Etheridge

It was a cool night, and we woke up to a wet morning, only the third wet morning on our trip so far. It had been raining during the night and the awning and chairs were wet. We had put the chairs under the awning before we went to bed but have discovered that the rain is coming down between the caravan and the awning and dripping down the side of the van. A fix-it job for another time.

We packed up and said our goodbyes to Bo and CJ and thanked them for allowing us to camp on their beautiful property, and Bo said we were welcome to come back any time.

We drove through mist and rain over Misty Mountain (true name), part of the Great Dividing Range, in the Atherton Tablelands, and arrived at Ravenshoe where we refueled and got some groceries before continuing to Innot Hot Springs.

We have been to Innot Hot Springs twice before and have never booked in advance, but this time, the park was nearly full, and we luckily got the last powered site. The caravan park has been taken over by new owners, but it did not look any different to the last time we were there about 4 years ago. The park was 90% full of grey nomads (present party excepted). I know we are not getting any younger, but I always feel that we are the youngest people in these parks! LOL

A lot of people visit the mineral springs because the hot mineral springs are meant to have healing qualities, including aiding arthritis, sleep and skin disorders, blood pressure etc. At Innot, there are 6 pools with different temperatures, starting from the cooler lap pool up to the hottest pool being about 45 degrees.

Australia has many of these hot water sites – due, in part, to the Great Artesian Basin, which underlies almost a quarter of the continent. This vast, ancient, natural water reserve is the world’s largest and deepest artesian system. Heated water rises under pressure and out through natural cracks or drilled bores to emerge as thermal springs.

We have been to and had a dip in quite a few hot mineral springs in various locations in Australia, including Mataranka, Katherine, Daly River in NT, Lightning Ridge, Moree and Walgett in NSW, Zebedee Hot Springs at El Questro WA, Innot Hot Springs in Qld, plus also Peninsula Hot Springs in Victoria. We have also seen them on the Oodnadatta Track, at Coward Springs and Burketown in the Gulf of Carpentaria.

We had a dip when we arrived, then came back to the van and Theo did a repair on a damaged Anderson plug on the car. The Anderson plug helps charge the batteries while driving, and we had noticed that it was working intermittently due to corrosion. Luckily, he carries spares and tools for such a situation, and is more than capable of doing the repairs.

Another afternoon dip in the hot spa, and then cooked fish for dinner. Jason gave us some frozen Barramundi and Spanish Mackerel fillets before we left the station, and our freezer is full.

The boys he took fishing to Mapoon in Cape York had planned to take frozen fish on the plane back to the Gold Coast, but when they got to the airport, they were told they could not take the fish onboard, so Jason brought it back home to the Station and put it in his freezer. I wish I had more room in the caravan freezer, as I could have taken as much as I wanted. Sort of makes up for the fish that Theo aka ‘El Nofisho’ does not catch. LOL. When the boys were away, between the 4 of them they caught 500 barramundi in 10 days, catch and release, so they were pretty disappointed that they could not take some fish fillets home with them.

Tomorrow, Thursday we head west, towards either Georgetown or Croydon, on our way to Karumba.

Innot Hot Springs to Croydon
Uneventful drive today on the Savannah Way from Innot Hot Springs, through Georgetown and ended up at Croydon for the night. We stayed at the ‘Freedom Campground’ near the racecourse just out of town, but to camp there you need to get a permit from the Visitor Centre and make a donation. They give you a receipt, but not sure if anyone checks this.

When we arrived about 3pm there were about 15 vans in the large paddock, but by the time night fell, there must have been at least 50 or 60 vans there. We found a quiet site on the fence line away from most of the other vans and traffic coming and going. Toilets and showers are available, but no bins or dump point or water. Dump point is in the town at the back of the caravan park. We had plenty of water as we filled our water tanks at Innot Hot Springs, and I was able to do a small load of washing and everything dried very quickly. Dinner was barramundi and rice, topped with soy sauce and honey and sriracha. Very, very nice….

We did a skype (Signal) call to Rhys, Zoe and Elliot in St Johns, Newfoundland, and Kim, Josh, Hayden and Taleah also joined in. It was nice to catch up with everyone, as we hadn’t had internet to speak to Rhys for a while.Les mer