Undara on to Croydon

This path leads to the entry point of one of the Lava Tubes

The 2-hour tour this morning to the lava tubes was very interesting, even managed to take a couple of images in time exposure, "painting" the background with the flashlight of the tour guide.




Painted with a flashlight - this is what it looks like inside one of the tubes


The atmosphere is relaxed, very informative and also lots of fun for all us oldies taking part in the tour.



The light comes in through the collapsed roof of the tube

I left Undara about 10.30, drove to Mount Surprise where I was told I would get signal, did my upload and also tried to send emails, which have since been returned and needed to be re-sent from Croydon. It was overcast when I left but breaks in the clouds could be seen further west, so as I came further west the sky slowly started to turn completely blue. There was markedly more traffic coming towards me on this leg of the journey.

I am now in Croydon, on the Savannah Way, about 350km west from Undara. There are only about 160km to go to Normanton tomorrow.

The old Pub in Croydon

I am staying at the local caravan park, very green and spacious. Went for walkabout town and finally into the "Poddy Dodger Bar" for a cold beer. Yeah, I know you want to know what a "Poddy Dodger" is, because I did - and found the answer at my second attempt from one of the Locals. To relieve you of the suspense, its a "Cattle Thief". Now you all have a new word from the Australian Outback to include in your dictionary of words you must know.

It is Savannah grass lands all the way, but the further west I get, the grass is getting shorter and whiter, the trees in the scrub smaller, lots of carcasses on the road, mostly small 'roos, but I also saw a run-over Brahman cow and two black feral pigs that had been flattened by trucks. The flying kind of wildlife, like eagles, crows and also butcher birds are being kept in a well-fed state. Like the tour guide through the lava tubes said this morning, the biggest predator around these parts is called "Toyota". So, now you know too. He also showed us a variety of leafs and berries of the bush that will kill you in no time at all. One lot is called strychnine berry. He said if you ate one, you would still have time to cook an egg, but not enough time to eat it. Thats the second bit of bush wisdom for today, I think I will leave it at that.