We pulled into the large grassed area and stopped to find out where to go to book in. One of the vanners came over to tell us to pick a spot, as the owner would be back soon. We picked our spot and set up. We chose to go unpowered, as we had been on power at Karumba. Not that a powered site was going to break the bank. Unpowered was only $12 and powered $17. Good stuff.

Mount Surprise is a sweet group of houses and caravan parks. I won’t call it a town, as there are no real shops to speak of.   (The van park where we stayed had the use basic item for sale.) I might have been missing something, as there seemed to be several van parks and accommodation mixed with the houses. I just couldn’t see what everyone else saw. It seemed the group of houses are the only things holding the place together.

It could have been the Gem fossicking in the area. You could go to the gem shop where you could buy a bucket of dirt and shake it there. Or you could buy all the things you need and go out to the allocated ground to fossick. I gave it a miss. Standing in the hot sun shaking dirt all day isn’t my thing. What would I do with the gems anyway? I am not silly enough to think I would find anything of value. The shop probably adds the cutoffs (as they make jewelry) to the dirt and people think they are finding something. Yes I know I am being mean but I would like to think I am being realistic.

The campsite was lovely, very basic, being it was a large big grass area with some old facilities. It had a lovely relaxed feel to it. The birds agreed and came in every night to munch on the grass.