16/7 I enjoyed the Guinness Tram so much I posted it twice. We had to leave Lawn Hill as no cancellations, although Rose got an early walk in and saw a bit of wildlife. Really is a terrific place. The contrast between the red of the sheer cliffs with the colour of the water possibly doesn't happen any else.

Back on the horror road. We pass a couple in an off road vehicle that has shaken loose a bolt on their camper. Luckily they have a spare and later on go past us at a rate of knots. Not far from the end of the gravel we stop at a waterhole to look at the waterbirds, pelicans, ducks and cormorants.

There is also a large herd of Brahman cattle that don’t appreciate our presence. When we get back to the van we notice that the rear window is open. The catches must have shaken loose somehow on the corrugations. Plenty of dust inside, fortunately most is caught behind the curtains. Pretty lucky that is all that happen considering the road. We stop and have a look at the free camp spot at Gregory Downs. First thing we notice is a large sign saying “no vans past this point”. Ignored by the 40 or so vans lining the riverbank. Very pretty stream but we decide to keep going back to Burke & Wills Roadhouse. We come across a dead White Bellied Sea Eagle hit by a car. Hopefully it’s not the one we were photographing a few days earlier. The amount of road kill is quite distressing to see, and it’s not uncommon to see 6 or more birds feeding on one carcass in the middle of the road. The eagles are particularly slow taking off, but if you slow down a bit when you approach they  manage to get off the ground and out of harms way. Unfortunately some people just keep barreling along at full speed with fatal consequences for these magnificent birds.  Set up camp at the roadhouse and have a beer in the bar. Talk to a couple who have sold up their house and bought a land cruiser and a 22 foot van.  I cough for almost the entire night and only get a couple of hours sleep. Obviously Rose and probably most of the park fared little better.

17/7 Off to Normanton this morning. Petty flat road, with the usual changing landscape. When we arrive Rose drags me off to the hospital to get my cough checked out. Given a thorough once over by a nurse (in Roses presence). Probably a virus but they give me some antibiotics just in case. According to their scales I’ve lost 5 kilos since we’ve been traveling. Thought I was looking a bit scrawny. In Normanton there is a life sized replica of a crocodile they claim was shot by a woman in 1957. It’s 8.63 mtrs long and is apparently in the Guinness Book of Records (it wouldn’t fit in the Guinness tram). When you see the size of it, it is almost impossible to believe that it could have really been that big.

The ones that killed the guy in Kakadu recently were 4.5. Normanton was developed as a large port for the mining industry, and is about 70 by river to the sea at Karumba. We decide to keep going to Karumba as we have to come back through Normanton again. The road to Karumba winds through wetlands and waterways which are home to a variety of birds and of course crocs. The town is a popular destination for fishermen, many of whom book into the caravan parks for a few months each year. We were lucky to get a site. Book in for Thur & Frid, but discover the park puts on a free fish bbq on Sat so we might have to stay an extra night.

18/7 Interesting place and caravan park. All the regulars know each other, and have regular activities. Groups of women sitting around playing cards, or blackgammon or bingo while the hubbies go off in their tinnies and fish. The town has a large facility for the Century mine which was near Lawn Hill. They pipe zinc slurry 300km from Lawn Hill to Karumba where they “dewater” it and ship it off. There is also a sizable commercial fishing fleet. Lots of delicious local prawns available. Mmmmm prawns.

19/7 Did a tour of the local barramundi hatchery which was very interesting. They have a number of holding tanks with large females (1.5 metres) in one, and smaller males in others. We were able to hand feed them small squid which they basically suck from your hand. The hatchery breed up fingerlings and release them into the Norman River and a number of dams around the state for recreational fishing.

20/7 I spent some time fishing off the river bank with a number of others hopefuls.  No luck per usual, and I only saw a couple of tiddlers caught. Fish BBQ for tea put on by the Park with the help of some of the regulars. Not only nice fish dinner, but entertainment. Does it get any better? Apparently the regular campers take it in turns to entertain the masses Sat nights. Watching some bootscooters dancing to “Give me a home amongst the gum trees”, we thought we had stumbled into the local nursing home. There followed an old guy singing and playing guitar who was quite OK, an even older guy telling yarns and poems who was pretty entertaining, followed by a slightly younger guy who wouldn’t have been out of place in the blooper audition section of Australia’s got talent. He though he had some but didn’t. I used my incessant coughing as an excuse to retire before the three piece group singing a medley of old favourites (I use the term loosely) got started. I'd heard them practising earlier in the day.

21/7 We head off this morning and Bertie our neighbor for the last few days gives us some fish to take with us. Stop of at Georgetown on the Savanna Way, and have a look at an extensive gemstone display in the info centre. Thousands of exhibits including decent sized gold nuggets. The Savanna way is an interesting drive with lots of single lane sections where you have to pull right over to pass oncoming traffic. Particularly hairy when a roadtrain is bearing down on you. We pull into a little place called Mt Surprise and decide to stop at “Planet Earth Adventures”, a daggy little park run by Russell. Pretty basic facilities but only $10 a night.

22/7 A bit of a wonder around Mt Surprise this morning. Didn’t take long. An old railway station and buildings with some interesting info on how the region was initially developed. It was all based around mining, and services to mining. One of the cafes had aviaries with a number of parrots out back. Quite a range of beautiful coloured birds, but a bit sad to see them caged up.  We headed 50 kms out to the Undara NP where we did couple of walks while waiting to do a tour of the Lava Tubes. The region is a “Volcanic Precinct” with about 160 dormant volcanoes spread over quite a small area. The lava tubes run for over a hundred Km from the source volcano, and only a small distance has been accessed. They are large tunnels formed by molten larva running underground slightly downhill. As the lava travelled along, the ground behind cooled and hardened forming tunnels.  They are quite interesting structures, but we wouldn’t rush to do it again.

They are situated in a National Park, which was given to the State Government by the pastoralists who owned the land. Apparently it was going to be compulsorily acquired if they didn’t. In return they have access to the lava tubes and the only way to see them is by guided tours run by them. On the way back we did a walk around a volcano crater rim with good views of a number of the other volcanoes in the distance. Rose thought Val Wood would have likened their shape to Sue’s perky breasts. When we got back to the park Russell conducted an info session on snakes, and had a black headed python called Clancy as a prop. Blackheaded pythons eat other snakes and are apparently immune to all snake venom. Russell used to have lots of snakes including venomous ones , and regularly did shows. He was informative and was very entertaining. Apparently we have 21 of the 25 most venomous snakes in the world, including the top 12. According to Russell, if you get bitten, apply a compression bandage and stay very still.

23/7 Up bright and early to go gem fossicking with Lester from Tagalong tours. Should have been called Lester’s 4 x 4 tour.  We were given very little info before hand and the tour was recommended by Russell's poster on the back of the dunny door. “I wouldn’t promote it if I didn’t think it was good value.” After that glowing tribute who could we resist. We followed Lester in the Subaru (only the two of us on the tour).  After a couple of kms of bitumen we hit the corrugations, 30 kms worth, then we got onto the really rough stuff. Creek crossing , deep ruts,  but we finally made it to Lester’s claim, about a hectare fenced off in the middle of nowhere. When we arrived Lester mumbled that we probably could have come in his 4x4. Bit late. The fossicking comprised of digging out gravel from an old underground creek bed with a pick, shoveling it into a large sieve, shaking out the soil and sifting through the remainders. It was pretty hard, dusty work, but good fun.

Rose got right into the sieve shaking. At one stage we were worried Lester might have a coronary. He survived and made beautiful damper (with milk) in a camp oven and billy tea, and we supped under a lean two he has built out there. We found an few small pieces of topaz, a couple large enough to cut, and quite a bit of smokey quartz including one quite large one he said was a very good piece. When we got back to town we called in at his house and looked at his collection, including a number of pieces that had been faceted(cut). It gave us an idea what our bits might look like if we had them done. He also had an amazing fruit and veg garden with mangos, paw paws, bananas, lychies and a range of citrus trees and lots of different veggies. Had a well earned shower when we got back to the van and popped down to the pub for a coldie. The pubs for sale, along with most of the other businesses in Mt Surprise. You could probably make an offer and get the lot. Yummy steak and onion burgers cooked by Russell for tea. Only $6.50 each.

24/7 On the road again towards Cairns. The country is changing from the flat dry plains to hillier rainforest area. We stop at Ravenshoe which is the highest town in QLD. Did a bit of shopping and ran into a few people we had seen recently. They advised that there was a “Christmas in July” festival in Mareeba for grey nomads, which is the direction we are heading (I have a cousin there who I haven’t seen for 35 years) and it will be hard to get a site. We decide to camp at Herberton which is a few kms off the highway. Extremely hilly little place which has as its main attraction a Historic Village.  Wow! What an amazing place. They have relocated and/or rebuilt 50 or so building housing collectables, machinery, small engines vehicles and antiques.

They have an old chemist shop, printers,  grocers, toy store, school, garage plus plenty more.

We wondered for a couple of hours and still didn’t see it all. It was fascinating looking at old books and toys, and even some of the old grocery items reminded me of the shop we had when I was young. Arnett’s biscuits in big tins, and cutters to slice up the cheese wheels. Will have to go back in the morning. Got on to my cousin Allan and will go to his place on Sat and prop the night.

25/7 Rain this morning and chilly. Can’t handle it. Drive into town and visit the Miners Museum, and leave Rose to download her photos. The area was big in Tin mining in the 1800’s and the museum details a quite extensive history. I was surprised at how heavy a bit of tin ore is. Back to the Village to finish off our tour, and particularly liked the old school room. Even though it was a slightly earlier era to when I was at school, there were definite similarities.

Had planned to check out the area this arvo buy it's turned out to be a good afternoon for reading back at the van while the drizzle continues.