Adels Grove

We were sorry to leave Karumba, it’s a very relaxing town but we headed south and then west to overnight at Gregory Downs (not much there, a pub and a couple of phone boxes) and this morning drove further west to Lawn Hill National Park - we are staying at Adels Grove, a real oasis with palm trees, bamboo and lush foliage. The Lawn Hill Creek runs through this area - it’s a pretty wide creek - and as it’s school holidays the place is full of school kids jumping and splashing in the creek. They aren’t the only ones, see picture, although this one was just having a sun bath. Not to worry, it’s a freshie and they don’t bite, or so the story goes, unless antagonized. There isn’t a mobile phone signal here and internet access at $5 a pop so don’t expect to hear much from us for while - we are here for at least 4 days.

Karumba.2

A day in the life of a grey nomad at Karumba -

lunch of freshly caught Gulf prawns, they are some of the best we have ever tasted and at $15 per kg ...

boat trip on the River Norman for a bit of fishing

late afternoon entertainment in the caravan park, music and bush poetry by John Bruce and Sue.

Gone Fishin'

We have been in Karumba for a couple of days, local population here 600, but at this time of the year the town’s 3 caravan parks are chockers with people from down south escaping to warmer weather and the fishing for which Karumba is renowned - many bring their boats with them, we counted at least 60 boat trailers parked at the boat ramp.

Karumba is the centre of the Gulf’s prawning and barramundi (which interestingly in the local Aboriginal dialect means “big scale”) industries. At present the water is a bit cold for catching barra, they like it about 32 degrees. Yesterday we went out on a charter and were happy to both get some good sized blue salmon. We also caught quite a few grunter but they were a bit below size and had to go back. They are very strict with size and bag limits here which is good news. We now have enough fish on ice to keep us fed for quite a few days.

Normanton.2

There is a cute little 60 year old rail car that runs between Normanton and Croydon and has been doing so for the past 120 years. It is called the “Gulflander”. The line originated when in 1885 gold was found at Croydon - a gold rush ensued and Croydon became a rich booming gold mining centre and a way was needed to transport the gold to the nearest port of Normanton.

An engineer who had worked as a surveyor in the area came up with the idea of using steel rails and sleepers which were laid flat on the ground so that the line wouldn’t be destroyed by the floods which are a regular event in the area. The flood waters run over the top of the track and when the waters recede the track is still there. Some 120 years later the train is still providing a weekly QR service running on the original tracks between the two towns.

Today we had a ride on the Gulflander, a 2 hour trip to Critters Camp and back.

On Wednesday we head for Karumba.

Normanton

We had a stop over in Cloncurry and then travelled north to Normanton, the landscape and weather becoming more tropical, we are almost to the Gulf of Carpentaria - Burke & Wills came this way on their ill fated expedition. We plan to stay here for a week.

They have had a lot of rain up this way, there are big pools on the side of the road and the country and the cattle it supports are looking good.

Normanton is in celebratory mood at the moment, last night a street parade with a pink theme for cancer research, today the local show and tomorrow the rodeo begins. The locals are in holiday mode with limited shop opening times and schools closed.

At the show grounds there was an abundance of big hats, Levis and RM Williams boots - almost an uniform for Mums and Dads and kids of all ages. We spent some time watching the ring events, the cattle drafting in particular, there was some excellent horsemanship on display. The flower display was interesting in its lack of exhibits, my photo is of all the entries, it’s obvious that gardening isn’t a popular pastime here, I am sure the climate doesn’t help, but horses and riding, now that’s another thing!

Winton

This year I celebrated my birthday in Winton, famous as being the place where Banjo Paterson first performed the song Waltzing Matilda, plus connections with early Qantas. It was a quiet party, but lovely to hear from friends and get emails etc. Last year we were in Moree at this time of year - here are some before and after photos!

Longreach

The Qantas Founders Museum and Stockman’s Hall of Fame are two important tourists sites in Longreach and we spent nearly a full day in each, they are both well laid out with plenty to enjoy.

As you probably know Qantas was formed in the Outback, in Longreach and Winton. The museum is filled with interesting items and photos and stories from time past. We did a tour of a 747 which has sections replaced with perspex so that we could look into the workings of the plane. Our excellent guide provided us with interesting information and inside stories, we saw where the black box lives, went into the cargo bay, flight deck etc etc.

The Stockman’s Hall of Fame is another interesting place to visit with focus on the drovers, cattle men, the pioneers and people of the region and the hardships they faced with multi media presentations and nostalgia. This is boom or bust country, the floods have come and gone and 2010 is good year for the country. Longreach is on the Tropic of Capricorn and a popular place to be a this time of the year, grey nomads are thick on the ground. The caravan park we stayed in has over 300 sites and was three quarters full! Next stop is Winton.

PS - the circus at Barcaldine was great, we were a bit worried about the animal content but they all looked healthy and well looked after. It was a full house, apparently well attended by locals who came from outlying stations as well as from the township. Bad luck that I sat behind the biggest man in town, and I mean BIG, who was also wearing the biggest hat - I wasn't brave enough to ask him to take it off and ended up having to peer around him.