Day 32 Wednesday 23rd July
Cobbold Gorge to Black River (near Townsville- 400 km)

We packed up very reluctantly, this has been such a great camping spot!
As per usual there were the usual animals to contend with on the road out.....mainly cattle and 'Roos.
We travelled back the way we had come, as far as Forsayth and then headed east to Einasleigh. Our map showed this as a dirt road, but most of it was now sealed, so it was a good drive. The scenery was also quite spectacular in places.
When we were on our cruise in the Kimberley earlier this year, we met a couple, (Debra & Cliff), from Einasleigh, who invited anyone who was in the area to look them up...."just ask at the pub", they said. So we did, and weren't they surprised to see us!!! We declined a cuppa because we had already stopped for our coffee by the picturesque Copperfeld Gorge, just outside the town. Einasleigh had a lovely new bridge over the river, (pictured), designed to enable vehicles to cross even in the wet season; but photos in the pub showed that two years ago the water rose to the level of the bridge! Since then, though, they have had very little rain and farmers are struggling, including Cliff, who has a property about an hour out of town.
We continued on our way and came to a lovely crossing of the Einasleigh river where we stopped for an early lunch. This area would be great as a bush camp, and if we come back this way, we would certainly consider making camp here.
Our next stop was at 'The Lynd' for fuel. This roadhouse is situated near a 4-way junction, with roads going to Hughenden,(south), Charters Towers,(south east), and Mt Garnet,(northeast). We had come in from the north west. We took the road to Charters Towers, (Kennedy Development Road), until we needed to turn east on the Hervey Range road to head for Townsville. The Kennedy Development Road is sealed, but in some places only single lane. Hence there are signs for numerous 'call points' along the way where road trains must use their UHF radios to indicate the direction in which they are travelling and the call point number. Fortunately because we also have a UHF radio we can hear these call outs and move out of the way!!! There were lots of road works along this route, but we didn't get held up too much since there wasn't much traffic!
We stopped a few more times just to stretch our legs, and reached our destination for the day at around 4pm. We have stayed in this Black River Stadium campground once before, four years ago. Since then it has 'grown' in size and become much more popular. It also looked like the rodeo stadium had diminished in size, but I will be able to check that when I get home and compare photos!
We paid for an unpowered site, which meant that we had lots of space, with no other campers nearby, as opposed to the caravan area which was quite crowded. It was an overcast evening and we were hoping that it wouldn't rain!