NORMANTON

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CROYDON

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GEORGETOWN

 

 

  • Departed Leichhardt's Lagoon Monday

  • Travel through Croydon to Georgetown

  • Camped overnight Monday at Georgetown

 

THANK YOU FOR BEING PATIENT WHILE THE PICTURES LOAD

Day 20

 

Monday 29th August 2005

Click on the pictures for larger versions

 
Camp for Nights 20-21 - Monday 29th to Tuesday 30th August 2005 Camp for Night 22 - Wednesday 31st August 2005 Camp for Night 23 - Thursday 1st September 2005 Camp for Nights 24-25-26-27-28 - Friday 2nd to Tuesday 6th September 2005 Camp for Nights 29-30-31-32-33 - Wednesday 7th September to Sunday 11th September 2005 Camp for Night 34 - Monday 12th September 2005 Camp for Nights 35-36 - Tuesday 13th to Wednesday 14th September 2005  

 

Nothing out of the ordinary happened on the way from Leichhardt's Lagoon to Croydon. We passed a railway siding named Blackbull which is part of the Normanton to Croydon line the Gulflander travels.
 
Not long after, we were entering Croydon. By then I was driving without a shirt. The van has no air conditioning - other than the windows - and we were getting HOT!
We needed fuel so I pulled into what seemed to be the General Store for the town. When I went in to pay, I entered into what seemed to be a combination of a museum and a shop.
We looked for a toilet and a spot to walk the dogs. Below is the spot we found. Mum and Judy wandered with the dogs in the park while I looked around the the close streets.
I found a cafe and ended up talking to the girl running it. She was very helpful and told me that the local courthouse had Internet facilities. I needed to transfer money and decided to go there after getting a hamburger and welcome cold drink.
Judy and mum were waiting in the shade by the van when I returned. They were interested in a hamburger for a change, so decided to walk to the cafe too. I stayed and looked after the dogs until they returned.
As they sat in the shade, I went to the courthouse pictured below right. The person in charge was very friendly and offered me information about the area and we had a general chat. After completing my Internet banking I returned to the vehicle and we headed east towards Georgetown, the breeze from driving being really welcome.
 
12.14pm 12.14pm 12.14pm

The van was making hard work of some of the rises so it was moving along fairly slowly. As we came over one of the rises I had time to look around. Ahead on the right I saw what seemed to be a tower. As we came closer I realized it was a chimney. I kept looking at it as I could, confused as to why a large brick chimney was out in "the middle of nowhere". As we passed I saw a sign saying "Cumberland Chimney". As it was getting late and we needed to find a camp for the night I kept going, though I would have loved to drive in to see it.

I've since done a search for it on Google and found it was built during a gold rush in the 1870s by Cornish masons and the chimney is all that remains of a crushing plant contracted by the surrounding mines to crush their ore. The chimney was part of a large town including three hotels and a bank.

We arrived in Georgetown and investigated the two caravan parks listed in the Camps 3 bible. We chose the Goldfields Caravan Park as it looked the coolest with the wonderful shade trees.
Having 3 dogs, I thought we may have had problems but after the owner saw them she said they'd be no problem, which they weren't. Judy and her had something in common too. Judy nursed at a hospital in Nottingham in England and the owner came from Nottingham. They chatted on for a while and she told us about the local attractions.
We found a spot on the edge of the park, away from the majority of campers, in case they weren't happy being next to dogs. We set up the caravan etc and explored the amenities. It turned out to be a very clean, cool park so we decided to stay for 2 nights.
     
 
     

Last Updated : 28/01/2012 01:39 PM +1000