The highlight on this leg has
been our stay at Leichhardt Lagoon, about 20km east of Normanton on the Glenore
Station. It’s absolutely beautiful and
the bird life is exceptional….
Friday and Saturday (10 –11
August 2012) – Mount Surprise (Planet Earth Van Park)
We took it easy for the next few
days and just stayed in camp potting around – I gave Jeddy a bath, got Wally up
and running and did some washing, and we went to the local weekly market on
Saturday, for some groceries – we had to go all the way out to our front
footpath because the market just happened to be held out the front of our van
park and stretched across the road to the park. (Mt Surprise isn’t very big –
one street).
Roy got the urge to do some baking -
scones in the camp oven!! Ooopps - they
didn’t look quite right – there seemed to be a problem with the rise mechanism
(wrong flour I think) ha ha Anyway they
had the right taste and with jam and cream, that’s the important thing – who cares if they were FLAT….
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| Ooops - what happened !! |
We decided to eat out on Saturday
night, so we ventured down to the pub and had a counter meal. Steak Parmy – different and yummy..
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| Free Under Wash at Mount Surprise |
This is a great van park (not only
do you get a free Snake show) – Russell has a big selection of DVDs for his
guests to watch - FREE. So did a fair
bit of movie watching too – very relaxing.
The park incorporates a little takeaway/restaurant business and just
happens to have REAL coffee.
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| Russell and snake - Planet Earth Van Park |
Sunday 12 August 2012 –
Lava Tubes
Eeeeekkkk!!! It got down to minus1
degree last night. I thought this was
supposed to be the tropics!! Roy
brought in a piece of ice from the tap outside. Very bazaar – the days are up in the 30s and the mornings are
freezing….
We spent the day at the Lava Tubes –
they are worth seeing but very over priced at $50 each. If you go – take your own food!!- we had
fish and chips that cost $16.50 each and the hamburgers and pies were $17
each…… Highway robbery!!
This has to be Murphy’s Law!! – 2
little brats (brothers) in our tour this time.
Once again – the Ranger handled them exceptionally well (I wonder if
child management is a pre-request for the job). Thank god they were not as bad as the Chilligoe Kid!! But any
longer would have been a test. 2 hrs
 |
| Does this man look happy !! |
Monday to Thursday (13-16
August 2012) – O’Brien Gemfields
We moved out to the Gemfields to try
our luck at fossicking.. ha ha
 |
| O'Brien Ck |
We spent 3 days having fun but only
got three little chips of Topaz for our efforts. I was just getting on a roll when we had to leave… I’d like to
try this some other time, but will make sure we have the right tools next time
- ie long handled shovel instead of our little spade and a low stool – it gets
quite back-breaking…
 |
| O'Brien Ck |
 |
| Topaz |
It seems that this is not going to
be our forte either…. Not Gold! Not Gems! – what else can we try - maybe OIL
next!!!
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| Our Camp - On O'Briens Ck |
We had some lovely camp fires here
(real ones) and camp oven teas….. yummy!
Thursday to Friday (16-17 August 2012) – Cobbald Gorge
We stopped off at Einasleigh to see
the Copperfield Gorge on our way to Cobbald Gorge. This is a beautiful gorge right in the middle of the little town
– its a bit scary not having any fencing around it. Apparently only a few months ago, an older man fell to his death
here. A bit of family history at
Einasleigh – Roy’s grandfather was the
school principal here 84 odd years ago.
We looked for the school but there doesn’t seem to be one here now… We
couldn’t find one anyway.
 |
| Copperfield Gorge - Savannahlander in background |
Cobbald Gorge was spectacular. Getting up and close to the Freshwater Crocs
was amazing – what an experience!!! If
you haven’t been here already – its got to go on your list of places to go…..
You should see the new Infinity Pool
they have here, wow – what a pity it was too cold for me to go in (that’s the
excuse I’m using anyway – not the Fact that my togs don’t fit any more)…
 |
| Infinity Pool |
As we all know – Roy is such a
friendly fella!! – which is how each night we ended up having happy hour with a
group of about 10 - sharing a community fire-pit, adventures and of course a
few drinks…….. Sharing knowledge so
they say!!
We visited Agate Creek where you can
fossick for Agates. But we were skint
for time so just went out for a look.
We wouldn’t have known what one looks like anyway!!
 |
| Agates |
When we arrived back at camp – one
of our friends told me that she’d found a little pile of discarded Agates under
a tree. (Obviously not worth anything –
otherwise they wouldn’t have been there).
So we took about 6 each…… Now I know what they look like….
 |
| Flying Dingo |
Saturday to Sunday (18-19
August 2012) – Cumberland Mine Site (The Chimney)
We spent 2 nights here to stretch
our dollars after our splurge at Cobbald …..
A lovely little free-camp with a
huge chimney left over from the gold days.
We had a great spot just under the dam wall…
Once again – a happy hour outside
our camp…. Roy!!!!!
One of the couples we met here, we
run into a few times again…. (Ray and Pat)
Monday to Wednesday
(20-22 August 2012) - Leichhardt Lagoon
Happy birthday my beautiful darling. I wish you peace with all my heart.
We got to Croydon about lunchtime. We hadn’t had service for quite a number of days – so had some messages waiting. Jenny rang with bad news that Robyn Rackley had died. Very sad news…
We did some site seeing here and
booked a tour for Tuesday on the famous Gulf Lander from Normanton. Then checked in to Leichhardt Lagoon.
 |
| Waiting for the train |
 |
| Critters Camp Siding |
The Gulf Lander trip was a 2 hour
return trip to a little siding about 20km away called Critters Camp. (Right opposite Leichhardt Lagoon where we
were camped). We enjoyed the train ride
but wouldn’t have wanted to do a longer one.
Now I can say I’ve been on the Gulf Lander…..
 |
| Flood indicators at Normanton - highest 1974 flood |
What a coincidence – Ray and Pat,
who we met at the Chimney free camp last week, pulled in. They are only staying one night and are
moving on to Karumba, so we’ll probably meet up with them again in a few days
time.
 |
| Amenities - Leichhardt Lagoon |
We’ve been fishing a couple of times
– but no good!! Not even a bite!!! Come
on fish!!!! It’s supposed to be too
cold still for barra but it can’t be too cold for all the other types of fish
… Where are you, you little buggers….
 |
| Glenore Weir - crocy - Roy in distance |
A strange thing has happened here…
there are dead barra everywhere. Some
of the locals say its because of a very cold week last week and that they froze
to death. I’m not so sure about that
(sure it was bloody cold) but why haven’t the crocs eaten the bodies. Dead barra are floating among the mangroves
and stinking up the lovely Norman River.
The river from the weir downwards seems to be stagnant – its really on
the nose. I wonder what’s really going
on…..
 |
| Norman River |
We called in to Outpatients at the
Normanton Hospital to see if something can be done for my poor toe – it was
bitten by something over 3 weeks ago when we were at Ravenswood. (think it must
have been a spider). It hasn’t healed
yet and is blistering and has peeled and is soooo itchy….. No doctor in - so the nurse gave me some cortisone ointment and said to take
antihistamine tabs – and to come back next day if no better… Which I didn’t do,
of course. I’ll reassess it at Karumba.
 |
| Beware of spiders at Ravenswood |
 |
| Krys - Replica of a croc 28ft long - holy hell !!! |
When we were fishing we saw a couple
of crocs in the Norman River – just floating down river watching us
fishing. Scary things…….
 |
| I can SEE you !! |
 |
| Kite fishing |
My god – we have the best site
here. Right on the edge of a huge
lagoon full of birds of every description and right on our doorstep. How beautiful and the sunsets are to die
for.
 |
| Our View |
 |
| You could pay a million bucks in a restaurant for this view |
 |
| Sunset - Leichhardt Lagoon |
Roy seems to have discovered a new
hobby…. Birdwatching!!! (For Real) He’s
dragged out Dad’s Bird Book and the binoculars and is listing the different
species he can identify….. hee hee Is
this old age setting in!!
 |
| Is this really Roy!!! |
We couldn’t ask for better weather -
its hot and sunny – yahoo!!! The nights
get down to 17 and the days up to mid 30s. (could be a bit lower but I’m not
complaining)….I love this weather and am so over the bloody COLD…
 |
| Leichhardt Lagoon |
 |
| Sunset - Leichhardt lagoon |
 |
| Sunset |
I don’t know what’s happened to
Roy’s enthusiasm for scone making – it seems to have fallen by the wayside!!!
Thursday 23 August 2012 - Karumba
We arrived at Karumba at lunchtime –
we pre-booked a front row site at Sunset Van Park. Cooooool. This is
great. We’re right across the road from
the beach and just down the road from the pub.
– What more could you want !!!
A lot of the campers come back here every year
and have become quite a close-knit community.
A lot of them have little businesses going – our neighbour makes crafty
things (coat hangers, baby clothes, etc).
She makes them at home to bring up here to sell at the weekly Sunday
markets. She’s made about 4 grand this
holiday. Food for thought for me, if we
travel next year that is. Another guy
cuts hair (he has a little barber shop set up in his annex and charges
$10. Roy had his hair cut. Another guy sets up satellite dishes. (We might go and have a chat to him). They
advertise their wares on a Notice Board at Reception – it’s a very large park
with about 160 sites. Roast night is on Friday night at the community area
outside Reception and FREE INTERNET access!!
The front fence is covered in bougainvillea of each different colour –
quite beautiful and we get full advantage of this because we are in the front
row.
We got set up and then headed off to
get the run of the place. I think we
saw all the sights to see within 1 hr – not much. Roy got talking to our neighbour (!) who comes here for a few
months every year, and has been coming for the last 15 yrs. He said the fish are biting again – very
promising!!! Roy got excited and so
booked a charter for Friday morning. I
hope we have better luck than the last one at Weipa…
We no sooner arrived back at the
van, when we had a surprise visit from our friends Pat and Ray. We decided to get takeaway fish and chips
from See Breeze Takeaway (next door) and sit in the park (across the road) to
watch the sunset together. The fish was
exceptional!!!! (barra) I’d recommend
this take-away place to anyone staying at Karumba. Yum Yum We had a lovely
last night with our new friends. They
will be heading off on Friday for Lawn Hill and eventually home to
Melbourne. Safe and happy travels guys
– hope to keep in touch and meet up with you again one day.
 |
| Pat and Ray and Roy - Karumba |
The hair thing is still an issue as
you will see in the pics…..
Jeddy has been so very good the
whole trip. He’s starting to slow down
considerably though. He lays around a
lot more and takes himself to bed earlier each night. He has trouble standing up in the mornings, Roy has to coax him
up with a biscuit or treat. Once he’s
up Roy takes him for his morning walk (he loves his walks-and waddles off with
his tail wagging and his lead in his mouth). After his walk he is much better
- Poo trouble!! We’ve got him on a special supplement now
called Pernaese Powder. One of our
fellow travellers got us on to it – full of dried marine concentrates – green
lipped mussel, shark cartilage and abalone - good for his arthritis. He can’t walk far because he has trouble
breathing and is constantly panting – my poor darling …. I love him so
much.
 |
| Early to bed - my lovely Jeddy |
Tomorrow is our fishing charter – if
you want to find out how it went
(MARY!!!) you will have to wait for the next episode…..ha ha
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