In Mossman we decided to be cheap skates and stay in the vacant lot of land next to the Butchers that was posted on Wiki Camps. Not a problem we rang the number and the man was very amenable – said we could stay even said he would wave the normal charge as the toilet facilities posted on Wikicamps were not available yet. 🙂

In the morning we suspected something might be amiss when the butcher parked his ute in the drive way blocking our exit.

Yep the butcher whose lease covers said vacant block wanted to have a chat before we left. Turns out he and his landord are having a disagreement regarding how the owner wants to use the block. After he found out the details of who had authorised our stay he moved his car.

His meat is pretty good we had some marinated lamb chops for tea tonight. I hope they sort something out soon as it could be a win – win. We spent money in the butcher shop that we wouldn’t have if we weren’t staying there.

Travelling from Einasleigh to Ravenshoe we were lucky enough to bump into Linda and Rick, and Jenny and Noel. We knew they were about but hadn’t made any arrangement to meet up so it was really good timing that they were stopped in Mt Garnett as we pulled in.

As we were travelling from the west we practically drove past the millstream falls so had to go in for a look.

Spent the night in the old rail yards at Ravenshoe. Right next to the old rail station and this Steam Loco. Apparently the loco has been restored so that it runs. The local ?? society is in the processing of getting government approval to run it up and down the line.

It was built in the Ipswich workshops. Not sure if Dad recognises the number at all.

Lunch break on the road to Einasleigh and Copperfield Gorge

From Charters Towers we were always going to head north up towards the Lynd Junction. We thought that we might have a look at the undara larva tubes. Even though they are covered by a national park the only access to the tubes or camping is through the resort. Here it is $60 per adult for a guided tour.

We decided to take a little detour through Einasleigh instead and have a look at the Copperfield gorge. Not a large or grandiose feature but still worth a look – and it is volcanic just like the larva tubes. 🙂

This was our first longish section of gravel road – about 70km. For the first time I let some air out of the tyres. It seemed to work a treat a lot of the jarring from the corrugations and stones was taken out.

It is possible to camp the night beside the pub. We chose to camp just down the road. Someone is planning to open a caravan park but in the mean time is letting people stay for a donation. There are no facilities yet. It suited us as we are fully self contained and didn’t feel guilty that we didn’t spend enough at the pub.

“Clifford” in the morning light. This is the paddock where we spent the night.

A couple of uneventful days. We had a look at the Fairburn dam on our way through Emerald. Didn’t realise the road goes across the spillway and the dam wall.

Got quite adventuresome and “free” camped at the BP truck stop in Clermont.

The noise of any trucks during the night was drowned out by the constant hum of the refrigeration unit on the “Roo” box. Neither of which kept me awake.

The photo is of “Clifford” at Belyando crossing road house on our way to Charters Towers.