The True Blue Tourist Information Centre in Croydon describes the town as "incredible". I wish to add a few more superlatives...extraordinary, innovative, outstanding, interesting, surprising and friendly. By accident, we ended up spending four nights in Croydon as we failed to access accommodation in either Georgetown or Forsayth. So, we were resigned to spending more time in a town we knew nothing about...how lucky were we!
We had booked at the lovely Croydon Tourist Park and were welcomed by manger Anne. Our site had shade most of the day and vastly closer to the loos than the Undara Experience had been. And there were lights at night to guide one to the ablutions. Good start.
We quickly discovered that we had happened upon a historical jackpot. We began by visiting the True Blue Visitors Centre, their fantastic information panels, maps and books with replicas of a miner's hut, a myriad of old machinery, a reproduction of a creek and miner's camp and lovely shade filled gardens. The lady gardener had a son in Northam (68 kilometres from Heavenly Beverley) and was a fund of useful facts. Later, we met Marian Campbell, who was a nuggety, sun drenched lady of fairly indeterminate age. She had lived in Croydon for at least 30 years and her Claim to Fame was moving 27 tonnes of dirt in a day...She was a born storyteller and we happily listened to her whilst she had a smoke. before she returned to her rostered hours at the Visitors Centre.
Other places of interest in town included the 1887 Club Hotel, the Heritage Park and Precinct, more machinery displays at the Shire offices, the Gulflander Railway Station, quirky houses and the fabulous Café/Supermarket and Fuel Station. I feel a bit guilty that we didn't even visit the other servo.
The cemetery was testament to the stoic nature of the early settlers. Often cots were used as grave surrounds for babies or children. Men lived hard and died young and women worked hard and succumbed to childbirth, disease or exhaustion. Although such a sad place, we felt compelled to visit so we could honour those no longer living and the friends and family they left behind.
Belmore Lake, four kilometres out of town was a man-made masterpiece. Created in only 1995, the lake's primary task was to provide water for the current and future needs of Croydon. Stocked with barramundi and featuring lovely picnic areas, a playground, a boat ramp and a beach, I nearly paddled my feet until I saw the warning sign regarding fresh water crocodiles. Most people we spoke to had never even seen one, but it would be just my luck for a cruising croc to take a chomp off my toes.
We made some great acquaintances at the park, sharing a bit of banter with our fellow residents. An added bonus was a wonderful swimming pool.. We settled into a lazy routine of casual mornings completing any necessary chores, followed by sightseeing, before returning for a swim and contemplating either a pub meal or a camper meal. The pub won on most occasions.
We found the Madame Butterfly open cut mine site (now filled with water) and undertook some serious 4WD walking - in thongs naturally. We explored a few bush tracks treading carefully as we were fully aware of dangerous hidden shafts that could lead to a sticky end for either or both for us.
The open air mining museum totally revitalised us when our energy was flagging. I thought Michael might actually explode with ecstasy He also toyed with megalomania for a short time, imaging the entire place was actually his private playground.
On our final day, we watched the Gulflander arrive from Normanton on its Wednesday run. Michael was booked to travel on the Thursday morning service back to Normanton whilst I drove Romeo, with us meeting for a morning tea rendezvous at Blackbull (which I promptly renamed Blackbum).Driver Glen and guard Kiwi Ray allowed a few train enthusiasts onboard whilst the train traversed a triangle on the tracks to end up pointing in the correct direction. Any train nut should resolve to travel on the Gulflander at least once.
And so, the following morning, we packed up Romeo, waved farewell to the caravan park and delivered Michael to the Croydon train station. I waved as he and about nine others settled down for a bone shaking, teeth rattling adventure for the next five hours.
With time to burn, I returned to the Croydon Café/Supermarket/Servo for a cup of tea, a toilet stop, said goodbye to Jodie and Sally and received a job offer. Jodie the owner assured me that I could turn up any time and I could be gainfully employed (!) for as long as I wanted to stay. She gave me the best compliment "you look like our kind of girl". What could I say? After purchasing my staff tee shirt, I now have to go back to Croydon.
PS they also need workers in Julia Creek.
Pre dawn in Croydon.
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