Mount Surprise
About 92 km east of Georgetown, towards Cairns,
on the Savannah Way, Mount Surprise is the gateway to the O'Briens Creek
Gemfields, world famous for its gem quality topaz.
I was a little embarrassed when Rod deliberately
parked the Prado and van in front of a Road Train parked opposite a roadhouse
at Mount Surprise... "to get a photo of the two rigs together"as
he put it!.
The only thing they have in common is 6 cylinders.
Some statistics to ponder:
The Toyota (Prado), as kitted out for the trip,
has four wheels on the ground and two spares....the cost of each...about
$280.
It has a main fuel tank of 90 litres and an auxiliary
tank of some 69 litres.
Its overall length is 4.75 metres, its tare weight
is about 1.7 tonne and its gross vehicle mass is about 2.7 tonne. "It
currently carries one bullock and one old cow".
The powerplant under the bonnet is a six cylinder
toyota petrol engine with a maximum power output of 154 kilowatts. It
has a manual transmission with 5 forward gears.
Its top speed when towing...well Rod has been reasonably
well behaved to date...say about 120 kilometres per hour. Queensland State
limit is 100 kilometres...but 90 in Western Australia?
...On the other hand, compare the road train...
It's a Volvo, it has 62 tyres on the ground and
carries 10 spares....the average cost of each being in the vicinity of
$500. The front tyres (steering) on the prime mover alone cost about $750
a piece.
The prime mover has a fuel capacity of 2000 litres
and it carries an extra 800 litres in a belly tank on the first trailer.
Average fuel consumption is about 1 litre per one kilometre.
Its overall length is about 51.5 metres, its tare
weight is about 62 tonne and gross vehicle mass in the vicinity of 140
tonne. It has the capacity to carry around 300 weaner calves or 144 fat
cows or 120 bullocks.
The powerplant under the bonnet is a six cylinder
cummins diesel with a maximum power output of over 4200 kilowatts (565
horsepower). It has a manual transmission with 14 forward gears.
Its top speed when towing is 90 kilometres per
hour...the motor is governed, and the speed is the legal limit for road
trains, imposed by the State of Queensland.
A special thanks to Don Condon (insert above) who
owns the real rig, aptly named "the long yard" and so kindly
provided an insight into road trains. Don has been a livestock transporter,
operating out of Charters Towers, for the last 28 years. And he was a
great bloke to chat with.
Incidentally, if you've ever laid in bed dreaming
about owning a road train...it will set you back somewhere in the vicinity
of $700-$750,000 all up. The prime mover (the bit with the engine) will
cost you at least $300,000 to start with.
O'Briens Creek Gemfield - Topaz Hunting
We camped at Mount Surprise Station's designated
camping area, adjacent to O'Briens Creek Gemfield and did some serious
digging for Topaz (well Rod dug...and I sieved...a bit!
We stayed two days...beating the crows up each
morning...and arriving at the site we had selected almost punctually at
7:00 am...then digging and sieving frenetically for several hours each
day.
For our efforts we secured a dozen or so facetable
stones, mainly clear...and a couple of pieces which were pale blue. Not
bad for the amount of material we (Rod) had moved. We also found a couple
of smoky quartz crystals.
On the day of our departure, we surrendered the
huge hole we had created to an elderly couple who had arrived on the field
a couple of hours before and appeared unlikely of meeting with much success
without such divine intervention!
Our campsite was idyllic, located on the banks
of a picturesque creek studded with numerous granite outcrops and a permanent
waterhole.
It was reasonably warm while we were there and
the waterhole was so inviting that we donned our togs and ventured in
for a dip....well Rod did...I chickened out...getting no further than
the waters edge.
Fingerlings, baby barrumundi presumably, started
nibbling at my toes and fingers as I ventured in...so I chickened out.
Rod was more adventurous, however, and swum with the little critters.
Since he is still with us, in all his bulk, I can
only deduce that the fish were not pirahna's...and there were no crocs
OR if there were, they were more discerning about their diet.
Some of the topaz, and bits of smoky quartz, found
at O'Briens Creek on day one...if you look hard, you will see that one
or two pieces have a bluish tinge of colour. |
