Georgetown (wikipedia) is a town on the Etheridge River in Far North Queensland, Australia. The Gulf Developmental Road passes through the town, linking Cairns – 412 kilometres (256 mi) to the east – and Normanton – 301 kilometres (187 mi) to the west. Georgetown is the administrative headquarters of the Shire of Etheridge, a local government area encompassing the nearby settlements of Mount Surprise, Forsayth and Einasleigh. At the 2006 census, Georgetown had a population of 254. The Etheridge River was the site of a gold rush in the 1870s; the town of Georgetown was established on the site of the diggings. Originally known by the name Etheridge, the town’s name was changed in 1871 to honour an early gold commissioner, Howard St George. Georgetown Post Office opened on 15 January 1872. By 1900 grazing had replaced gold mining as the region’s primary source of income. Georgetown is one of the real locations mentioned several times in the novel “A Town Like Alice” by Nevil Shute.

11^th July Friday

The drive to Georgetown was pretty much uneventful.  The usual roadkill and live stock on the road and the odd kangaroo hopping over the road in front of you.  Some of the road is strip road and not very well maintained.  In fact, in goes right into town.  I must say that the roads in Queensland are probably the worst that we have had so far.  We stopped in a little town called Croydon which boasts the oldest store in Australia.  All of these little towns have their little boast about something and it’s quite charming.  We love to stop and visit.  Georgetown is tiny, not much here at all but it’s a pretty little place.  Ralph is going to go fossicking for thunder eggs and agate.  The place he is going to is called Agate creek and it is about 110kms from the caravan park.  Hugo and I will stay here and I will try my hand at painting again.

12^th July Saturday

Ralph took off early this morning to do his rock finding mission (gems, I am told).  Hugo and me stayed indoors, did washing and did some painting and catching up on housework etc.  There are 2 frog mouth owls nesting in the tree above our caravan.  It’s hard to pick them because they look just like the branches and you can hardly see them.  Actually, they are not owls, they are frog mouth birds who are nocturnal.  Ralphie came back with a gazzilion rocks which  will travel home with us.  He was looking for agate and thunder eggs and he left behind a soft brown agate in one of the creek beds (ha, ha). Tomorrow, not lots to do.  There is the gorge and the lava tunnels but with Hugo with us it’s not easy to do.  No probs, we will come back another time and we know that we can’t see everything.  We are seeing so much as it is.  This is a nice caravan park, some grass, some sand, dry and not a lot of water to go around.  It is the outback and it is dry and it is awesome and so diverse. I have had my shower but have to wash my feet before I go to bed because it so sandy (that is what wet wipes are for). Only 4 abc channels here so we are lucky that we have our movies.  We can hear the cane toads at night and they are so disgusting to listen to, wish I could find a poison for them all.

13^th July Sunday

Today is our last day in Georgetown.  We leave for Atherton in the morning and we will spend a week there.  Today we did a little tour of the town and there isn’t really much to see.  There is the gorge and the lava tubes but that is going to have to wait for another time.  We visited the cemetery and the graves there are so sad.  A lot of them in the 1880’s and so many young children and babies. Life was tough then. So, I will say hello again from Atherton. xxxxx