So my grumpiness started last night. I was feeling quite stressed about not getting enough down time. We didn't get back to our room after dinner til nearly 9pm, and by the time I have to blog and download photos and download and backup the GPS track and get to bed in time to give me enough hours sleep before I wake up at 6am .. well.. yeah .. the lack of evening time is getting to me.
Then this morning I was stressing about the cost of this trip. This trip is more expensive per day than any other holiday I've ever done. And if you start comparing it with something like our Turkey trip which was a similar time period but less expensive, but on that trip we were staying in nice hotels every night, and having restaurant quality meals for every meal, and going into a lot of paid attractions as well as having the driver, guide, coach and international air fares.. well it does make this trip *seem* overpriced. And I found out that I paid $65 dollars for the box of crap they sent me... hrmm!!
The other thing that's been stressing me is the lack of Optus. I had Optus coverage at Ravenshoe. Then we went inland. We got to Undara which was in the middle of nowhere so that was ok (the resort wanted $15/day for wifi so I thought I could wait). But then there was no coverage at Georgetown. And no coverage at Cobbold Gorge (again in the middle of nowhere). Internet there was about $3/day which was reasonable but I thought I'd get internet again the next day so I didn't worry.
Infinity pool at Cobbold Gorge
Double-barred finch at Cobbold Gorge
So today we left Cobbold Gorge, headed back north and then west.
Stopped at a lake outside Georgetown for morning tea which was very pretty.
Cumberland Lagoon near Cumberland Chimney west of Georgetown
Cumberland Lagoon
Cumberland Chimney
Morning tea at Cumberland Lagoon
Water lilies in Cumberland Lagoon
Cumberland Lagoon
Then onto Croydon. Again, no Optus.
Molasses road train in Croydon
Club Hotel
Murals in the Club Hotel
Gulflander mural in the Club Hotel
Croydon General Store mural in the Club Hotel
Croydon General Store. As of 2023 this building no longer exists!
Museum of historical tools in Croydon General Store
Museum of historical artefacts in Croydon General Store
John suggested where we could go for a little walk before we met the rest of the group for lunch. Which was actually quite nice. They've turned a bunch of the old buildings into little museums which were quite interesting. We could have easily spent a couple of hours wandering through them all. But alas. No time.
Mum outside the Croydon Shire Hall
Croydon Shire Hall
Croydon Court House
Me in the Croydon Shire Hall
Photo by Mum
Croydon Court House
Mum outside the former Croydon Police Station
Mum outside the former Croydon Police Station
Marshall and Sons portal steam engine at the Visitor Information Centre
Five head stamp mill used to process ore
So powered out to Ellavale to wait for the Gulflander train. Well, rail motor. As the driver said, a bus on rails, which it really was. The track was mostly all straight so after about five minutes the novelty was somewhat over ;) But really, it was fun. And we didn't hit any kangaroos, even though lots of them jumped in front of us!
Mum and our driver John while waiting for the Gulflander
Gulflander approaching
Gulflander rail car
Gulflander rail car carriage
Gulflander rail car
Interior of the Gulflander rail car
Drivers compartment in the Gulflander
View out the front windows of the Gulflander
View out the front windows of the Gulflander
Garmin satnav so they know where they are
Gulflander at Croydon Station
Then we had a couple of hour trip west. I tried to listen to podcasts, but succumbed to sleepiness and dozed for about half an hour or so. Maybe closer to an hour.
Just before Normanton my phone suddenly bleeped. And I was so excited! Internet! So messaged the sweetie and downloaded internet and it was all good. Ever so briefly. Outside of town it went away, but it never came back at Karumba :(:( I was *soooo* pissed off by the time we arrived at our motel room. You don't understand. I was *counting* on internet at Karumba. So that made me super grumpy.
Anyway, I washed my pants and got changed and redid my hair but I was still grumpy.
View of the Gulf of Carpentaria from Sunset Tavern
So we piled onto the coach for a 200m drive to the water. !? ok whatevs. The boat ride out into the Gulf was quite pleasant. Slow but pleasant. Eventually we ended up at a sandbar in the gulf where we disembarked.
John outside our truck, sorry, coach
Mark and Julianne of Croc and Crab Tours
Our Croc and Crab Tours boat
On the Croc and Crab Tours boat
Mum with crabs on the boat
Disembarking the boat on a sand bar in the Gulf of Carpentaria
Pelicans in the Gulf of Carpentaria
Setting up for dinner
Ok so the last time I had to shell my own crab meat was in Japan in 2009. In a completely controlled environment I found it an awful lot of work. But tonight we were perched on itty bitty seats, with camera bags hanging off the shoulders, and the wind blowing, and our drinks in the sand, and trying to shell crabs and prawns without the whole lot falling off into the sand... well it was all super stressful. In fact I had to take a couple of breaks to compose myself. And even then it didn't really work. After I struggled my way through half a crab and three prawns I took my glass of bubbly and headed off into the sunset to have a moment. Yeap. The most stressful experience of the trip so far. Even though it was really pretty. But. *so stressful*.
*sigh*
Eating dinner on the sand. While the location was beautiful, the experience was super stressful
Sunset over the Gulf of Carpentaria
Dinner on the beach. Not fun.
Sunset over the Gulf of Carpentaria
Sunset over the Gulf of Carpentaria
So I think I'm going to be hungry later, because all I managed to eat tonight was three prawns and half a crab. Not even any fruit for dessert. By the time I was ready to eat something, they were taking everything away. Oh well.
So had another few moments on the boat on the way back. But there were stars. And being on the water was nice.
So was still quite grumpy, but we started talking stars, and the tour leader lent me her phone so I could call the sweetie, then a whole bunch of people headed to the motel pub so I brought the laptop to type up today, and now I'm feeling a whole lot better.
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