Croydon – 386 km

We are back into the sunshine again with the temperature reaching 31C this afternoon. We had been following the Kennedy Highway and then turned onto the Gulf Development Road (Savannah Way) this morning, which heads toward (surprise) the Gulf of Carpenteria (that big “bite” out of Northern Australia).

We had read a bit about the Undara Volcanic National Park so decided to make a detour to see what we could see. It was a fairly steep climb up the volcanic rock trail to the rim of the Kalkani.

Volcanic Trail

Crater which last erupted over 20,000 years ago. We were a bit disappointed after this hot climb to see the gully-like crater grown in with trees. This does make sense with it being so long since the last eruption. This park also has a large collection of lava tubes. Apparently the wallabies shelter in them during hot days. You cannot view them unless you go on a tour and as we had toured similar tubes in Hawaii a few years ago we opted out.

From the volcano trail

Our next stop was Georgetown. We had expected it to be a larger center but were surprised at how limited the facilities were. We had lunch at the side of the road (prompted to stop by some leafless trees bearing showy yellow flowers).

On route here we came across a charity bicycle group (should we say 6 groups) riding from Cairns to Karumba (~800 km?) to raise funds to help support the original radio (now computer-based) outback school in Australia. One of the volunteers sitting by the side of the road told us there are over 200 people involved in this endeavor. We were wondering if we would get a place to camp tonight as we assumed all the places would be booked with the bicyclists but they are mostly staying in hotels and on the rodeo grounds so we did manage a spot here in the Croydon caravan park. They must have gone a different route out of Cairns as the narrow winding road would have been very dangerous to them and to the motorists.

Croydon is an old gold mining town that used to have a population of over 8,000 and now has around 270! They have worked hard to preserve some of the heritage buildings. We did walk to the information center to get on the internet and were able to watch a very informative film on the area. We also walked over to the general store/museum, the oldest continuously running store in the state, and probably would have walked around more but it is a bit warm out there! We have been handing out a few Canadian flag lapel pins today, reminding everyone it is Canada Day. Yes, blank stares were usually the response, but they love the pins. We remember a short five years ago standing in front of the Viking settlement in NFLD at +4C on Canada Day – what a contrast to here!

We have been driving through cattle country and wonder how the poor creatures survive with the limited water and grass. At the Croydon information center there was a film presentation and they had interviewed an aboriginal woman who runs one of the cattle stations and she was describing how desperate it can get keeping the cattle fed and watered. We did see many areas where they had signs marking newly developed cattle areas.

In Australia some parts of rural roads are a single paved lane so when you see someone coming you have to move over and drive partially on the shoulder. Luckily you usually can see fairly far ahead so this isn’t much of a problem.

We did find it pretty amusing that the owner of the campground leaves the water taps dripping in the unpowered site area for the kangaroos and the birds. We are seeing a lot of kangaroo droppings here but realize they are most likely not going to show themselves until after dark. Then you must watch they don’t run over you!

It was a great Canada Day in Australia for us culminated by a spectacular savannah full moon.