20120720 Qld Georgetown to Croydon

20120720 Undara Lava Tube, we arrived late in the afternoon and had to wait 2 hours for the next tour, so we left for Georgetown.  After the fine in Bowen, we are very skeptical about parking up anywhere, so we decided to go to a caravan park only the sign out the front said no more powered sites left.  After speaking to the owner, she said I only have emergency spots left, what’s an emergency spot we asked, you won’t believe it, but it was on the footpath, and you run a lead to a power point in the park.  Are you sure we won’t get fined for parking there Des asked, Naa, not in Georgetown she said.  This is illegal said Des but he handed over $20 and parked up, changed and walked to the pub for a couple of ales.  We meet a couple of locals who invited us to sit down, one was a bit under the weather or maybe he was stoned.  He was telling us a story and stood up to show us what happened, and he went arse over, we didn't know if it was part of his story or he actually fell, "he fell" he got a good laugh out of us.

20120721 Gaynor told us about the Innot Hot Springs, so we stopped to check it out. The caravan park seems to have the monopoly on the pool springs, so we walked along the creek and noticed the steam rising from the sand. 

Noted as a 'Health Resort' and resembling the famous thermal spas of Europe, Nettle Creek runs with hot water and once upon a time people bath naked all along its route.  A hot creek with water in, your luck to find any water at all in most of Australian outback creeks.  Legend has it that the Innot Hot Springs used to consist of a large pool of overflowing hot water.  The 1891 Australian medical gazette claimed "the springs have gained a reputation for healing, Rheumatism, Gout, Liver and Kidney diseases.  Innot Spa Water was placed in a barrel and hauled over the Cardwell range by mules for bottling in Townsville soft drink factory which was then sent to Europe to be used as medicine, the product continued till 1914 and the outbreak of war.  In 1991 the temperature of the water near the discharge point of the spring was 71.5 degrees Celsius and the flow rate was an estimated 3 liters per second.

Des felt the water and it was certainly hot, too hot to swim in anyway, but then again Des doesn’t like very hot water at the best of times. 

If you look closely there are kids summing in the spring.

Croydon

Land was first utilised for grazing in the 1840s and the first road was cut through the area now known as Croydon.  Owing to the silver-white grass and coarse in texture, the area was first called “white Flats”.  In 1868 land was surveyed and the first habitations were constructed out of wattle and daub (coat or smear a surface with a thick or sticky substance) later rebuilt out of timber.  The area prospered in sheep, beef, dairy and sawmills, Orchards were soon established and thrived, and crops included apples, cherries, pears, peaches, and plums.  In 1874 Cobb & Co ran horses and carts to the area then in 1882 a single (unnamed) railway line was constructed through to Lilvdale.  Travellers would travel to the unnamed station and were then faced with a 10km horse and coach ride.  Mr George Lacey a resident in the 1880 proposed the town's name be changed to Croydon after an English town of his wife’s birth.


Stopped at the Information centre and again no free camping, we walked the town then left to check out the dam, maybe we can camp their only there were signs everywhere “No Camping” plus it was hilly so we headed back to town after lunch and found a spot behind there sports ground, great spot, no one can see us.  Des road the bike to town and I blogged on his return we set up the chairs and sat in the sun with a beer watching heaps of wallaby’s hopping around the grounds.  Des was telling me a story when he was at the pub sitting on a stool talking to a couple of travellers, he looked at the bar and it was rising, am I seeing things he said to himself and kept on talking, then he noticed it again, that's when the guy he was talking to said, you shrinking a bit mate with a grin on his face, the bar wasn't going up his stool was going down, it's the way he tell a story that cracks me up.

 This 3mflywheen was last used on the main drive shaft on the Mount Morgon Mine and was connected by a flat belt to a steam engine, and transferred power via the cog wheel to drive the camshaft which lifted the stampers of the mill and it is beleaved to have been made in Australia.

 Five Head Stamp Mill

Gold was not the only mineral mined in Croydon there was also silver, led and tin.  This five head stamp mill was made in Croydon and carted out to Templeton by Charles Hughes and his horse team to be used to crush tin -bearing ore.  Water was introduced at the top of the stamper box and ore was shovelled in through the slot at the back of the mill.  The agitating motion of the stamping of the mill washed the fine grains out through screen at the front and onto a table where the gold was recovered.

Croydon Quality Butcher, I don't know if the store is operational I just liked the photo.

In the early day this bell rang out at St John's Anglican Church Golden Gate and this Bell Tower stood at St Joseph's Catholic Church Croydon.

Station and Stock Memorial Plaque

William Brown took up Croydon Downs in 1881, the subsequent discovery of gold soon changed the economy of the region.  the boom years were short lived, however the pastoralism continues as the main industry of Croydon Shire. 

The stock whip, saddle bag and hat  are hallmarks of the stockman who regularly muster the stock which thrive in the savanna.

These waggon wheels lined a fence next to the bell above.

22-07-2012  The nights get really cold which is great for sleeping but this van is bloody cold in the morning, you don't won't to get out of bed, then again I don't, Des is always the first up making a cup of tea which I drink in bed while he makes breaky, Arrr what a life.  Des spotted a tap at the back of the information centre so he took advantage of it to wash the front of the van and of cause his chrome wheels but then a guy turned up and told us off, this is private property you’re not aloud here, opps sorry mate, were not camping here I am only washing my windscreen, if this other guy turns up he will hit the roof, ya,ok and he left.  Des finished washing the van the whet across to the counsel to complain, I was only washing my windscreen, was that guy living in town when you won the friendly town award because he certainly wasn’t very friendly.  We were told the movie on the town history at the information centre was worth watching, it was created by one of the residents working in the centre and it was well done. 


One of the places on the video was as you leave town so we stopped to check it out, Des decided he need more fuel so he left me there while he went back to town to fill up, great I could take my time snapping away.

Miner’s hut which was the home of the Bing Chew family descendants of original Chinese immigrants. The Chinese were known for there natural remedies and there vegetables gardens which they sold to the local.

On the outskirts of the town, situated on what originally was the Iguana Mine Site is this Mining Museum and Bing Chew's homestead.