Day 64 Mt Surprise to Archers Creek

Last night something strange happened; for the first time since we had left Victoria we felt cold! The last couple of weeks we had 32 degrees plus and it didn't cool down much during the nights. However now it was below 20 degrees and there was a fresh wind and a bit of rain and we were shivering! Crazy, I know...we're getting spoiled!

Anyway after packing up we decided to say goodbye to Russel the owner and have a quick look at his little museum with bits and pieces of antique. Also we wanted to meet his snakes all the other campers talked about in the reviews online.

So before we knew it Russell was doing his well known snake talk and we got to meet a rainbow python in person. It was very interesting as Russell knows everything about snakes there is to know. Most importantly he told us precisely what to do if you get bitten by a snake. I hope we never ever need to use this information in real life but as Australia has 21 of the 25 most poisonous snakes in the world it might be handy to have this knowledge.

From here we drove to Undara National Park which is well known for it's volcanic history. We ended up doing the Kalkani Crater Rim Walk which was nice.

We arrived at Archers Creek just in time to set up camp before it started drizzling for the rest of the evening.

Day 63 Cobbold Gorge to Mt Surprise

The drive back to Georgetown with the punctured tire wasn't a problem this morning. The hole was just tiny. Yesterday we had checked if the mechanic was open today (as it was Sunday) and the answer was yes. It was nice to discover this mechanic was the opposite of the previous mechanic. He was just the nicest and most helpful person! It didn't take long before he found a screw (still stuck in the tyre) had caused the puncture.

About an hour later we could continue our trip, but first we prepared some lunch in the park nearby. We had a few cheeky birds trying to steal our lunch.

We drove to Mt Surprise and found a campsite (Planet Earth Adventures) that costed only $10 per couple per night. it wasn't the prettiest camping but it was clean, spacious and convenient as we didn't feel like driving much further today. The owner organized pizza night that evening and although we just made pizza's ourselves the previous night we decided to join anyway. The pizza's were very nice and we got to meet some of the other campers and had a really nice evening.

Day 61 & 62 Cumberland Chimney to Cobbold Gorge

After giving Sander a new haircut we hit the road again and arrived in Georgetown halfway during the morning. At the visitors center we gathered some information from a very funny lady that worked there. Besides the usual touristic information she gave us some ‘off the record advise’ on where to camp and stuff. She also kept on trying to convince us to see the mineral collection they had on display but we kindly rejected as we didn’t want to pay that amount of entrance fee to look at some stones (which we had seen enough lately anyway).

Real grocery shopping was not an option in this town as there were only a few products for sale at the petrol station, however we did manage to pick up some bread.

From Georgetown we took the detour road and headed towards Cobbold Gorge. After 80 km dirt road we arrived at Cobbold Gorge Station. It was the most luxurious campsite we had ever stayed at. The amenities were just so new and clean and they had a bar with a deck and an infinity pool overlooking the surroundings. Absolutely gorgeous! It was like a resort!

We didn’t do the tour to the gorge as we thought $ 80 pp was a bit too much for a tour to a gorge (we had seen enough of those) but we booked a second night as we felt we needed some time to relax. We had been driving a bit too much lately and we needed a break. And now that we had arrived at such a lovely place we decided to make the best out of it. So we spent the last two days reading, swimming and doing some walks in the area.

On the downside of things we again have a flat tyre (the 2^nd one in 3 days!). Just a puncture, so we should be able to reach Georgetown). Bummer!

Day 60 Karumba to Cumberland Chimney

After checkout we drove to the ocean one more time before heading back into the dusty outback. 

On the way back to Normanton, through the wetlands of this area, there was heaps of bird life to look at.  Brolgas and Cranes, amongst others.

From Normanton we took the turn onto the Gulf Developmental Road and had a lunch break besides the road at an old railway station.

From there we headed to Croydon. We took the little detour to Lake Bellmore. It was a gorgeous setting and the amenities at the lake were great. It would have made an awesome campsite but that wasn't allowed unfortunately.

Croydon itself was another old gold mining town (seriously Australia must be covered in gold still). At the Visitor Center they had the cutest little video theater where we learned all about history and modern day living in the harsh conditions of this area (drought, bush fires and flooding all within the last 5 years).

From Croydon we drove to the Cumberland Chimney, an historic reminder of the Gold Rush. We set up camp next to the lagoon at the historic site. It was gorgeous as the lagoon was covered with flowering water lilies and there was heaps of bird life around. What a peaceful little spot!

Day 59 Normanton to Karumba

After spending most of the previous evening contemplating what to do in regards to the flat tire (we noticed a small puncture), we had decided to drive the last 40 km to Normanton with the punctured tyre instead of getting the spare one on. We stopped a few times along the way to pump up the tyre and were relieved to find a mechanic in Normanton straight away. The mechanic was the grumpiest person on earth (!) but he fixed our tyre pretty quickly for $40.-

Happy that all was back to normal we went on with being our normal touristy selves and explored the town. They had a replica of the largest crocodile ever captured in the world and with a length of 8.63m it was unreal to think this was the actual size of this monster when it was shot! It was even more unreal to learn it was living in the area we were visiting.

The old railway station was a little gem in this dusty outback town and you could see it was taken great care of. A lady working there overloaded us with information and we felt very welcome.

As we were so close to the Gulf of Carpentaria we decided to drive the extra 70 km to Karumba to check it out. We were very well aware of the fact that Karumba was fishing heaven and was very popular with the grey nomads at this point of year. Nevertheless we wanted to see it anyway. We hadn’t booked any accommodation (which was essential around this time a year) but with a bit of persuasion we managed to get a spot on a campsite.

We spent the afternoon relaxing and planned an early dinner. Afterwards we walked to the ocean because the sunset supposed to be gorgeous up here. After strolling around the beach for a bit (again no swimming because of crocs) we ordered a beer at the Sunset tavern and watched the sky turn  yellow, orange and red, all in just a few minutes of time. Not as spectacular as we expected but nevertheless still beautiful!

Day 58 Corella Dam to Burke Developmental Road via Cloncurry

We weren't in a hurry the next morning and enjoyed our morning at the dam. We walked around for a bit before we decided to move on to our next destination, Cloncurry.

There wasn't much to do in Cloncurry but we spent quite a bit of time at the Visitors Center where they had a great video about the town, its inhabitant’s and its history. Afterwards we walked around the historical relics in the park and had lunch.

We did a bit of grocery shopping before we took the Burke developmental Road towards Normanton. Once again we found ourselves on a long and boring road with a whole lot of nothing. The campsite we had set our mind on was a long drive away and when we finally made it there it turned out to be not at all what we expected. It was that bad that Monique didn't feel comfortable staying here so we decided to drive on although it was getting dark already. In the end we found a rest area just a couple of kilometers up the road which wasn't great, but not too bad either. It was then that we discovered we had an almost flat tire… Oh no!

Day 57 Mt Isa to Corella Dam

From our campsite it wasn’t too far too Mt Isa anymore so we arrived in the early morning. 

The visitor centre was our first stop. It was actually a really nice and big center and we spend quite a bit of time there, gathering information, catching up online whilst enjoying a nice coffee and we even had a shower!

From there we drove up to the lookout nearby.  Whilst driving into Mt Isa you can’t miss the fact that you’re driving into a mining town as the landscape shows it pretty clearly but from the lookout it is more than obvious.

Besides mining there is not much to see and do in Mt Isa so after stocking up we hit the road again. We had read something about the old ghost town of Mary Kathleen and we decided to check it out. The road there was badly damaged by time and weather conditions but it wasn’t too far fortunately.

Upon arrival we were a bit disappointed as there wasn’t much more of the town left then some slabs of concrete foundation of buildings that had once been. In regards to ghosts; the only thing spooky we noticed were two grey nomads panicking as we had caught them camping naked! Lol!

So we decided to leave them in peace and drove on to Corella Dam (which had been recommended to us by other campers).  Camping at Corella Dam was beautiful overlooking the water and the birdlife.