Sept 6 ...Innisfail (Part 1)

What an exciting two days we have just enjoyed and the contrasts between the two could not be more extreme.

Gulf Savannah with brolgas near Normanton

Atherton Tablelands with cows

This difference was evident in everything: the geography of the landscape; the climate; the colours; and the population.
We went from 37 degrees at Croydon to around 22 at Milla Milla. Often the roads were similar but not the countryside they went through.
From Karumba through to Ravenshoe we were on a Developmental Road. Essentially this is a narrow strip of bitumen with wide gravel shoulders. It has two rules: put 2 wheels off for an approaching car; put all 4 wheels off and stop the vehicle for an approaching road train.

Gulf Developmental Road

Milla Milla Scenic Route

Fortunately we left Karumba pretty early because we found lots to look at in the first 70kms. The waterholes we had planned to stop at were devoid of life in sharp contrast to our drive in. However, there were others that were just as beautiful.
One of these was just off the road and it was teeming with birds. There was an adult jabiru with two babies, brolgas, heaps of magpie geese and plenty of ducks and herons. It was only about 20ms off the road through some light bush, but as soon as we got out of the car there was a mad flurry of wings and within seconds the waterhole was practically deserted.

Jabiru undisturbed

Quick ... people coming.

The now deserted waterhole

Just a few more kilometres up the road and we came across a huge wedge-tail eagle tucking into some road kill which he was very reluctant to leave ... allowing me to get some excellent photos.

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Still not even at Normanton, we again had to stop for a display of spoonbills wading and feeding. It is easy to tell the waterways where there are no crocodiles! There were very few birds in the rivers or main channels.

Spoonbills at Normanton

 From Normanton to Croydon, about 150kms, we followed the rail line of the Gulflander. It would have been great if the train had been running because the landscape was fairly boring. This is Gulf Savannah like around Karumba, but this was pretty flat and scrubby even though there were plenty of brolgas and other birds scattered through it.

After what seemed ages we got to Croydon completely unaware of what a gem of a little town this was. Essentially I think it forgot to modernize and then people realized they were onto a good thing as many of the old buildings are very historic and have been restored to excellent condition. The General Store, the oldest in Australia, continuously trading since 1894, still functions as such and the lady running it was very friendly and talkative. It had stacks of interesting things on display but all we could find to buy was some milk!

After a late morning tea we set off to explore the Heritage Precinct. Fortunately this is grouped quite closely together because it was hot ... around 38 degrees, and we were walking.
Croydon really gained an identity with the 1885 gold discoveries here. Europeans and Chinese came flocking to the town and at one stage it had 36 hotels to cater for many thousands of people.
This multicultural heritage which is a real mixture of Anglo Saxon, Aborigine and Chinese, is acknowledged in all the displays and buildings. Interestingly, the family of Jenny Kee, the designer, comes from Croydon; and it has a strong link to Breaker Morant who used to break horses on the local properties before going off to fight in the Boer War.

Original Gaol

Chinese House

The Male Ward from the hospital

Town Hall 1890

Courthouse 1887

Police station 1896

We spent some hours looking around these buildings and the park which contained five sculpture which represented the history of Croydon. At the Tourist office we watched a film about the township and then had a look at more sculptures, old machines and buildings in their extensive garden area. This garden was maintained by a woman called Marian who would have to be one of the iconic characters of Australia. At 17 she left home in Cairns, without permission, and travelled by bus to Cloncurry (1961) to work as a house girl on a Station. She lasted one year then took a job as an assistant windmill builder. She travelled all over the region, always in complete isolation with only her boss for company, working very hard in the dry and the wet, eating basically corn beef, damper and billy tea for 46 years... and she loved it. She rolls her own and has smoked for all of that time. Now, at 66, she has a "cushy" job and will live out her days in Cloncurry. She had some incredible stories to tell and she was happy to have a yarn. I previously had thought that this type of lifestyle had finished long ago so it was very interesting for me to have a chat with her.

Marian, the windmill builder.

From Croydon we drove out the few kilometres to Lake Belmore  where we had a late lunch, and then we hit the road again towards Georgetown where we planned to spend the night. This drive was a little more interesting as it crossed some very wide rivers and went through a range which offered some lovely views westwards back over the savannah country.

The plains around Croydon

The wide bed of the Gilbert River