Westward Ho!

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July 26th 2015

Published: August 8th 2015

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Wangi Wanderers

Cobbold Gorge

The gorge is only some 740 metres long but the opening are narrow and even the specially designed boats hit the sides and underwater ledges

Our thoughts turned westward as did our mechanised home as we said our farewells to Margaret, John and hopefully the black snake. Well not quite westward yet, a detour to the Cairns Regional Gallery was considered a must by the tour director. Eventually we tackled the Kuranda range and commenced the western leg of this years journey but managed only 110 kms to Rocky Creek war memorial park just short of Atherton whose thoughtful council supplied the park but also a place to park the motorhome and trailer right outside the laundromat.

Laundry complete, ever westward, with an uninspiring overnight stop at Archer Creek rest area, a misnomer as all night Megan listened to the road trains coming down the hill under exhaust brakes waiting for one to leave the road and land ontop of the motorhome which just happened to be parked 20 feet of the road and 10 - 12 feet below it. Get in earlier and park on the side away from the road. We've worked out that the idea is to start early and get to the free camps early afternoon, just haven't mastered it yet.

After an uneventful trip to Georgetown we took the

Cobold Gorge

This emphases the high and narrow gorge not actually explored until the 1990's even though cattle drank at the start of the gorge which is feed through the sandstone rock formation and has never been known to dry up

road to Forsyth and Cobbold Gorge. The Forsyth leg was 41km with the 13km in the middle, the worst corrigated gravel track Doug has travelled since the Cape Development Road in the late 80's, or maybe the motorhome wasn't designed for these roads. Forsyth was the end of the rail line from Cairns and until the mid 90's, a goods train serviced the town once a week, until an extremely hot spell of weather buckled a section of track. The once a week goods train, with the addition of a passenger carriage, become a popular tourist attraction which his parents absolutely adored. Eventually the track was repaired and a rail motor, The Savannahlander, has replaced the old goods train and its 2 day trip (each way) has become an outback adventure for tourists.

Forsyth itself hasn't got much going for it except as a fossicking hub with reasonable facilities and a stepping off point for Cobbold Gorge. Many of the caravan parks residents return each year with picks and metal detectors and a few actually cover the reasonable ($20 night with power and water) camp fees.

If we thought the road so far was bad we were in

Johnson River crocodile.( Freshie)

Supposedly timid and harmless but we weren't about to test the theory!

for a rude awakening, the 50km trip to Cobbold Gorge was in patches terrifying, "it would shake the sugar out of your coffee." In fact it shook and vibrated so much we lost a dress rim, the cb aerial, the handle and retaining nut of the grey water disposal tap, the gas jets from the grill fell apart and the cassette shook out of the toilet, then we had to get back!!

Megan says the gorge was worth it but I'm still in two minds. The tour guides were especially informative and knowledgeable Jemma more so than Pedro who also doubled as a bush poet and guitar playing entertainer at the campsite get-togethers. The tourist potential was obvious to Simon and Gaye Terry in the 90's with the village at Cobbold having all the mod cons even down to an infinity pool. Its remoteness means everything must be made on site or trucked in, in one piece. The Terrys' now own the hotel/accomodation/general store and fuel in Forsyth (13c.p/l more expensive than in nearby Georgetown), but without the gorge and the Terrys the town could have gone the way of other boom mining towns of the 1800's and exist

Exit (or entry )

This photo shows the eastern entry to the gorge. behind the two rocks are the pontoons where the punts are moored. During the wet all the pounts and pontoons are moved to higher ground by flying fox.

in name only.

Time to pack up and move on before two Politicians (Bob & Rob Katter) turn up to give a speech at the local pub. Never thought Doug would say thank you to a politician but their imminent arrival made sure some public servant got the road between Georgetown and Forsyth graded, making the return trip almost a pleasure by comparison. A little further along the road, we discovered Cumberland historic mine site and free camp, will keep it in mind for the future.

Stopped at the pub in Croydon for lunch and a coldie, the temperature has been warming up over the last week, and a visit to Lake Belmore, which is apparently chock-a-block with barramundi, but unfortunately there is no camping allowed. Travel time to our planned stop precluded Doug throwing in a line, so it was onward again. Pulled into Leichhardt Lagoon camping area, some 24kms short of Normanton. The water level in the lagoon was way down due to the lack of a true wet season for 4-5 years. Fishing in the lagoon has been banned even though there is abundance of barramundi. The story goes like this, in a bountiful season

Gulflander Mark 1

The original loco replaced by the rail motors

the barra take anglers lines around the water lilly stems and break off the lines but stayed hooked, eventually dying and decomposing on the surface creating an horrific stench - so no fishing - Doug disappointed again!

Now to Normanton, first port of call was the Visitors Information Centre where an absolutely delightfully large indigenous person acquainted with all the local history and free council regulated camp for self-contained vehicles, not mentioned in Camps 6 book. We camped on the north bank of the Norman River where a very large crocodile has been sighted recently but not a threat to us. We chose a site beside a scrawny tree which afforded us a modicum of relief from the heat now into the mid to high 30's. Next morning we visited the Normanton Railway Station to see the famed Normanton - Croydon "Gulflander", another rail motor which beside its weekly run to Croydon and back does short theme trips around Normanton. The rail motor was out on morning tea run at Blackbull Siding so we passed the time in the railway museum, not large but certainly informative and educational (Malcolm you'd love it). Now forget Crocodile Dundee and Steve Erwin,

Uninvited guests

This fellow joined our table obviously trying to cadge a meal. Quite tame and used to humans - spoiled by being fed and forgotten how to forage in the wild.

the most successful crocodile person is a petite Polish lass, Krystina Pawlowski, who in June 1957 shot a monster 8.63m saltwater crocodile on the banks of the Norman river. A terrifying replica now takes pride of place in the main street of Normanton.

The seventy odd kilometres to Karumba passed uneventfully, passed by our booked caravan park, boy was it packed to the rafters! Decided to check out Karumba Point and then the main town before parking up the motorhome. The hotel at the point was conducting its regular weekly market, not very inspiring, the same cannot be said for the fish market next to the caravan park- so good and cheap we ate there both nights of our stay, Tuesday's sunset as we left the fish market was quite incredible with bright red "fish scale" clouds - hurried back to the motorhome for the camera but the colour was waning rapidly. No fishing, the locals aren't catching Barramundi because of the wind and lack of rain. Bikes out Sunday for a ride to the point and a walk along a beach track, the beach itself was vetoed by Megan who was petrified of being ambushed by a crocodile.

Natural

Meanwhile this beauty is feeding quite happily as nature intended (upside down)

One unexpected problem of our visit to the Gulf Country has been the local liquor accord whereby the sale of alcohol is restricted - no cask wine is sold, yet it is the safest way to transport and store it on the road. Bottled wine is prohibitively expensive, $12 or more for paint stripper, $25 or more for something remotely drinkable, we will know for next time.

I should have mentioned the termite mounds, mainly small but hundreds of kilometres of them, depending on the colour of the soil, the grey coloured earth reminds me of headstones in an old graveyard. Someone along the road has been dressing them, believe me, its really difficult to photo the good ones, especially one with a dolls head, blonde hair and dressed in pink. There have been families and communities, football themed etc., but most importantly, they break the boredom of the drive, I hope the photos do them justice.

On to Cloncurry, just missed the annual muster, walked around the historic part of town then moved on to Fountain Springs near Mt. Isa, via the defunct Mary Kathleen uranium mine, didn't get too far as the roadway adjoining a bridge

Cumberland Historic mine site

Situated 20km west of Georgetown this idyllic lagoon teems with birdlife,including pelicans and appears to be a great free stopover but unfortunately not this time

had been half washed away in a previous wet season, we may have made it but no guarantee the rest of the road wouldn't collapse. Just missed the Mt. Isa rodeo by a couple of days, the 270 metre smelter chimney is impressive, the town was larger than I expected and the Visitor Information Centre was outstanding.

Moving onto Camooweal, visited the Drovers Camp, really interesting talk by an old drover, something we didn't know, was the government moved all the cattle south when Darwin was bombed so there would be no food available in the event of a Japanese invasion, the army sunk bores along the stock route to ensure sufficient water for the moving cattle. We camped on the side of the Georgina River which eventually feeds into Lake Eyre, although not too much water in it now, the birdlife was extensive, the pelicans were fascinating to watch feeding in a group, the Brolgas were just beautiful, unfortunately the exposed bed and sides of the river are rutted up by feral pigs searching for freshwater crayfish and mussels, not a bad diet. We are yet to see a feral cat but I can assure you there are

Croydon

Sculpture outside visitor information centre where the staff were exceptionally friendly and well informed. Croydon has an historic precinct with many origonal buildings preserved

one hell of a lot of feral pigs in the bush. The moonrise over the river was extraordinary, unfortunately, the photo doesn't quite do it justice. There is 8km of river available for camping with anywhere between 100 - 200 motor homes/caravans at any one time, must be self contained, no tents allowed. We could have stayed for weeks, sadly not to be.

With only 12 km to the Northern Territory border we reluctantly moved on.

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