Monday 25 July 2011

Australian Adventures (9) July11

Australia July 2011
Travelogue 9  Stage 2 

Daintree – Mt Isa
from Bryan and Raewyn
Web: austadventures.blogspot.com

Daintree
Our last travelogue (#8) saw our arrival at a friend's property, in the world-heritage Daintree Rainforest area on the north-eastern part of Queensland's coast. Fifty kilometres south was Port Douglas, an upmarket resort area with boutique shops and cafes. Fifty kilometres north, after a roped-ferry crossing across the crocodile-inhabited Daintree River, was Cape Tribulation, where the rainforest meets the sea. This was as far north as we got. After two and a half wonderful weeks in Daintree, it was time to move away from the coastline which had accompanied us from Melbourne, so on July 6th we headed inland, away from the coast.



Rasewyn photographs the Kuranda train
Mareeba
Our drive took us through Mossman, then west across the Great Dividing Range. This range almost parallels the east coast from the northern tip of Australia to Victoria. East of the range is 90% of Australia's population. West of it is the other 10%. Atop the range, and midway across the rolling green Atherton Tablelands is Mareeba, a charming country town with a delightful caravan park in the rodeo grounds. We spent five days there, exploring local towns and sights, including driving again to Kuranda, the tourist town near Cairns. This time, instead of our taking the “Skyway” gondola back to Cairns, we waited until 3.30pm and watched the last train leave. Within minutes, the roller doors came down across most of the shop fronts and the town became deserted, except for a few rumpty locals. The town seemed to have ceased to exist, or at least until the next morning when more hordes of tourists arrived


Bryan straddles the Gulflander train at Croydon
Croydon
Croydon's main street
Croydon cemetery
From Mareeba, travelling westward took us off the tablelands, into the true Queensland outback. A hot, dry 280kms drive along the Savannah Way, the road bordered with rust-coloured grassland and small trees, took us to an overnight stop at Mt Surprise. Next day another 260kms drive west across the sunburned landscape found us in Croydon, and a 120 year step back in history. The local general store in this old gold-mining town opened in 1884, and is still operating today, both as a store and living museum. 
Many town buildings have been renovated and reopened in their original livery, complete with displays and photographs from the late1800s. Close by, the Croydon cemetery spoke silent tears of the hardships faced by the long-gone families, and children, in this dry unforgiving landscape. Many of the rusting graves hold conch shells, some virtually undisturbed since they were placed there in the late1800s. In the Chinese section, stones inscribed with Chinese symbols lie at the foot of each grave, and lizard tracks cross the red dust between the rows, separating Chinese from Catholic, Catholic from Presbyterian, rich from the poor.

Croydon is also the eastern terminus for the heritage-listed “Gulflander Raillcar,” a weekly 'service' from Normanton, 140 kms away. The 2-car 'railmotor' takes an incredible five hours to make the journey at a hair-raising speed of 40kmph across the scorched landscape. It returns to Normanton the next day. That's it for the week. It's been doing this for 120 years, and big celebrations were afoot in Croydon to celebrate the occasion later in July – unfortunately after we had left.

Leichhardt’s Lagoon
Leichhardts Lagoon sunset
Leichhardt's Lagoon camp-note the dust
Several caravanners had recommended a unique camp called Leichhardt’s Lagoon, our next stop. On a private station, our site overlooked a large lake where sunset each night was a scarlet sky deepening to a maroon glow before clusters of stars filled the night sky, much of this reflected in the lake. Though still 27 kms from Normanton,and with no electricity supplied, we stayed four nights. Camp fires and pets were allowed, and the ablutions block with its corrugated iron walls, gas-heated hot water, and green tree frogs commonly in the toilet bowls added to the novelty. Washing machines were “Free - Just bring your own generator” and the local telephone booth was a plastic chair and a tall booster-aerial wire – 'bring your own phone and connect up.'

The reason to not swim at Leichhardt's Lagoon
Each night was 'happy hour' at the caretakers' caravan- take your own chair and drinks. On Saturday nights a 3-course meal was prepared by the station owners at their homestead grounds on the other side of the lagoon. Soup, mains and dessert all for $5 each, proceeds donated to the Royal Flying Doctor Service. Just bring your own chairs, table, drinks, plates, cutlery and insect repellent'

Life size model of crococodile shot near Normanton,Qld
Some 27kms west of our camp was Normanton, western terminus for the “Gulflander” and gateway to the Gulf of Carpentaria. About 73 kms north, the sealed road ended at the small town of Karumba - interestingly the only sealed road to the coast on the western side of Queensland. Karumba is fish, fish and more fish. If you're not into fishing, there's little else to do. Some folk go there year after year. A day at Karumba was enough to satisfy our curiosity, and we drove the 100kms back to our camp at the lagoon, just in time for happy hour, of course.

Mt Isa from lookout

Mt Isa 
Tuesday July 19th ,we left Leichhardt's Lagoon, headed south, and followed the Matilda Highway through Burke and Wills Junction to Cloncurry and Mt Isa, overnighting along the way at “Terry Smith Lookout” a small roadside reserve, where amazingly another twenty or so caravans or motor-homes pulled in for the night.

There's no doubt the famed annual “Grey Nomads” migration is well under way. It's suggested each winter some 60,000 “grey nomads” from Victoria and South Australia make the pilgrimage to the warmer north, and the inland roads abound with herds of them travelling in their mobile homes in various directions. Nightfall sees instant small towns created in roadside reserves, then dissipating the following morning. We are part of it, and it's a great experience.

Wednesday July 20th we arrived at our nephew's property in Mt Isa. We had been out of phone contact for the previous ten days, and on arrival had several messages awaiting us. Sadly, one of them was that our very dear friend and long time caravanning buddy, Ron Martis, had suddenly died in Rotorua, New Zealand the previous day (Tuesday 19th). Some of the places we visited in Australia were on his recommendation. The rest of the day was spent in limbo, and though we tried, we couldn't make it to the funeral, but managed to watch the service via Skype, courtesy of our daughters.


Lake Moondurra, 18kms from Mt Isa
Mt Isa, with a population around 20,000, exists mostly to serve the huge mining complex on the western edge of the city. Tall chimneys dominate the landscape. Some 450kms of tunnels honeycomb the 27 levels underground. 18 kms away is Lake Moondarra, an artificially created lake supplying an increasing demand for water in this alien landscape. Anywhere out of the city, the landscape turns again to semi-desert. Closest next town is Cloncurry, 117 kms eastward. Mt Isa is an oasis of energy in an ancient land.

Attached to the Tourist Centre, is the “Hard Luck” mine, an experience created solely for visitors. A miners' lift lowers two floors to an awaiting miners' train which takes visitors to various mining activities. All equipment, including the train, is authentic - including having to wear bright orange overalls, helmet and miner's light. Not being for the claustrophobic, Raewyn preferred to go shopping.
Beware of 53 metre long road trains in Queensland outback.
Stay with us as our next journey continues westward across this huge country.
                               (Hint - double clicking on the photos above will enlarge them)


No comments:

Post a Comment