The road to Normanton was not bad, apart from a few single lane sections. We arrived at Normanton and got our free camp permit at the information centre and then went to check it out. We were quite disappointed as it was about 1.5kms from the centre of town and it was VERY dusty!
We drove back to the township and went to look at the railway station. We saw that there was a ‘Billy Tea and Damper” excursion the next day. We saw a bloke who looked like he worked there and asked how we booked tickets. He wrote our name and phone number on his hand and said we were good. (Sure enough it was in the system when we arrived the next day.)
There was a heritage listed Westpac building in the main street - quite lovely.
There was also a replica of the largest crocodile caught in the area - we thought they used a bit of license there as it was incredibly big compared to the photo next to it.
We parked our van in the small amount of available shade at the camp area and walked to the town. We walked over the Norman River bridge looking for crocodiles, but none came to the surface. We did a bit of a pub crawl and then walked back to settle in for the evening.
We got up early the next morning to go on our train trip. It was quite fun and the commentary was good. I enjoyed the billy tea and scones and jam and cream too at a stop off called Clarina on the way back. The train slowed down at a marker for the height of the great flood in 1974. Randall, ever the sceptic couldn't believe it was true.
Some of the road trains are amazing here. This one pulled up in the main street at Normanton!
We left Normanton after two days and headed the last 70 kms to Karumba on the Gulf of Carpentaria. We had checked on Wiki Camps for the best place to stay and we had picked two that seemed alright. As we got in early we had time to look around and discounted both of them and settled on one right next to the Karumba Lodge Hotel. It was as close to the water as you could get and there was no dust at all - we were on a concrete slab! We hooked up to power and enjoyed the air con, as it was certainly quite warm. We decided to stay three nights here and really enjoyed it. The pub was great. One night we ordered lamb shanks and no sooner had we sat down with a drink than they called out our number! It was very tasty.
It was very hot, and as swimming is not recommended in the gulf, unless you want to be eaten by crocodiles, we decided to walk to the swimming pool. It was lovely and refreshing, but they didn't have any shaded areas to sit, which was a bit disappointing, so we had a swim and walked back to camp.
We did a 3.8 kilometre walk to Karumba Point one morning. Lucky we left early because it was quite hot by the time we got back.
We booked a Gulf Sunset and Croc Spotting Cruise, so we could get out on the water. It was a bit corny, run by a couple and one other young girl. It so reminded us of a cruise we did 7 years ago on the Victoria River in the Northern Territory. (http://debandrandall.blogspot.com.au/2010/08/heading-west.html) Glenn drove the boat and Alison did the talking, although neither of us were confident of her knowledge. She threw a bit of meat to attract some birds, we saw a crocodile way in the distance! They even played a joke on a local by putting two cans of beer in his fish pot and giggled about what he would think when he found them. The snacks were dips and crackers and carrot and celery, a bowl of prawns that I didn’t accept, (most people know I hate seafood) and the sweets was one Timtam biscuit. We did get a couple of glasses of cask wine so that was ok I guess!! Oh, and as we got off they handed us a glow stick!!
The sunset was beautiful though, and I took it all in to remember, as I guess it will be a while before we get up there again.
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