Mount Surprise is a railway town on the old Cairns to Forsayth line and is the first town within the Gulf Savannah region encountered by visitors approaching from the east.

It is a centre for gem fossicking with quantities of topaz, quartz, spinal, garnet, cairngorm and aquamarine to be found.

Mount Surprise sits on the edge of the immense Undara lava field created by ancient volcanic eruptions in the McBride Plateau.

The surrounding country is flat, wooded Savannah grassland, with isolated hills.