10th September to 16th September 2011

10^th September 2011

We drove the 120kms to Georgetown on the Savannah Way and did some shopping as this is the only town with a half decent shop which is also a garage, and there is a vegie shop and a butcher.  There is also a visitor centre with a terrestrial display but that didn’t appeal to us at their required price to look at lumps of rock, and that pretty much sums up the town. 

We then drove 40kms to Forsayth which is much smaller and on to Cobbold Gorge to complete the 170km journey, where we had our packed lunch whilst waiting for our 2.30pm tour of the gorge. 

On the tour we were driven out to a pontoon bridge across the river at the beginning of the gorge, but were taken up onto the escapement first to look out over the gorge from the top.  There is no lookout platform so it was a case of not going to close to the edge to get your pictures, or pay the consequences, but one gets the general picture. 

We then backtracked part way and deviated to a grave site of one of the original pioneers who fell victim to aboriginal spears whilst heading out to Townsville for supplies.  We then returned to the pontoon and boarded the electric motor driven boat to make our way along the ever narrowing gorge for about half a kilometre until it ended quite abruptly and with only just enough width for the boat. The boat has a motor at each end so the tour leader moved to what was the front of the boat which now becomes the back for the return journey. 

On the way we saw a couple of the harmless fresh water crocodiles, a Darter and an Azure Kingfisher.  The shaping of the sand stone strata cliffs with polished sides caused by the flood waters over the years was fascinating.  The tour lasted until 5.00pm which left us with about 1.5 hours of daylight that was just long enough to get past the gravel road back to Georgetown before it got dark, but still had plenty of the single lane road back to Mt Surprise with roaming cattle and roos. With the long drive home we arrived just before 8.00pm which made it quite a long day out but well worth the effort. 

11^th September 2011

As today is a much cooler day we returned to the Undara Lava tubes and turned off to visit the Kalkani volcano crater which involves a 600 metre gradual climb to the top and walked 2.5kms around the rim. 

We followed this with a quick trip into the ranger station and then on to the Undara Lodge where we treated ourselves to magnificent meat pie and chips for lunch in the Lodge’s meals area. This consists of several rail dining carriages around an alfresco area with a bar.  The on-site accommodation is also restored rail carriages. 

After lunch we walked up to the Bluff that overlooks the Lodge site and across to the 100 mile swamp, so called because it is supposedly 100 miles from somewhere unknown to us, and continued alongside the swamp on the return track to the Lodge which should have walked off some of the pie and chips. 

On the return home trip we made a quick turnaround to photo a Red-tailed Black Cockatoo that was prepared to wait and pose for us.

12^th September 2011

We drove the 30 odd kilometres towards Georgetown and then turned left onto the 45kms of gravel road to Einasleigh which took us through several creeks both dry and with remains of rain and then across the Einasleigh River and then shortly after across the new bridge over the Copperfield River.  This used to be a concrete crossing just above the riverbed alongside the old wooden railway bridge. 

We had lunch alongside the gorge and then went on our exploration of the fascinating surroundings which has a waterfall into the gorge which is part of a lava tube that collapsed at some time and had the roof rubble washed downstream during numerous floods, leaving a basalt gorge. 

Fortunately this gorge is not within a national park so foxy was able to come with us, except into the local pub which has a collection of miniature cars (Dinky and Matchbox toys) which would now be worth a small fortune, and glass cases decorated like dolls house rooms that are beautifully crafted. 

The town supposedly has 20 residents which consist of 10 single males and one single female who just happens to be 74 years old.  That leaves 9 presumably married people, so someone must be a bigamist or the last audit was totally wrong.  On the way home we stopped for photos of the river crossings at both of the rivers.

13^th September 2011

We packed up and moved to Herberton, just short of Atherton, and stayed for 2 nights.  We didn’t get a chance to visit their Heritage Village but we will return to look over it as it appears good stuff from the road.  We drove through to Eacham to look at the Caravan park there as Val and Barry (2) have booked in there soon.  On the way there through Yungaburra we were very impressed with the picturesque village and noted that there was a lakeside park which we checked out on the way back from Eacham.  We liked what we saw and attempted to book in but can’t get in for another 8 days, so we booked in for then and booked in at Eacham until we can go to Yungaburra, which is why we had 2 nights at Herberton that gave us a chance to watch the early morning feeding frenzy of rainbow lorikeets, sulphur crested cockatoos, kookaburras and pale headed rosellas.

16^th September 2011

We moved on to Eacham which is a small park and not easy to negotiate the van into position plus the pad for the annex is too wide and too long but we managed with a struggle. In the afternoon we took a short walk around the local area as we are restricted from walking too far as we would have to enter the local national park that we had to drive through to get to the park.  The national park consists of several crater lakes which we will check out but unfortunately will have to leave Foxy at home.