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We had planned to visit the Undara Lava Tubes today however learnt that visits to the site were by guided tour only. The earliest we were able to book a tour was tomorrow morning which meant that we had a day up our sleeve to explore the area. We chose to take a day trip to a tiny town called Einasleigh. We had an amazing day.
The drive to Einasleigh was 77km and predominately along dirt road through drought-stricken cattle country. We came across a storage dam filled with lillies which was a welcomed sight amongst the otherwise barren landscape. Termite mounds were in their thousands within the paddocks and our curiosity got the better of us such that we felt the need to knock a couple over to see what they were like inside. We found them to be much harder than expected and the Hilux made an awful thud as it made contact with the mounds. With that done and our curiosity satisfied, we continued on our way.
We arrived at Einasleigh to find a tiny town with what we thought was not much but a kickass country pub and lovely locals. We were awe-stricken when we then came across Copperfield Gorge, just down the road - the gorge was beautiful. We enjoyed a picnic lunch while dangling our legs over the ledge of the gorge. We found two medium-sized freshwater crocs in the water below, along with two babies. Over 20 minutes, I saw one of the babies be slowly surrounded surrounded by 8 large sooty grunters before one finally had a go at the little croc and he swam away. I would have loved to have captured the event on film.
In our time up north, the locals have kept telling me that freshwater crocs are not to be feared. As a way to cure myself of this fear, I decided to jump in for a swim while Dougie flicked a lure. I proceeded to have a go at luring and the last thing you want whilst doing so in your bikini's is a tour bus of 25 people to show up. As you can imagine, at this time of year these buses are filled with grey nomads and a couple of men threw comments who obviously haven't seen a youngen in a bikini for quite some time - awkward!!
While enjoying a beer at the pub, a local bloke told us of Kidston Dam and recommended it for fishing and a nice place to kayak. Apparently the river that enters the dam has high rock faces on either side making it unique. We shall return to enjoy this at another time.
We travelled back to Mount Surprise feeling that our day was well spent and feeling keen to discover what the Lava Tubes would have to offer tomorrow.
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