Normanton had a big barramundi and a replica of Krys, the Savannah King. Krys was a 24ft. salt water crocodile that came from Archer Creek. There was also a tourist railroad that ran from Normanton to Croydon.
Out of town we took the Gulf Development Highway and it had its wide and narrow parts too. We were very fortunate not to have met a truck train on the road or to have one pass us. On the road this morning we saw several kangaroos, a lizard about 2 feet long and some large grey birds. They looked like Sandhills cranes, but that's not what they call them here. Sometimes lizards come out on the roads to sun themselves.
Croydon is an old gold mining town, one of the last in Australia. At its height, it had a population of 8000, 165 pubs in the goldfields and 8 in town. Now 200 people live there, they have one pub and today the town's power was out. According to the lady at visitors information, they have pieces of mining equipment here that don't exist anywhere else in the world. At other mines, as mining equipment evolved, parts of old things were used to make the new. At Croydon, the mines were worked from 1885 till the start of WWI and the equipment was abandoned. So for mining historians it is an important place.
Several old buildings were open with displays about the town. We wandered through a house, the police residence and jail, the courthouse and town hall. There is a style of house called Queenslander. It's corrugated metal, with a very wide veranda, tall ceilings inside and on some there is a space of a few inches between the roof and walls. It sits above ground in case of floods. Its metal because of the termites and the other features help keep them cool.
We drove to Mount Surprise and stopped at the Bedrock Campground.
Pictures - Krys the Crocodile, Big Barramundi, Normanton RR Station, Lizard on road, Queenslander House, Croydon on a Hot Night, Road Variation, Wash to prevent weeds from entering the area, Anglican Church in Croydon
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