Planet Earth Adventures – Mt Surprise

Review By Alison Huth

When we arrived there was a sign by the entrance that said, go in, find a site and I’ll come and see
you around 5pm – Russell. Well, Ok, that’s what we did.

We drove around the park and eventually decided which site we wanted so we pulled up into it, found
the site was level which is always good, and peacefully set up. We had some lunch, had a wander
around the park, which isn’t big, found the amenities, wondered what a building that looked like a
carriage was, and where the café we have heard about was.

We took ourselves off for a short walk in Mt Surprise and called into the pub to see what it was like.
Russell came to see us while we were out, so we missed out on meeting him on our arrival day. He
came to see us after he had closed the café on the second day.

Russell’s creation of this park is not your usual straightforward buy the land and create a caravan
park. He had been a truck driver based in Townsville who had to tow things to the Mt Surprise Gold
Mine. He really liked Mt Surprise and decided to sell his truck (in 1989) and set up his own business
in Mt Surprise. The short version is that 36 or more years ago Russell bought the land and
established his own business – a Mechanical Workshop.

Well, all things were going OK until he had a couple of accidents that were not very kind to him. So,
he made the decision to re-invent himself and closed the workshop. He quite liked to cook, and, as he
already had the land he set up a kitchen and opened the park up to backpackers. It seemed to be a
problem when Caravanners were ready for bed before midnight and Backpackers liked to continue
playing music, talking, yelling, singing until 4am! So, opening up to the Backpackers was a bonus for
them and the other parks in the area.

During the time of the Backpackers, Russell was presenting something very special – Snake Shows.
He doesn’t do them now, it was just a Backpackers treat.

Somewhere along the line the Backpackers dropped off and the number of grey nomads on the road
increased. But Russell had moved on to providing a ‘home’ to WWOOFers.

I hadn’t heard of them before so looked it up. WWOOFers are volunteers who help their hosts out for
so many hours a day to a max of 38 hours over 7 days. In exchange for that they get free
accommodation and food. Russell was very happy with this as he felt that the effort he put in was
equalled by the effort the WWOOFers put in because they were often working for organic farms in the
area, while still helping him.

Then COVID hit, the WWOOFers disappeared and that’s when his park became a Caravan Park.

Today this very peaceful park is open from Easter until the beginning of October because that’s the
length of the tourist season in Far North Qld. After that it becomes way too hot.

The Café is open nearly every day, sometimes a lack of staff may mean it stays closed. But, that’s not
common. We can confirm that his homemade pies and vanilla slices are excellent and we will happily
eat them again!

One of the great features here is how green he keeps his grass, it’s not easy in this part of Oz. But, he
has bore water from an underground lake, and I can assure you it is very drinkable. Nearly every day
there are two or three sprinklers going where they can without wetting the guests! The Carriage on
site is used as staff accommodation when needed.

So, staying at Russell’s park was a pleasure. It’s not a busy area, but it was a pleasure to visit. And
we would happily go back next time we are in the area.