4 June 2017 - Normanton to Croydon and around Croydon

What weather we have had and today was no exception, a 28 degree day for the 167 km drive from Normanton to Croydon.  Today we passed through quite heavily wooded countryside with no Savannah grasslands. We passed by the railway line from time to time and stopped at the Black Bull Siding. 

040617 Typical countryside along the Savannah Way

040617 Black Bull Siding

040617 Black Bull Siding

It was lunchtime as we arrived in Croydon and decided to stop there.  When we saw the caravan park we were glad we did.  Croydon has a population of around 320, a far cry from the gold rush days of the late 1890's when the population reached 7000 and there were 26 pubs.  Today there is only one pub.

040617 The road into Croydon

040617 Croydon's Club Hotel

040617 Croydon's train station, eastern terminus
for the "Gulflander"

040617 Croydon Caravan Par, very nice.
Below is a Trumpet Tree (Tabebuia)

After lunch we headed out to Lake Belmore about 4 km from town.  On the way we came across Diehm's Lookout, which overlooked Croydon.

040617 Self explanatory - Croydon in the background

040617 Croydon from Diehm's Lookout

040617 Video from Diehm's Lookout

040617 Lake Belmore, Croydon's water supply

040617 More of Lake Belmore

Croydon seems to be a town which in which the locals take a tremendous amount of pride. So it was with the heritage area in the town, which we visited.  All the museums are free.  It would take a good two days to do them justice.

040617 The Police Sergeant's Residence

0407617  The police station

0740617 The Courthouse

040617 Inside the Courthouse

040617 The Croydon Town Hall

040617 Inside the Croydon Town Hall

040617 Checking out the cells at the police station at Croydon

040617 Inside the gaol's cell

040617 At the Information Centre, a 5 head stamp mill
 with a 3m fly wheel and portable steam engine in the background

040617 Ore bucket and poppet head
at the information Centre

040617 Croydon's original Bank of New South Wales

040617 Safe storage at the bank

040617 Night Pans - only a little bit used

040617 More beautiful than the previous picture.
Taken near Lake Belmore