ISN’T WORTH HAVING A CRACK

TOWNSVILLE stock and station agent Darroll Crouch is grumpy and you can’t blame him. He cracked the windscreen on his 2018 Prado last week and was advised that a new windscreen would have to come from Tokyo and that it would have to be fitted at a Toyota dealership. Question: Where would you be if you were out at Lawn Hill or out at Burketown and you needed a new windscreen for your Prado? Answer: Up Crapanzola Creek in a barbed wire canoe without a paddle, that’s where.

PIES WITH BITE

ALL you soothsayers out there who read all sorts of things into the comings and goings of ants I have a query for you. Townsville couple Bruce “Rock Star” and Kerry Rockemer pulled into the Cardwell picnic spot on the town’s southern outskirts only to be besieged by green tree ants ( Oecophylla smaragdina, for all you geeky scientific types). They were everywhere. These are the same ants bush tucker people say are good to eat. And when crushed and mixed with water they make a refreshing drink. But, what are they doing in such numbers at Cardwell? Perhaps Robert Jesse the Cardwell pieman can turn them into green ant pies? That’d be a bush tucker feast we could really get our teeth into. Perhaps it is all to do with a wet winter and these normally arboreal ants are scrambling around the picnic spot, picking up crumbs to take back to their nests in the trees?

CAMP SIGHTS

I MENTIONED the Little River in the Gulf Country last week and how people started using the low causeway as a camping spot after the new bridge was built. People who rolled their swags out on the cement causeway realised there were big crocs in the Little River and that camping there was akin to bedding down in the middle of a lion park. Mac Carter from Bushland Beach was raised on Inorunie Station on the Little River. He sent me this interesting letter this week. But, before we start I’d just like to point out that Glenn Shorrock’s Little River Band ( Lonesome Loser, Cool Change, Help is on its Way) was not named after the Little River at Croydon. It was named after the Little River in Victoria.

Here is what Mac had to say: “Upon reading the segment, 23rd June, I felt compelled to write to you with respect to the Little River reference.

In another life, our family were the custodians of Inorunie Station, through which the Little River runs. In those days, the bitumen ended at the Gilbert River and the dirt section from the Gilbert to Normanton was kept in fairly good condition most of the time. Inorunie Station, during the time of our family’s custodianship, was a large aggregation of pastoral leases which added up to an almost unmanageable size of about 600 square miles ( 1555sq km). The eastern boundary of the property started at about where Venture Creek crosses the highway and the ‘ western’ boundary was at about where the Richmond Road turns off ( to the south about 30km east of Croydon).

It is my understanding that the original Inorunie that we knew has been subdivided into several smaller parcels of land.

Your Talk of the North segment brought back memories; wild eyed scrubbers disappearing through the lancewood and quinine scrub, tracking and attempting to wheel same over limestone ridges, always on un- shod horses, tough stockmen, poddys ................

However, I digress. Be assured, the low causeway at the Little River is home not only to an assortment of large scaly bad tempered lizards, but also home to all types of cranky, unhappy snakes of all shapes, sizes, and colours. These snakes have been known to take up residence in sleeping bags and swags while also being occupied by their sleeping occupants. I am sure that you will agree that is not an ideal situation.

Another reason potential campers should be wary of the low causeway at Little River is the fact that I have seen with my own eyes water over the high bridge, railings and all. Little River heads many miles upstream of the Highway bridge. It contains many large waterholes, all with resident scaly lizards and the aforementioned snake population. It continues for many more miles downstream, passes close to the homestead and outbuildings, with many more large waterholes all along its route.

It has been said by many observers that Inorunie Station is one of the best watered blocks in the Gulf, thanks to the Little River, Maitland Creek and several other natural watercourses.

Also enjoyed the reference to the Club Hotel at Croydon, have been known to partake of a soft drink or three on a hot day at the Croydon Pub.”