FRIDAY 16 OCTOBER     MOUNT SURPRISE

On Joe’s advice – again – we were going to Einasleigh today. I packed some Ryvita, vegemite and cheese for a picnic lunch. Joe told us that the unsealed road that goes to Einasleigh from  west of Mt Surprise, was worth taking.

It was a very attractive drive, in parts parallel with the rugged Newcastle Range. There were several dry creek fords. It was more of a track than a road and not one for fast travel. We did not meet any other traffic on this route. At one point, we intersected with the railway line that carries the Savannahlander train – it goes through Einasleigh on the way to Forsayth. It was about 90kms to Einasleigh.

As we drove, could see storm clouds building to the south and hoped there would not be sudden heavy rain while we were on this road!

Einasleigh was really interesting. The Copperfield River goes through a small gorge, where it has cut a down a fissure in the basalt that formed from a lava flow. These parts of northern Queensland are much more volcanic than I knew. The basalt here is very dark and the Copperfield Gorge looks quite sinister to me.

 

As is indicated by the name Copperfield River, the town grew due to copper mining here in the late 1800’s; there was also copper mining around Forsayth to the west. Clearly, there is much mineralization in these parts – was some tin mining around O’Briens Creek, there’s the topaz, aquamarine and similar gemstones now; copper; the large Kidston gold mine is east of here. The Einasleigh River – named by the Jardines on their trek north to the Cape in the 1860’s – and the Copperfield join at the township.

The railway was built by the Chillagoe Copper Company to transport copper from around Forsayth and here. It eventually became government owned. There is a long rail bridge over the Einasleigh River. It would look quite spectacular in a flood.

The road we came in on crosses the river via a ford that would flood after big rains.

The “town” itself was quite surreal – probably not helped by the dark, stormy skies. It is in a great setting amongst photogenic hills. There was an eerie, derelict house just across the bridge.

The hotel stands by itself, with a collapsed building next to it that was once the dance hall, or “leaning hall”. It leaned too far! The walls have collapsed but the roof is intact, complete with fascia, on the ground. There was only one vehicle parked in front of the hotel – with its bonnet up.

We ate our lunch in a modern picnic shelter overlooking the Gorge. The huge, swirling clouds were making thunder and lightning and then we had a heavy but short deluge. While having lunch, we were adopted by a very scared blue heeler dog that obviously thought we were its saviours from the elements.

Eventually, we took refuge at the pub, complete with dog, who wasn’t going to be left. The two people at the pub (publican and one patron) knew who she was and undertook to return her home.

The beer was in a large chest freezer, behind the bar. There was none on tap. We had a beer each, as a courtesy for the help with the dog. $3 per can. Being independent tourists in Einasleigh seemed to make us some kind of objects of curiosity.

We walked around a bit – the land of the township is rather bare, and rocky, almost blasted-looking.  We decided that being here was very like living inside the pages of a Stephen King novel!

The rainstorm moved off to the north – making us somewhat concerned about our camp! We decided not to risk the narrow, dirt road back to Mt Surprise, with its creek crossings, so kept going west, to Forsayth, on a sealed road. This part of our drive was very scenic, with rugged ranges and distant vistas.

Had a quick look round Forsayth, with a view to maybe staying there. The van facility at the Forsayth home stay looked adequate.

Turned north for Georgetown – back onto gravel road, rather corrugated in parts. Georgetown had a few shops and a huge, dry river crossing – the Etheridge.

It was back onto the single width bitumen to Mt Surprise. We saw a bustard walking beside the road – and another as road kill. Scenes like that make me so sad – not something I will ever get used to.

Back at the van, the storm had obviously passed this way. The annexe roof had been blown off its poles – probably due to the shade cloth hanging from them too. There was red mud everywhere. The van was mostly dry inside. Given the hot weather this morning, I had not shut up all the windows before we left. There had been a little rain come in the window at the head of the bed, and some of my underwear in the cupboard beneath it was damp. Lesson: do not go out in storm season and leave windows open! We were lucky, this time – it was quite a storm and a lot of rain was dumped in a short time.

The storm certainly cooled the air, which made for a pleasant late afternoon and evening.

Tea was dim sims that I “steamed” in an enamel pie plate in the electric frypan with water in and lid on – and fries.

We drove 296kms on today’s circuit. A great day.

John sat up till the early hours playing computer game.