Surprising Mt Surprise

What a good decision it was to leave the Atherton Tablelands!  The warmth that greeted us as we made it back to sea level was most welcome - particularly after the previous couple of days.

Team Turtle was making its way south west to enable The Deckie to cross off one of the items on her "bucket list".  More on that later!

The perfect base for The Team for a few days was Mt Surprise and the Bedrock Village Caravan Park.  Bedrock Village was a very appropriate name for the Park.  The weather was perfect and after we set up camp and refreshed ourselves, The Captain and The Deckie went for a stroll to a nearby creek.  Easier said than done as the surrounding area was littered with boulders and rocks that have lain there for many millions of years.  Fortunately, a path had been whipper snipped through the rocks so that unsuspecting tourists would not get lost on the short walk.  

The Pathway

Boulders, Boulders Everywhere!

The trudge through the old lave flows was worth it as the creek was very pretty and any other day, we would have gone for a bit of a dip - it was warm, but not that warm.

Elizabeth Creek

The following day was a general touristy day - west along the Gulf Development Road to Georgetown, south to Forsayth and then west to Einasleigh.  The Captain had heard of another dam that was south of Einasleigh so thought that we would check out that road (yes, another one) to see as to its suitability for The Turtle whilst we were in the area.

The information Centre at Georgetown is also home to the Ted Elliott Mineral Collection.  For anyone who has any sort of an interest in rocks and minerals it is an absolutely brilliant place.  Most of the collection has been sourced from within Australia with a few samples from overseas.  We spent nearly an hour in the Centre and would have spent more time except the old legs were getting a little it weary so we turned south to find somewhere for lunch.  Forsayth is the "gateway" to Cobbold Gorge - which wasn't on our list of things to do - so we had lunch and turned west to Einasleigh.

Now, Einasleigh is a rather small little village but the rather interesting Copperfield River runs through the Copperfield Gorge right across the road from the local pub.  Once more, it is a basalt plain that surrounds the town but from a totally different volcano that made the basalt plains around Mt Surprise, only 100klms away.  Over time, the waters of the Copperfield River have cut through three different basalt layers to form the Gorge.

The Einasleigh Pub From The River

The Copperfield River and Gorge

A Billabong On The Basalt Plain

After making enquiries (and having a small refreshment) at the hotel regarding the Kidston Dam, we sallied forth once more.  The road was gravel but good to drive on and within a short period of time, we reached the "township"of Kidston.  There were no significant signs to the dam but plenty of side roads.  We turned this way and that way and always came to locked gates - some of them lead to an open cut mine and another was on private property - "Do Not Enter Or You Will Be Shot" was a significant clue as to why we should not go any further.  As the sun was very quickly sinking behind the massive hills of mine overburden we decided to call it a day and head back to camp.  Unfortunately, by the time we had just passed Einasleigh, a little light indicated that The Rav's fuel supply was rather depleted.  There were 50klms of badly corrugated gravel road to the main highway and then another 40 to Mt Surprise - probably not going to back it home, hmm, perhaps we should have put some more fuel in The Rav back at Einasleigh?  No worries, assured The Captain, we have some fuel in Tuf Tinnie's fuel container (which was sitting in the back of The Rav).  After a few more k's, there was an audible "oops" from The Captain - The Deckie does not like it when she hears that - we don't have a funnel!  Not to worry, The Deckie had an empty drink bottle in the car and was able convert it into a most suitable funnel.  Thank goodness for the small pair of scissors that she always carries in her handbag!!

Before darkness enveloped us, we managed to refuel The Rav sufficiently to get us back to Mt Surprise.  

There are many reasons why Team Turtle does not like to be on the roads at sunset or in the dark and two of those reasons nearly happened to us on the final stretch of that gravel road.  Just after Team Turtle continued its journey, a large bird of prey decided to try and lift off in front of us.  The poor bird flapped its wings that hard we thought that it was going to have a heart attack, The Captain felt it best to decelerate (which was the best thing to do at the time) and waited until the bird finally took a right turn - away from the road - and headed into the trees.  It was close as we nearly had the thing sitting on our bonnet!

A little further along the road, there was a small white flash from the starboard side bushes and then - THUMP - a rabbit had committed suicide under The Rav.  The Captain's comment - "at least it wasn't a 'roo' - that would have been a bit messy".  The positive thing - the bird that was having a heart attack a few minutes earlier would not have had to go to far to get his dinner.

Back at camp, we had to prepare ourselves for an early start the next day - and to tick off one of those "bucket list" items.