Thursday 4th August Croydon

  This morning we were up early as Rob and Rick were heading out in Rick’s tinnie hoping to catch something as well as checking the red-claw pots. I was happy to go for an early kayak as once again the day was going to be very warm but we’re not complaining. I headed out in one direction and the boys went off in the opposite direction. I had a lovely kayak exploring areas I hadn’t explored previously. I met the boys in an entrance to a river and they hadn’t had much luck, fishing wise. After two hours of kayaking I headed back to the boat ramp, packed up my gear from the kayak and took our vehicle back to the caravan park. Rob and Rick remained out on the lake fishing and I left the kayak there for them to pick up when they returned. They weren’t too far behind me and came back with a huge (more than 1mt.) barramundi. They were both  happy and caused quite a commotion in the caravan park. The local council workers took photos of the fish to go up on their information board in the tourist information centre. After weighing and measuring the fish the boys took it back out to the lake to scale, clean and cut it up. I decide to visit an archaeological site that was close by and had once been the “China Town” of Croydon, during the gold-mining times. Again this tiny town had done an excellent job with signs and information around the site. I learnt so much from the information provided. It was very warm by now but I decided to head out to the cemetery. Many people had said that it was both a very interesting place but also quite sad. The number of old graves which indicated the difficult times that the population faced especially in the mining years (1880s -1910s) was very evident. People killed in mining accidents, children dying at a young age of illness, drowning, accidents etc. It was so hot I actually cut my visit to the cemetery short. We spent the afternoon in the pool and then had a fabulous meal at the pub, sitting outdoors and watching the sun set.