Aug 29 ... Karumba

What a wonderful day ... one of the highlights of our trip.

First thing this morning we continued our tour of Normanton. Just at the end of our street there is a good view of the wetlands area in which the magpie geese, brolgas and jabirus congregate. We spent a few minutes looking at these birds before driving out to the Railway Station where the Gulflander train is kept. This old train started its route in 1891 to bring gold from Croydon to Normanton for shipping south. These days it only runs on a Wednesday down to Croydon and returns on a Thursday, and, much to Garry's disappointment, those times were not suitable for us. He went off to investigate the station more fully while I phoned Mum.

The Normanton Railway station

We had only been chatting for a few minutes when I had to put Mum on hold as two huge brolgas glided down and landed in front of the car. For me these birds, together with the jabiru, epitomize the tropical north. I think they are really beautiful and I always get a thrill when I see them. They are so big and stately and it is unusual, at least on this trip, for us to see them up close.

After some time just watching the antics of these two who were prancing and flapping, obviously one trying to impress the other, and about 100 photos, we went back to the bakery where we bought just-made fresh cream buns and then drove on to the old wharf area and bridge across the Norman River. This river is full of crocs and it is wide and fast flowing. Most people come to this area for the fishing but it is visually lovely as well. We had our morning coffee on the old bridge then set off for Karumba, a further 70kms away on the Gulf.

The Norman River

The next hour provided us with one amazing sight after another. The whole way there were large waterholes and wetlands, and in and around these were massive clusters of birds. We would easily have seen  in excess of a thousand brolgas !!! Amazing. A lot of them had crowded together under the trees to get out of the sun, and they were EVERYWHERE.

There were lots of other birds as well. A massive flock of white corellas had colonized a tree and they were literally perched on every available twig. Every once in a while something would alarm them and there would be a cloud of white before they settled down again.

In the water and circling overhead were also large numbers of pelicans; and in the waterhole was a couple of jabiru, which now must be called black-necked storks. Apparently some other country has a jabiru also and it took Australia to court and won the right to the name, so we had to change ours.

Pelicans ...

Then, just outside of Karumba we saw some more ponds and these had kangaroos as well as birds happily feeding around them. I am assuming that in the wet the habitat of these birds is much more free-ranging, but in the dry they are forced to congregate around the more "suitable" waterholes. It certainly is a spectacle that has worked in my favour.

Note the beautiful Kingfishers

Even though there may seem to be a lot of photos here, I have done really well given the number I had to choose from ... and then we got to Karumba !!!

This small town has two parts and we firstly went to the township. Here were the usual shops and we stopped at "Raptis", the Prawn Works, to buy some fresh prawns @ $15 / kilo. Garry also priced the oysters for future enjoyment.  Then we drove out to the Point which is another small settlement, still Karumba though, and where we had booked a site.

We got a brilliant spot at the park, in full shade all day with a breeze off the water and across the road from the beach. The park is very tropical with lots of palm trees and we initially booked in for 2 days. Over coffee we decided to extend that to 5 days; then over dinner we decided on 7 days ! But we are leaving our options open. We may even stay longer!!

We waited until late in the afternoon to explore and firstly we went over to the beach. Karumba only has the one tide each day and it was high when we arrived but by 6pm, much of the mud flats had been exposed. While the actual beach is safe, we will not be going for a stroll anywhere near these mud flats as this is serious crocodile country. At the Point there are a number of interesting little shops that sell absolutely EVERYTHING and also a hotel. It has a huge beer garden opening on to the water and the sun sets directly in front. We are actually facing west here and looking across the Gulf towards Arnhem land. I am sure that we will be enjoying views similar to these every night we are here.

Linda at the Gulf

As it started to darken around 7pm we decided to try the "world famous" fish and chip shop, Ash's, and it fully lived up to its reputation. The barra was melt in your mouth and we will be eating a lot more of that while we are here.

This place is just beautiful, and really perfect for a bit of a rest from being on the move most days. I intend to complete a lot of French and Garry assures me he will not be bored. He has been given the job of planning each day so that will keep him busy.
This park is across the road from us and we will be spending quite a bit of time there in the next week I think.

Aug 28th ... Normanton

Andrew and Trish Jackson have decided they need to start on their way home so they will not be coming any further north with us. We were disappointed but fully understand their time constraints, so we said our goodbyes and headed off.

For many hundreds of kilometres we had been seeing these white flowering eucalypts and this area was particularly thick with them. They looked lovely contrasted against the blue sky. As we left town we crossed the Cloncurry River before we turned due north and headed for the Gulf.

White flowering gums

Cloncurry River

We were driving on a "development" road so we were quite pleased that it was mostly two lanes. When it did narrow, the edges were really steep so we were fortunate there was not too much traffic as there is no option but to put two wheels onto the shoulder.  But it was still surprising when we came across an accident that had just happened. The road was two lane, straight, no traffic, it was still early morning and a clear day, but this car with a camper trailer had rolled and it was a mess. Fortunately, the lady driver walked away with only a scratch and the elderly man passenger was injured but not too seriously. Unfortunately, their car and van were completely wrecked. We were the second car on the scene so we helped clear the road of debris and generally did what we could. Garry took some photos which we later handed on to the Police in Normanton. What a terrible way to end your travels, but given the condition of the vehicles, these were two very lucky people.

Most of the debris is out of picture

Our next, and more pleasant, stop was the Burke and Wills Roadhouse where we bought a sandwich for morning tea. Our route today took us across many creeks and rivers and there was often birds of many varieties to look at.

The Dugold River

The jabiru

One area we drove through had the most amazing number of termite mounds. These went for many kilometres in all directions and gave the paddocks the look of a giant cemetery filled with headstones.

As we came north we noticed that it was getting quite hot. Normanton is around 35 degrees most days and we were looking forward to some more tropical weather.
 When we got to town it was pretty quiet as it was a Sunday afternoon, and really warm, so as soon as we had checked in and parked the van, we went for a swim. The pool at the park was huge ... 25 ms, and surprisingly cool and refreshing. It was the first time this trip that we felt the need to sit around in wet swimmers just to be comfortable.
We waited until around 5pm before going out to explore the town.
Normanton has a few icons like, the Purple Pub and the Gulflander train, but these only contribute to what is an old fashion, nice, country, QLD town. The streets are really wide and there are lots of lovely old buildings.There were even the original stone gutters, original lamp posts, the first town well, and "hitching" rails in town. All very interesting and well kept.

Also in town was a life size model of a crocodile shot in 1957 on the bank of the Norman River. It was 8.63 ms long and this replica is supposedly to scale. It is the biggest known crocodile to be killed in Australia and is in the Guinness Book of records. It was estimated that this croc weighed over 2 tons. Recently a crocodile was captured in Indonesia that was weighed at 1 ton and it is reputedly one of the largest in the world ... so Krys would have been something to see and probably deserves a statue!

Krys the crocodile

As well as the wide clean streets and lots of palm trees, there were also many sweet smelling flowers and it was so nice to walk around at dusk when many of them were their most perfumed.

A mango tree

All around Normanton is the flood plain of the river and there is water lying everywhere outside the town area. This seems to be a gathering place for hundreds of magpie geese as well as the odd jabiru and brolga. It was not possible to get too close but I hope this is an indication of good things to come.

Magpie Geese with Jabiru in background.

Aug 27 ... Cloncurry

What a lovely country town this is and the area is bursting with history. The hottest day on record at 53.1 degrees Celsius was recorded here in 1889; the RFDS (Royal Flying Doctor Service) started here; QANTAS started here; Dame Mary Gilmore is buried here; and various explorers passed by here. Often in summer the temperature in Cloncurry is regularly in the forties so I am glad we are visiting in what is technically "Winter".
The town itself has beautiful wide streets and many old buildings with "tropical" architecture. The Courthouse was especially lovely. It was huge and each side was a mirror image of the other, all framed by a beautiful tropical garden.

The Courthouse - left side

Before leaving Mt Isa we did a quick shop for groceries and made sure we got the "good" petrol, then headed east.  Again there were lots of huge trucks on the road but they all drive reasonably and are never a problem.

Ore Truck

The drive to Cloncurry was beautiful as we passed through the Selwyn Ranges. The hills were green and this road is recognized for its natural beauty. 

 En route there were two memorials of importance. The first was to Burke and Wills who camped beside the Corella River on 22nd Jan 1861, and here there was a cairn recognizing their explorations. The second was to two Aboriginal groups of this area, the Kalkadoon and the Mitakoodi, who were the victims of white "justice" and who were basically annihilated in the 1880's.

Burke and Wills Memorial

Aboriginal Memorial

 














It was only just over a 100kms to Cloncurry so we arrived around 1pm and luckily, went straight to the John Flynn Museum as it closed at 3pm.
Both Garry and I have read the biography of the Rev. John Flynn and how he established the Royal Flying Doctors Service. It is a remarkable story and this museum told it very well. There was a lot of information, photos, a film, models and various artefacts of interest ... it was excellent.

Rev. John Flynn

The RFDS will only go to help people in isolated situations. In addition to their actual flights, they have on issue over 3000 medicine chests. In these are a variety of drugs and equipment and everything is numbered so if you contact the RFDS Doctor, he can then tell you to administer No. 5 etc. This must be so reassuring to people in the bush.

The emblem of the RFDS

The Station Medical Chest

The emblem of the RFDS represents three things - medicine, aviation and radio.


Afterwards we checked in to a lovely park and as the Jacksons were with us we chose two sites together. The park had nice views with shady trees and good facilities, but later that night we found out it was also very close to the railway and the shunting yards!

The men and their vans

Getting Organized

Following a very late lunch we went for a drive around town. Our first stop was the Mary Kathleen Park. "Mary Kathleen" had been one of the earliest and biggest uranium mines in Australia but it was closed in 1982 and the whole town and mine site were auctioned off ... absolutely everything was sold. A few of the older and more interesting pieces of machinery are now found in this park in Cloncurry.

Then we drove through and around town ending up at the cemetery but, unfortunately, we were unable to find the burial plot of Dame Mary Gilmore, whose ashes are interred in her husband's grave. From here we drove out to Chinaman's Dam, a lovely tranquil spot about 4kms from town.

Chinamans Dam

Edges of the dam

Following a late dinner, Garry and Andrew watched the final game of the Tri Nations Rugby Union with Aus winning 25 - 20. The Jackson's have a big decision to make now as to whether they will come with us to Normanton or turn for home. Whatever they decide, it has been great having their company as often as we have so far.