Winter 2013
Part 07
Croydon to Bang Bang & Woop Woop

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Outside our caravan, in the tiny town of Croydon..  I heard a voice.

"Hey, how about an apple or a carrot"?

I threw an apple out for Wally the wallaby (I think he is a wallaby).

But then I heard :- "Gee Wally! what have you got there..."?

Wally said, "Rack off! ... go and find your own".

The crow obviously considered  ... "I'm a crow ... and we are smarter than wallabies ... I'll soon confuse him".

"Boo! .. quick run Wally!

.. and drop your bloody apple .. right there".

"you're a dummy Wal! ... thanks for the apple ... when will you learn about us crows"?

"Bastard"!

"Now bugger off with your tail between your legs Wally, while I share this apple with my bro.."

This part of Croydon has been elegantly restored to it's former glory including the gas street lights (dont know when that was though).

But this part, (and most of the rest of Croydon) missed out ...

Having said that we have now marked Croydon in our book as a favourite stopover. Hopefully, next time we stop here the grass will have returned. We headed west a bit further.

Leichhardt Lagoon was a disappointment. Last year it had grass in a few places and a pretty lake. This year it was desperately short on grass and the lake was on it's way to drying up. The caretaker sounded like an army drill sergeant. With his skinny arms folded across his dirty dusty chest he recited his well practised camp site rules. At any moment I expected him to say "and if you dont like it, bugger off" but he stopped short of that.  

My dislike for the drill sergeant was not lessened when he stated that there was NO fishing here. After seeing these two signs at the entrance I decided to annoy him by asking where was the best spot to fish. Needless to say, he made a fool of himself by saying that I had misread the signs.

I ignored his directions and parked our van where we could watch the drying up lake.

The next morning we took a 20 minute drive into Normanton (you know, the place where everybody has their photo taken beside the big saltwater crocodile). Normanton has it's share of aboriginal people and I believe it is their influence that has brought about the colourful houses.

We took the standard photo beside the crocodile as well as a photo of the purple pub. We collected our mail, paid some bills, rang my acountant to make sure I was not in the red, picked up some groceries and went back to our barracks at the lagoon.

After leaving the Leichhardt Lagoon and calling into Normanton for a top up of the water tanks, we went south to an overnight freebie at "Bang Bang". Three or four other vans were parked close by - about 1 klm down the track  :-)

The following morning we continued south along a ONE LANE developmental road.

Then, this sign made me wonder ...

.. just how long have I NOT been on a road?

And there it is - "Woop Woop", and you didn't think there was such a place eh!

Now you know; It's a roadside rest area called Terry Smith Lookout.

The view of the landscape is unfortunately hidden unless you stand on the roof of the amenities block - and that is not a good idea unless you ... never mind.

Next ... Part eight