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Published: August 14th 2009
I am not leaving this, it tastes too good
A Wedge Tail Eagle tries to show us who's boss!Day 109 - Mount Surprise to Croydon
We were fast running out of legitimate reasons for staying in the glorious Bedrock Village! Our only hope was that we could get on a trip aboard the Savannahlander, the outback rail experience on a vision of silver built in the 1960’s. Somehow the knowledge of this train and the fact that it was coming to Mt Surprise today had completely passed us by until last night whilst we were aboard the Mystery Tour. I wandered hopefully to reception first thing this morning with fingers crossed that 4 spaces were still available and thus the Wallaby Wanderers and Kangaroojack could have ourselves a rail trip! Alas all the spaces were taken and there was already a list as long as the track in case of cancellations.
So there it was, our fate sealed, we leave camp today.
We followed the normal routine of packing up with the exception of breakfast, cooked by the lovely Caroline of Kangaroojack. The four of us enjoyed our toasty start but by 9am it was time for us to go. We parted company in the same way that we’d met a few days back, hugs all
round. We’ll keep in touch with this lovely couple and wish them well in all their travels going forward. There’s already talk of a meeting sometime in the future before we leave Australia for the UK, we’ll do everything we can to make that happen. We waved goodbye till we rounded the corner and then we were off, just as far as the free vehicle wash to give our lot a bit of a clean up!
It’s such a great town, Mt Surprise, a gem of a town really rather than a jewel of a town as the signs say. The tour guide told us last night that they’d got it wrong, what a shame but the monumental signs are stunning nevertheless.
There are two possible destinations for us today, Croydon or Normanton. Croydon is the closest to us and a number of people have recommended this outback former mining town as a fascinating place to stop. Kangaroojack were especially impressed with the area.
We were expecting an almost immediate deterioration in the road but we were delighted to find The Savannah Way is in very good condition. There are elements of single, bitumen track where it’s
True Blue Indeed
The fabulous structure at the Croydon visitor centre necessary to put two wheels on the gravel when facing oncoming vehicles but there are plenty of kilometres where it’s two lane bitumen. We find ourselves at the tail end of a convoy of caravans which is great as the driver up front is giving excellent radio commentary about cattle & chooks in the road! We travel in the threesome up to Georgetown where their helpful shout about cheap diesel allows us to fill up for $1.29 a litre. It looks like they’re stopping for lunch so we decide to get back on the road.
We see plenty of wildlife on the trip, most of it dead which is of course sad but we do come across the most enormous Wedge Tail Eagle sitting proudly on his prize. We were nose to beak with him as he really didn’t want to leave it but leave it he must and eventually plucks the strength to get skyward. We’ve been taking note of the creek crossing on this journey too, there were 40 (!) and the list of names is at the bottom of the blog. If you work for Tradeteam then have a guess at which creek name made us
think of you all. We just couldn’t believe the co-incidence! It was a good reminder of our colleagues back home and gives us the opportunity to say a special ‘Gday’ over the blog to all of them! Thanks to all of you that have been in touch, keep the comments and messages coming - they’re great.
We arrived at the outback town of Croydon at lunchtime and it isn’t hard to figure out where the famed True Blue Visitor Information & Heritage Centre is, there are rows of 4WD’s and Caravans parked up outside! The True Blue mining tower over the entrance sets the place off beautifully. The yester-year machinery is fascinating too and that’s all before you’ve even started to explore this incredible town. We wander into the air conditioned haven of the visitor centre and are immediately met by a warmth & enthusiasm that could only mean one thing, we’ve just encountered Eleanor! This is visitor centres and tourist information at it’s very best, not only do the team here proudly promote their immediate surroundings but their knowledge of the rest of Australia is excellent and they’re only too happy in making the time to give you
the best guidance and answer any questions you may have. One word of advice, you’ll need both hands free when you leave carrying all the booklets!
Working alongside Eleanor today was Chris, a very kindly gentleman who handed us the “Welcome to Croydon” self guided walking tour brochure. It’s an essential guide to the area and we realise at this point there is no way we are just staying here for lunch then shooting through! Although others had mentioned the magical town of Croydon to us it was Kangaroojack that told us about the film detailing its history, we felt this was a must see and we weren’t wrong, it’s fabulous. We didn’t catch it from the very beginning so missed the build up through its previous glory years but what we did see made our jaws drop wide and had us chuckling out loud in a very good way. Chris turns out to be a star of the film and has in fact been associated with the town all his life. He tells us about his childhood and the journeys he made as a young boy from one train station to another where various relatives and family friends
would take him off and feed him then put him back on the train for the next leg of the journey until he’d finally reach somewhere as far away as Mareeba or Cairns for a holiday! It’s Chris that has written the back page of the walking tour brochure and as the local genealogist and historian for the shire of Croydon, he is indeed a fascinating man. We find him remarkable and we think back to the poignant part of the film where Chris talks about numbers living in Croydon dropping so dramatically once the gold mining slowed up, they moved away in droves. It went from a town of un-officially 8’000+ in 1888 to today when around 300 people live in Croydon with 36 children attending the local school but it’s most certainly not a ghost town and is now thriving in a different way.
One thing we needed to do before we got completely carried away in Croydon’s infectious atmosphere was find a pitch for the night! We bid farewell to Eleanor and Chris, promising we would return later to look around the outside area of their place. Croydon Tourist Park is just around the corner and
Fantastic Sculptures
Croydon Visitor Centre luckily it has some free spots. It’s on the land where the “Lady Mary” gold mine once was so maybe, just maybe we’d find our fortune here! We did strike a different kind of gold, a swimming pool! When we checked the temperature inside the caravan it read 39 degrees so a cooling off period was definitely in order! The water was divine and we spend a very relaxing time splashing about until we’re cool enough to go exploring!
Using the walking tour brochure, we found our way to the Old Police Station and had a chat with the prisoner in the old gaol, poor sod! When you visit you find three cells, one of them with a prisoner but are the other two really empty? You have to be brave and wander up close to check it out but you’ll definitely hear voices from one of the cells, at least!
We wandered through the brilliantly laid out museum where local artefacts and photographs are displayed with interesting descriptions and write ups. Just next door is the Croydon Courthouse and Museum where you can sit in the public gallery and soak up the atmosphere as a court case
Hot Humour
Inside one of the Croydon Museums, hot stuff indeed! from years gone by unfolds around you, Elizabeth Brown stands before the court accused of being drunk and disorderly! Whilst the judge asks the witness for his statement the defendant protests her innocent to no avail and receives two months in jail! The court is automated genius and really well thought out. At the back of the courthouse is another museum where artwork, precious mementos, artefacts from the old hospital and the awesome ‘a hot night in Croydon’ are on display for all to see and thoroughly enjoy.
And that’s only half of what’s on offer at Croydon. Wouldn’t it be terrible to miss all of this and to shoot through without even checking out the fabulous sculptures behind the new visitor centre or putting your spare change in the vocal donation ‘pot’ to roar with laughter as it retorts in a deep, Australian accent “Come on mate, I can’t even afford to retire on that!” followed by several brilliant more! Throughout the park are interesting sculptures poignant to Croydon’s history with free BBQs and picnic areas for you to enjoy your breakfast, lunch or dinner! Infact we took our dinner out to Lake Belmore where the facilities are
just superb and the view out over the lake is gorgeous. That’s something Australia is collectively very good at; good, clean, free BBQ and picnic areas but this is one of the best we’ve been too yet!
The sun was on it’s way down so we popped along to Diehm’s Lookout for a great view over the town and then drove over to the cemetery to pay our respects to those who have gone before us. The graves are very interesting and there’s an area here dedicated to the Chinese residents from all those years ago. That’s something we’ve not really mentioned but Croydon had a strong link with Chinese migrants, the site of the Chinese Temple is an interesting place to visit and in the morning we’re nipping out to heritage listed Policehouse which is currently home to the Chinese exhibition so we’ll talk more about that then!
What a day we’ve had and we’re so pleased we made the decision to say in Croydon, which did indeed get it’s name from the Croydon back in the UK! It's an absolute credit to the effort put in by the local community, it's spotlessly clean and everyone was
very friendly.
After a good catch up with Kangaroojack, who were lucky enough to see the Savannahlander come in to Mount Surprise today we also had a good chat with Darryl’s brother Nick and Dad Ken which was fantastic! It was awesome to actually see Dad Howells over the webcam, brilliant, and we hope that we can catch up with Mum Howells very soon in the same way. We had a good Skype chat with Mum Kettle too, it’s always great to hear from people so please do get in touch or keep in touch when you can. We’d really like to hear how you guys are doing too.
Well that’s all for today, thanks for letting us ‘big up’ Croydon but it’s such a terrific place and the locals we’ve met here have been so friendly it would have been a shame not to tell the rest of you about it!
All that leaves us to do is list the creeks and the wildlife count for todays journey! Deep breath now, dig in, here we go:
Creeks from Mt Surprise to Croydon along The Savannah Way Junction Creek, Stephen Creek, Edith Creek, Quartzblow Creek, Charlies
Gully, White Springs Creek, Routh Creek, Twelve Mile Creek, Sisters Creek, O’Brien Creek, Anna’s Creek, Etheridge River, Sandy Creek, Four Mile Creek, Chinaman Creek, Durham Creek,
Aurora Creek, Log Creek, Somerset Creek, Crooked Creek, Gilbert River, Pleasant Creek, Venture Creek, Lancewood Creek, Spring Creek, Marsupial Creek, Little River, Maitland Creek, Rosella Creek, Twenty Mile Creek, Democrat Creek, Lacock Creek, Basket Creek, Lancewood Creek (for a second time!), Round Hole Creek, McEvoy Creek, Plumtree Creek, One Mile Creek, George Creek and finally Corktree Creek.
Wildlife Stats for todays journey only (not including cattle!) Kanagaroos (Dead)16
Kanagroos (Alive) 2
Emus (Alive) 3
Wedge Tailed Eagles sitting on their road kill 2
Wedge Tailed Eagles flying above their road kill 2
Brolgas standing in a creek 2
Wild Boar (Dead) 1
If you don't get a good nights sleep after reading through that creek list then you're not trying hard enough!
love to all
Dar and Sar
For more information on Croydon you can contact Chris Weirman via email info@croydon.qld.gov.au
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Caroline's Mum and Dad
non-member comment
Poems
Australia ******* Caroline and Andy, Sarah and Darryl are touring Australia in summer apparel The days are very hot but the nights can be cold To escape the wet England they are very bold Darryl and Sarah Caroline and Andy Met outside Cairns by gosh that was handy From Possums to spiders and snakes, oh! be wary kangaroos, and koalas and the odd cassowary The wedge tailed eagle on road kill they spy with camera in hand, the birds then do fly Their blogs are amazing and photos give cheer We hear they've been fossiking, then stop for a beer The gems that they found they took to the shop No fortunes here, so it's no time to stop They swim in the lakes and also the pools Watch out for the crocodiles as they are no fools The water is cold which cools them all down so back to the campsite and then into town A lamb roast for tea with veggies and dampers The campfire is lit and off with their jumpers The oven is placed on the embers that glow and in no time at all the food is a "Wow! Reticulated campsites they think are a must but oh dear when they get there "There's no room for us!" With no light pollution in the blackness of night Their stargazing is perfect, they exclaim with delight An inter planetary walk would be just the thing So next time they go a telescope they will bring So Darryl and Sarah, Caroline and Andy A good time they've had, no need to be dandy With kisses and hugs they go separate ways And promised to meet on some other day. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>