Mtsurprisegems.com.au
Title
Mt Surprise Gems And Fossicking - Topaz And Zircon At O'Brien's Creek North Queensland
Description
Mt Surprise is an historic railway town on the Cairns to Forsayth Railway, and has a population of 65 people. It is at the crossroads for those travelling between Cairns, Karumba and Townsville being 319km southwest of Cairns, 375km northwest of Townsville, and 485km east of Karumba on the Gulf of Carpentaria.
The Mt Surprise area comprises open forest with pockets of black ti tree and vine thickets. It is rich with protected species of flora and fauna, many of which are listed as rare or endangered. The Forty Mile Scrub National Park, to the east, is one of the largest vine thickets in Australia. The thicket includes bottle trees and giant fig trees as well as possums, gliders, wallabies and a large number of birds usually associated with rainforests. A stand of the rare "Mt Surprise Blue" Cycad is found to the north of the township.
Numerous lizards and reptiles abound, including frilled-neck lizards, and approximately 130 species of birds, including migratory birds, can be found in the area at various times of the year (bird list). The Mt Surprise area also has more species of mammal than any other in Australia, including a large population of the Rufous Bettong rat kangaroo, and 14 bat species, many of them rare cave-dwellers, are found in and around the Undara Lava Tubes.
