July 18-20 Croydon - Outback FNQ

Croydon was recommended to us by a few people that we had met along the way of our travels. "Nice caravan park" and "nice town" we were told. We were not disappointed. We enjoyed exploring the town over a couple of days.

Welcome to Croydon

Princess has a toilet stop at an old dunny

An old miner's cottage

Princess takes us for a tour

Impressive metal sculptures throughout the town

"True Blue" was the name of one of the most prolific gold mines and is now used for the Information Centre

Another impressive metal sculpture

and the other side of it

...and another.

The Croydon Caravan Park

An old tin house with Chinese influenced design

Judith is impressed by the artistic effect of the recycled tin roof

Lake Belmore nearby to Croydon, supplying water to the town as well as a place to swim and play

Enjoying the facilities at Lake Belmore

Picturesque Lake Belmore

After we'd spent 2 days exploring the town we decided to pack up and move on. We were all ready to drive off when our neighbours at the park told us about the free train ride and free dinner that evening. The Gulflander train that runs between Normanton and Croydon (150kms) celebrated it's 120th anniversary and Queensland Rail decided to put on the free trip and dinner. So we unhitched and happily stayed for another day. We're so glad we did. The train trip and the dinner was fantastic. It was so good to see this little town come alive. Croydon is the smallest shire in Queensland with only 300 residents. The town itself has only 150 people. About 400-500 people turned out for the celebrations. We felt very privileged to be a part of it.

Here comes the Gulflander train. We caught the second train after the first one was packed out

 We're on board in the first carriage in the front seat.

The second train was full as well

The old narrow gauge track winding through the outback

We stopped at the Golden Gate siding about 10km out of Croydon

Everyone out and we enjoyed a great night of dinner and entertainment - all in the middle of the the outback

The crowds gather from 2 train loads and another bunch by bus and car. There was only one train home though. And all the oldies lined up early to make sure they got on board before others. But it wasn't all bad, as we caught a bus home, driven by none other than the mayor of Croydon.

The cake to celebrate the 120th anniversary of the continuous operation of the Gulflander train.
The meal was not your expected snag in a "slice of bread". It was a great feed of steak, fish, spaghetti,  plenty of salads and cake or trifle for dessert.

We checked the next day for any more surprises in Croydon. Nothing on so we packed again and left.