Croydon and Leichhardt Lagoon, Queensland

We're back in the world of Technology and Power after some time off the grid. I'm cheating and combining a few stays together in this Post and the next one.

Wednesday morning saw us packing up and heading West towards Croydon for a return visit. In 2012 we passed through Croydon with only a quick stop over. We arrived at Croydon Caravan Park without incident by lunch time. The Development road was fairly good with long sections of two way highway. The Caravan Park is relatively small and primarily an overnight stop for people heading to Karumba from down South. We got some drive through sites as we were only staying overnight as well. A bit of shade and luckily a nice swimming pool as was 37 degrees again. Amenities were basic but clean with a 3 Star rating.

We spent the afternoon doing a bit of shopping and touring the Croydon Heritage Precinct. Well worth a visit for travelers as they have restored the Police Station, Courthouse, Town Hall, etc for the Public to tour. There is no charge for this and the Visitor Centre is well worth a visit too! The later afternoon saw us enjoying the Pool and charging up for a our upcoming days of free camping.

Thursday morning we again ventured West on the Development road towards Normanton. We had decided to spend a few days in this area to do some shopping and relaxing at Leichhardt Lagoon. This is a low cost campground on private land about 23 Km South East of Normanton. Cost was $8 per person/night with very basic services. Toilets and Showers with untreated tap water from the Lagoon. Apparently this campground is frequented by many of the same people who spend the winter months here. We were the first people there besides the Caretakers but during the day 2 more caravans came in. The location was beautiful with lots of water lillies and bird life. The amenities were very basic but clean. Frogs and Cane toads were an issue however. I'll give a 2.5 Star rating.

We had a bit of shade but our time here was very hot (37+ degrees with nights only dropping to the low 30s) Was quite unbearable without air conditioning and little breeze. We took a drive into Normanton in the afternoon where we did some banking and shopping. We enjoyed a happy hour with the Caretakers, Graham and Phil (Phyllis), who have been coming here for 17 years. Lovely couple. We enjoyed a nice sunset overlooking the Lagoon where they even have a primitive seating/viewing area set up. Enjoyed the various birdlife as well of which Magpie Geese were the most prolific.

We sweltered through a very hot night with not a lot of sleep for anyone. Enjoyed some quiet time in the morning watching the birdlife on the Lagoon. No mobile or TV coverage in the park so there really wasn't that much more to do. We took a drive down to the Weir and Normanton River in the early afternoon before another drive into Normanton. Stopped at the Visitor Centre to check on road conditions out to Adel's Grove which is out next destination. Road information is sketchy with the road from Gregory Downs to Adel's Grove apparently closed but usable?? We did some phone calls from Normanton before returning to the Lagoon for another hot afternoon. Another beautiful sunset with a few Brolgas landing in the distance. The Ransleys are having some problems with their caravan fridge on gas so we have been shuffling our fridge/freezer contents as best we can to accommodate.

Leichhardt Lagoon is a beautiful location but we all agreed that we couldn't envision spending 4 months there especially when as hot as our stay. Definitely would need a generator operating for extended periods.

Forsayth Queensland

We finished packing up on Sunday morning before heading off towards Forsayth just after 9 AM. The trip to Georgetown was uneventful with minimal traffic. There are some very narrow sections of road so we were happy we didn't encounter any Road Trains.

The countryside was very pretty especially near Routh which was East of Georgetown. We stopped at Georgetown for a quick break before heading South towards Forsayth. The road was sealed except for a 11 Km stretch in the middle. We arrived at the Forsayth Tourist Park around lunch time. The entry to Forsayth had lovely gardens with lots of historic relics/garden art included! Those who know Sandra or Carol would know this was definitely a hit! I had to make sure they only took pictures and checked their pockets before we left.

The park was quite small but nice and shady! Pricing is reasonable at $22 for a powered site. Using Air conditioning was an extra $3/night. Glad to report the amenities are lovely and clean! No frog experiences but one of our travelling partners did see a python in the rafters one evening. Rating is 3.5 Stars and park was lovely with a bit of a dry creek bed winding through it. Would stay again!

Took a walk down to the local General Store/Pub in the afternoon which again was well worth the visit. Had been done up fairly recently and the prices were reasonable. We enjoyed a cold drink on the veranda which was good with a bit of a breeze blowing through. The girls loved the cast iron bar and railway ties!

We were up fairly early on the Monday morning heading South for our day trip to Cobbold Gorge. About 45 km of gravel road that was for the most part in very good condition. Arrived in lots of time for our 10:30 tour and had a bit of a look around the resort. They have really done it up nicely with a beautiful restaurant/bar/swimming pool as the highlight! Quite an oasis in the middle of the outback to be honest. Would definitely recommend as a travel destination.

Given the number of people booked on the morning Gorge tour we needed to take two vehicles. We were lucky enough to be part of the overflow group that got to travel on the original 4WD bus called "Ugly". I think you can see why it earned it's name from the photo! That being said it was the only one that could cross the Gilbert River on the way to the tour. Had to return to pick up the other passengers while we walked to the actual tour starting point. When the season kicked off a few weeks ago the tour participants actually had to wade across the river to get to the starting point.

Once we were all at the starting point we completed a bit of a walk up to the Sandstone Escarpment where we were able to look down into the Gorge from above. Quite an informative tour guide into the Geological and Aboriginal history of the area.

 We then walked back to the bottom of the Gorge where we boarded some electrically powered boats for the River Gorge tour. Beautiful scenery and lovely quiet environment. Lots more pictures than what I've included here but hopefully this will give you a bit of a taste for the experience!

  We walked and caught "Ugly" back to the resort. There we enjoyed a nice meal at the restaurant/pub before having a cool swim in the infinity pool. Had a couple of cold drinks while we enjoyed the view! Great way to finish off our tour. Cobbold Gorge is another must see when touring the Savannah country!

Enjoyed a relaxing afternoon back at the caravan park. Tuesday was a bit of a relaxing day with a bit of cleanup/laundry. Stephen and I enjoyed a few beer and some darts down at the local pub in the afternoon while the girls did hair colours on each other! We met a lovely couple, Tom and Bridget from Switzerland, who were camping next to us. They joined us for happy hour and we had a great visit with them before a late dinner. Tomorrow sees us on the road again to Croydon.

Talk to you soon!

Mount Surprise, Queensland

Tuesday morning we packed up and headed towards Mount Surprise on the Savannah Way. We passed through Atherton again before heading South West to Ravenshoe. The road near Ravenshoe was very winding with steep hills. Took our time with the caravan and fortunately there wasn't much other traffic on the road. We stopped just past Ravenshoe at a windmill farm for a break and morning tea. We had stopped here on our previous trip but the wind farm had been shrouded in fog. There were 20 windmills which makes it the original and largest wind farm in Queensland.

We continued West after our break passing through Mount Garnet leaving the Kennedy Highway and joining the Gulf Development Road. The Development Road was mostly good but with some narrow bridges and sealed

sections. Luckily we didn't meet any Road Trains and was very little traffic heading West. We arrived at Mount Surprise and checked into the Mount Surprise Tourist Park. This is quite a small park and easy to miss as has a very narrow gateway/entrance. It took us a while to find a suitable site as quite overgrown and power/water connections not laid out in an organized pattern. After a few false starts we got setup on a nice shaded site with both power and water. We had the park to ourselves which was nice.

This is a very reasonable caravan park at $16/night for a powered/drinking water site. Also had a swimming pool which we definitely took advantage of! The amenities were basic but relatively clean. Unfortunately, the amenities were also home to a number of green frogs. Now I love green frogs as much as the next person, but I have decided I don't enjoy sharing a toilet bowl with them. I've got a really great story that I won't share on this medium! Perhaps we can reminisce over this one some day in person! Sadly, I will have to give a reduced rating of 2 for the amenity service based on my experience! The caravan park also is home to some miniature horses, exotic birds (caged), and an orphaned Emu. Quite an interesting little place and would definitely recommend as an overnight stay.

We took it easy on Tuesday and Wednesday with a bit of cleanup/laundry/blogging. We took a quick walk around Mount Surprise on Wednesday afternoon and covered all the highlights in about 20 minutes. There was an interesting Railway museum/display which outlined the history of the area and the Savannahlander Train. Also a couple of gem shops/displays, one of which you could rent fossicking gear. Topaz are the main gems located near Mount Surprise and there is a public area where you can fossick for them. Only require a $10/month license and some digging gear. Not really what interests Sandra and I, but might be for other travelers. We enjoyed a number of trips to the swimming pool to keep cool.

Around noon on Thursday the Ransleys arrived to join our adventure. They were pretty tired as had been doing some long travel days. Their trip North had also been marred by an ant infestation in their caravan and the door latch on the caravan giving out while traveling! We spent some time helping them address the ant issue before Happy Hour. Sandra and I had prepared a BBQ Chicken dinner for the 4 of us. It was a nice meal/evening but we all turned in early to catch up on some sleep.

Friday we had left free for the Ransleys to catch up on their rest/sleep. Unfortunately, much of it was spent attacking the ant problem again. They seem to be spawning in areas that have already been fumigated/cleaned. Was another warm day so we spent quite a bit of time cooling off in the swimming pool.

Saturday morning we were booked into explore the Lava Tubes at the Undarra Experience. This was the main reason we had included Mount Surprise in our itinerary. The four of us were up early to make the 45 minute trip back to Undarra in the Ransley's new Ford Ranger. Had an uneventful trip on mostly sealed road meaning we arrived with a bit of extra time. We booked in for our tours and had a bit of a visit before the 10:30 tour. The Lodge at Undarra is very nice and would be worth consideration if you are travelling through this way. Lovely Bar/Restaurant area with reasonably priced meals.

The tour began with a short bus drive into the National Park. The guide was very informative and stopped at a number of locations to describe the geography, wildlife, and vegetation. Got to see a large Wedge-tail Eagle flying down the track in front of the bus! Saw a large flock of Black Cockatoos as well.


We then left the bus to tour a couple of Lave Tubes. The walk was primarily on boardwalk through the Tubes/Tunnels and was well laid out. The "Archway" was our first stop and was incredible. Look at the colours in the rock patterns!

We then took a boardwalk through two different Lava Tunnels. Very interesting! The temperature was so much cooler and lots of moisture dripping off of the roof/walls.

Finished up our tour about 1 PM back at the Undarra Lodge. Had a quick break and drink of water before jumping into the car and heading to off to another area of the National Park. We had  a nice picnic lunch at Kalkani Day Use area. Very clean with covered tables and toilets. After lunch we completed a short 2.5 KM walk up to the rim and around the Kalkani Volcano. Was a bit of a climb but we got a great view of the surrounding area and Volcano eruption sites.

We returned to the caravan park and did a bit of housekeeping/trip preparation before Happy Hour. Sandra and I enjoyed a quiet meal of leftovers and completed some pack up for tomorrows journey. We enjoyed our time in Mount Surprise but wouldn't recommend it for more than a few days unless you are there for the fossicking. Undarra Experience was definitely the highlight and highly recommended.