Georgetown, Qld

Finally had to leave Karumba and start tootling over toward the coast. First stop was Croydon, home of the 1860 goldrush in Queensland and other end of the Gulflander railway. We stopped for a break, drank a cup of coffee and chomped on a biscuit before pushing on to Georgetown.

We had been expecting more of the development road and were pleasantly surprised to find a good road all the way to Croydon and another 50km past that. The development road was a bit of a shocker, not much of a road at all in fact.  At the 370km mark we reached Georgetown and had had enough. We drove past the ‘Midway’ caravan park on the main road, which looked like a donga dust bowl and chose the Goldfields park up a side street. Picked up the penultimate powered site ( they only have 20) and settled in. Went to the Info centre and saw another couple, Kerry and Alec, who we have met at a number of places driving about in circles. Got on the ‘horn’ and told them about the van park and how they had one spot left, They just got in before the ‘full’ sgn went up. We bought some fuel, some groceries and had lunch at the Ampol service station. How long has it been since we saw a real honest to goodness Ampol?

About a 100m down from the van park is the town swimming pool, to which we get a complimentary token. We went down, and lo and behold, our hosts are in the pool, keeping half an eye out for new arrivals! Now that’s a hard life. Pool was quite cool, almost frigid, but beautifully kept, a real surprise in this scrubby desert country.

Back at the park, some folks were playing bocce, others were snapping coloured birds in the trees and then we joined the temporary caretakers and few others for a wine and a yarn.

A snap:

Tawny Frog mouth x2. Georgetown, Qld