Judy & Brian Tour Oz

  Undara Qld Just 21st 2024 Three hundred and eighty five kilometres north of Charters Towers, is Undara, or to be more precede the Discovery Parks Undara Lava Tubes caravan park. Of the 385km, there is a huge free camp about 30km north of CT, a town called Glendale that I missed this time because I blinked, a Spring Creek with a patch of dirt for caravan, and The Lynd, a lonely roadhouse. I still have no idea why its called the Lynd, and it doesn’t appear on the map, but its 260km north of CT and is the only fuel (only anything actually) between CT and Mount Garnet, some 140km further up the road. We have stopped here every time we’ve been up here, might as well fill up the tank, grab a coffee, a sandwich and use the facilities. Facilities? They are closed and padlocked and carry a big sign hat says “For the use of Roadhouse customers only”. But you’re welcome to wander way out and down the back and use one of the toilets in the two dongas left open for that purpose, and you do...

Mt Surprise The road leading east out of Georgetown has a large flashing sign informing us that there are roadworks for the next 65km. This is of some concern as the large body of workers that form the road gangs have all left town. They got the word that the money for the project had run out so they just up and left, leaving the state of the developmental road a mystery. The next town is Mt Surprise and is only 95km away and all along the first 65km are abandoned graders and rollers and trucks and diggers: left where they finished work at the time. The road itself was in all states of repair from the original very narrow developmental strip of tar and dirt, wrecked, under repair, newly graded, half finished and some parts which were wide smooth boulevard. It was 80kph, or slower, most of the way as quite a lot of oncoming traffic forced us onto the dirt. By the time we reached Mt Surprise we were ready for a break. There was a market in the park selling everything from overpr...