Stuck in Croydon 💧

There has been some bumps in the road since my last post! We left Barkly Homestead after 2 nights when we knew the road across to Queensland was no longer flooded. We made it across the border and to Mount Isa City, another one of these places of hustle and bustle which seems to pop up after driving hours and hours through the outback. We didn't plan on spending much time there as we are behind schedule and are trying to get to Cairns ASAP really. However, after thinking my phone was working, it turned out it just decided to work for long enough for me to think all was okay and then began with some extreme screen flickering. We spent a while in Isa while my phone got diagnosed at a repair shop. We needed to do a big supermarket shop and I was on the hunt for a new pair of sunglasses. There's a good viewpoint in the middle of the town with an artistic water tank, which shows the extent of Mount Isa Mine, the world's largest single producer of copper, silver, lead and zinc, which dominates the one side of the river. We tried to head out to Lake Moodarra but all the roads leading to it were flooded which was a sign of things to come. 

We got my phone back with time to drive on to a free rest area for the night between Mount Isa and Cloncurry. My phone needs a new screen, the water damaged the connections so I'm going to do that the next time were spending a while in a city. The next morning we went for a wander at Chinaman Dam, we're still on the lookout for crocs but no sightings so far. Cloncurry also has a town lookout which is worth a visit, with an extremely large and well painted water tank. 

We pushed on with the driving, stopping for the night at another free rest area on the road up to Normanton. All was fine until we woke in the night to a lot of heavy rain, we moved the van onto the tarmac by the road as there was a lot of water in the rest stop area. SInce being aware of the heavy rains forecast I've been a little worried about flash floodd in the night. After a restless night we set off in the morning as the rain began to ease, there were some sections of road with a covering of water but nothing to worry us. We eventually hit a deeper one, so we stopped and waited, made a cup of tea, until someone else came through. Most of the vehicles we see out here are high 4x4s so it's good to watch them go through to assess the depth and decide if Vanny would make it. A few people told us we'd been fine but we waited a bit longer until a 4X4 came by travelling the same direction as us so we could follow through in their wake, we got through ok and made it to Normanton, thankfully. While there we visited a large model of Krys the Crocodile, which is apparently the size of a real crocodile which used to live in the area but we find that hard to believe. We wanted to visit Mutton Hole Wetlands in Normanton but all the roads to it were flooded and closed so we travelled on aiming for Croydon where we'd spend the night. 

We rang the campsite in Croydon to see if they knew what the road across was like but they just knew that people were getting through. There were signs warning of water on the road as we left Normanton but it wasn't closed so off we went. I think we were both surprised when we got all the way to Croydon, about 150km, without any major flooding so we got settled at the campsite for the night then next morning got up and out ready to hit the road again. However, as we tried to leave the small town, a sign informed us 'Road closed in 73km'. Seeing as our next stop for the night was in about 300km, this was going to be an issue. After consulting Google maps we found that the Gilbert River crossed the road 73km from Croydon and the local council website informed us there was 600mm (& rising) depth of water above the bridge, which is why we're stuck in Croydon. 

We feel bad really as we we'd dismissed Croydon as a sleepy little town but we soon found out there is lots to see here. We went to the True Blue visitors centre, it was unfortunately closed because it's Sunday but we got a map of things to see and spoke to a friendly man from the campsite who was full of information. First we walked around the Heritage Precinct which has the old court house, the old police station, town hall and the old police sergants residence, on a weekday you can go in all these so if the river hasn't dropped that's what we'll be doing tomorrow. 

Next we visited the bird hide at the cemetery swamp, however more obstructions awaited us on the way, we got slowed down by a large goanna crossing the road! We only spotted two Rainbow Beeeaters at that bird hide but then we drove out to Lake Belmore where we spent a while watching the strange behaviour of some Apostlebirds. After that other birds just started appearing, there were 2 Pale-headed Rosellas in the same tree, a Blue-faced Honey Eater flying around, 4 Masked Lapwings on the waters edge and 2 Black-winged Stilts flying across the water. Our favourite however, were 2 Tawny Frogmouths watching us suspiciously from the rafters of a picnic bench shelter. 

We then headed to the mining museum which didn't have the amount of information that we feel museums tend to have but there was loads of mining machinery all scattered about which you can just wander through. We then thought we'd get booked back in at the campsite for the night and have lunch, to our suprise the whole of March is buy a night and get one free, so we just set back up free of charge, very useful! 

This is where I'm sat writing this now, in a Croydon which couldn't be any more different to the one in South London (I've never actually been to Croydon UK, but I'm pretty sure it's very different). We'll see what the situation is in the morning and see if the journey can continue, if not we'll have to find even more to do in Croydon AUS. 

On a side note - Happy Mothers Day to Sarah and Julie!! (mine and Matts mum's), I'm pretty sure you both read this so hope you're having/have had a nice day. I think this is possibly the furthest away from you we'll ever be on a Mothers Day! 

Lots of love,

Lisa and Matt 💕