Melbourne this cumbersome expedition eventually reached Menindee here the provisions were reorganised and on October 19 they set off again, 400 miles later at Innamincka Robert Burke decided to forge ahead with just William Wills , John King and Charley Grey, and a pack horse called Billy , he thought it would take just 2 months to get to the coast and back and those left behind were to wait that long for their return. Reaching the Cloncurry river which flowed north to the gulf, Burke drove on at such a pace his camels died. On 9th February 1861 the four set up camp at Magowra where we were now, on the Sunday 10th Burke and Wills went on alone to attempt to reach the gulf taking three days supplies , they returned on the Tuesday, not having seen the sea , they had been stopped by thick mangrove swamp and saw the salt tidal waters rushing through the mangroves Burke wrote in his journal ‘’it would be very well to say that we had reached the sea , but we could not obtain a view of the open ocean although we made every endeavour to do so ‘’. They left the camp on the Wednesday for the return journey , Grey the strongest among them dropped dead one day , and where they were so weak it took more than a day to bury him , Burke and Wills also died of thirst and hunger, King was saved by some aborigines who nursed him back to health. What amazed us was that although the road was very dusty the camp was nearby a large river full of fish. Why had they starved or for that matter why did they go thirsty.
David decided he liked the road and so we headed for Burke town , the journey was wonderful , we were surprised at how much water there was cutting through the dry landscape. This is apparently the town referred to in nevil shutes book ‘a town like Alice, he called it Williams town, we visited the 130 year old pub and set up camp by the river. The next morning we started our journey south, we stopped at Cloncurry , there is a museum there that has Burkes water bottle. It was shut, we were out of season. We arrived at 4.45 in the afternoon and David was breathalysed.
The next morning we left for Winton, on the way we stopped at the Walkabout hotel where Crocodile Dundee had his headquarters in the film of the same name.
And so we arrive in Winton this is where Banjo Paterson wrote the song Waltzing Matilda. The town used to be called pelican waterhole, but the post master decided the name was too time consuming when it had to be handwritten across stamps , because in those days rubber stamps hadn’t been invented , and having come from Winton near Bournemouth changed the town name to Winton. Much quicker to write.
The whole town revolves around 2 things , the song written by Banjo Patterson and dinosaurs.
In a quarry 100 kilometres down a dirt road are the petrified footprints of a dinosaur stampede. We would pass up on this.
We visited the waltzing matilda exhibition, Bryson would have loved it. Indoors was a full sized billabong, and a coolabah tree, underneath which sat a swagman being approached by troopers. We were told to look into the water ,there is a big white stone on to which a film is screened telling the story of the swagman and the kind of life he lead, this was the ghost of the swagman speaking to us as in the song ‘’and his voice may be heard as you pass by that billabong’’. but that was not all next you passed into another room and by pressing any of the buttons you were able to hear the song sung by many different people in many different styles, there was opera singers , heavy metal groups , brass bands , folksy, in fact over 10 different styles David threatened me with a fate worse than death when I hit the tenth button. But he had found something even more interesting, you know the little hologram we saw in Cowra , well they had one here it told the story of the diversity of Australian people, there were 5 different little people , each with a story to tell ,ending with Slim Dusty playing his guitar, and singing Waltzing Matilda. On leaving this room you went through the museum that had everything the people of Winton had ever owned and no longer wanted. After passing through many rooms of this we came to another display about the birth of Quanta’s, so Winton is known for three things, Banjo Patterson , Dinosaurs and Quanta’s. We adjourned to the pub across the road where we sat and chatted to a real swagman who was now 84 been on the road since he left the navy in 1946, never seen a doctor and originally came from Cornwall, his name was Leon, he didn’t travel any more , you never knew who was going to pick you up probably druggies, he had a place made of corrugated iron out the back of the newsagents , they had let him stay he was now looking for a good woman to take him breakfast in bed.
From here we continued south stopping at Long reach ,where there is the famous Stockman’s Hall of fame , we decided we wouldn’t know any of them and continued south passing Isiford stopping at Blackall. I have no idea of what the date is we haven’t been able to get an up to date newspaper since I last wrote.
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Your Golden Child
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Welkom in de echte wereld!!
Hello Mum and Dad, Thanks for sending Laura and I presents for Christmas. As you know Lauras english isn't so good and she unwrapped them !!! And a bloody good job she did !!! The koala you posted looked like it needed a meal !! We've nursed him back to health and called him Bananas. He's a very sweet looking bear, but is actually very naughty and is getting the blame for alot of things that are not entirely his fault, with the lack of eucalyptus leaves I don't think his tummy is used to our food !!! Other News... I'm starting a new job tomorrow !!! Its working at DARA Fleetlands in Gosport and I'll be repairing helicopters. I've been to the site and it looks really good and the pay is slightly better than Smiths ! YEY ! I'm really excited ! It's about time I moved on, I can only help these giant global companys out so much befor they have to go it alone, stand on there own two feet !! Yes they'll struggle but " Welcome to the Real world" I say !! Laura loves her new neckless and she looks very beautiful in it, the stone really brings the colour in the teeth. We are missing you loads. XXXXXXXX