CROYDON, NORMANTON AND KARUMBA

Early in the morning packed up and headed towards the Carpentaria Shire, we had our first close encounter with a road train with three carriages, carrying fuel and it was going like a snake, we made contact with the driver through the UHF radio and asked him if we could overtake him, we waited for his go ahead and up we went, we passed the road train at 140 kilometres per hour and it was scary, but we made it. We stopped at Croydon to visit the old mining museum which was very interesting to see how big the gold rush was during the late 1800’s and how rapidly the town grew. There were more than 122 liquor licenses issued on the field with up to 36 hotels (pubs) within Croydon itself and this is not counting the sly grog (liquor) shop come shanties. Today there is only 1 pub and not many people within the town.

Croydon

We continued to Normanton to take some photos of a replica of Krys, the largest salt water crocodile shot in Australia, it was 8 metres long and a massive two tonne in weight, we also went to the distinctive Purple Pub to have a beer just before continuing our journey to Karumba which is located northwest of Normanton and on the Gulf of Carpentaria.

Whilst re-fuelling we spotted another road train, this one was also with 3 carriages but loaded with cattle, each carriage had two levels, and had the opportunity to take a video.

Early in the morning we went to Normanton to enjoy a ride on the famous Gulflander, an old train which connected Normanton to Croydon during the gold rush. In the afternoon we went on a Boat tour around Karumba and watched the beautiful sunset and enjoying some local prawns with a couple of beers.

Normanton

Karumba

COBBOLD GORGE

We left Undara and headed to Cobbold Gorge, we stopped at Georgetown to update the blog a bit more, re-fuelled and had a quick bite. The Off Road Granny Flat was exposed to its first dust test, we didn’t have many problems thanks to all the dust filters Gabriel installed on all the air vents, so far so good.

We arrived late afternoon to this awesome place called Cobbold Gorge it is a located in Robin Hood Cattle Station. This cattle station has 14,000 head of Brahman cattle, 1284 square kilometres and up to date they have erected 300 kilometres of fence. When we expressed our surprise of how big is the property, they told us the station is just a small property, there are bigger in the Northern Territory!!!!
Our tour was very unique we had the opportunity to have an overall view of the flora and fauna in the Gorge by foot, then after we went on a boat cruise through the Gorge which is fed by several springs keeping the water level constant, allowing boat access all year round, we saw native fish abound in these waters and many fresh water crocodiles, it was just unforgettable experience. After the tour we returned to the camp site for a relaxing afternoon, it was so hot that we decided to enjoy the pool with some coldies.

Cobbold Gorge

Kilometres travelled to date 8,106 ..... and still in Queensland

Undara

We spent few days in Cairns servicing the vehicle, reorganising and restocking for our next journey, to our disappointment we had some problems with Toyota Cairns and it took much longer for the vehicle to be ready than we had expected, also we had to take the four wheel drive to ARB because of noises coming from the snorkel, but we still managed to have a relaxing afternoon at Ellis beach as per Julie’s prescription and had dinner down town Cairns, which was very nice.

THE AUSTRALIAN OUTBACK ADVENTURE (SAVANNAH WAY)
Early in the morning we left Cairns and started our Australian Outback Experience, we stopped at Mareeba, the Australian's coffee capital and had a beautiful coffee, our destination for the night was Undara. We stopped at Little Millstream Falls for a walk; we continued to Atherton and quickly visited the Crystal Museum (gems exhibition).

Mareeba coffee world

Little Millstream Falls

Atherton Crystal World

After all the driving we could not resist to have a revitalizing dip in the thermal pools located at Innot Hot Spring, then after we headed to a beautiful place called Undara. After our setting up we booked ourselves for the Lava Tubes Tour for the next morning. After dinner we went to the communal bush fire where every night there are different activities, tonight we had sing-along and it was good fun.
Very early in the morning went to the Lava tubes tour which was very interesting and informative; we learnt that Undara means a long way in Aboriginal language. One of the lava flows from Undara extends more than 160 kilometres making it the longest lava flow on the planet. The Undara eruption was around 190,000 years ago, it was amazing to see how well kept they are, we really recommend to visit this place.
We left Undara and headed to Cobbold Gorge, we stopped at Georgetown to update the blog a bit more, re-fuelled and had a quick bite. The Off Road Granny Flat was exposed to its first dust test, we didn’t have many problems thanks to all the dust filters Gabriel installed on all the air vents, so far so good.

Undara