Left Cairns again and drove south to Josephine Falls near Innisfail. Start the ascent of Mt Bartle Frere the highest mountain in Queensland. Very hard going through rainforest from 100m to 500m and the half way campground. Only 3kms to hear but that is enough. The last 4kms to 1600m looks very challenging. One for another day. Josephine Falls is impressive. Drive on to Milaa Milaa then to Mt Hipposomething crater. A deep hole in the rainforest floor where volcanic gas erupted. Great.
Ravenshoe is cold and quiet so on we go to Innot Hot Springs. Brilliant. 6 hot pools one of which is 45degs.
A camper says there was frost on the previous night so we wrap up well for bed.
The original springs were holes in the sand of the river bed and a few people are lying in these next morning.
Next day to the Undara lava tubes. Superb campground in the middle of nowhere with lots of railway carriages to sit in .Good bush walks. Watch the sunrise from a lookout.
The lava tube trip is $55 and booked up for that day so we missed it.
Packed up again and drove to Georgetown. Red hot but a nice shady picnic area for lunch. Drive on again to Croydon. Parts of the road are only single track bitumen which is challenging when a big caravan comes the other way. Jackpot with Croydon. Lovely campground, people and town.
Adrian has made a banjo and taught Youngmi to play. Next day is Adrians 83rd birthday and he and Peggy 85 have driven from Tassie in their campervan.
A little green frog came to the kitchen to see Youngmi. 15m pool on the campground and nice kitchen. Croydon is a gold town from 1880s but all the sites have been developed to make this an intersting historic town. Each afternoon it is so hot. Fish and chips at the pub for $10 is a winner and a visit to the oldest continuosly operated store in Australia is good. Probably unchanged since 1920. The shop were Dave bought an akubra in 1990 ( he still has this in Melbourne)
The weekly Gulflander train was in town so we were able to go for the sunset ride to Golden Gate.
Next day packed up then had a stroll around the historic district with Sandra. She is from Mornington and driving around OZ in a Jazz and sleeping in a tiny tent. At 70 this is very impressive.
About 120kms to Normanton which is a bit rough but has a good visitor centre. Asked at the campground if we could have a look before booking in "have a look?" Strange response so we drove on to Karumba on the Gulf of Carpentaria. Four caravan parks all packed with fishing people from the south. Not much to do if you don't fish.
Happily there was free wine tasting at the pub on the Karumba sea front. First night of their food festival. Jackpot. A lady from Manchester keeps Daves glass filled. Meet a gut from Rochdale who has lived in Karumba for 23 years and has an aboriginal wife. Both are great company.
Back at the campground and the characters are out. The guy next to us is playing his guitar. Dave has a go and retunes a string. If I wasn't so drunk I would punch you he says. Afterwards Youngmi laughs and says she expected blood on the campground.
Another guy coughs all night but is still alive the next morning and having a fag. We head south again. Free coffee at Normanton visitor centre
After another 200kms of hot dry driving with lots of road works we arrived at the Burke and Wills roadhouse. It is a real dump. Toilets are not clean and liable to snakes. Meat pies have run out and there are signs saying non paying visitirs are not welcome. We find a bit of shade across the road and make a sandwich.
Another 200kms to Cloncurry and our first supermarket for a week. Campground has a good kitchen and an english backpackers helps himself to a suasage from our fry pan. He thought it was his mate's and is very apologetic.. Move on again the next day to Mt Isa. Stunning drive through desert mountains
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