Tuesday...26 July 2011

Up early to catch our train ride. Had to be at the station by 8.30am. Then it was all aboard for a rattly ride down the line 16 miles.  They say it is the only railway line in Australia that still measures the track in miles. Because it is not connected to the rest of Queensland Rail, it was not converted when Australia went metric!

So there we are rattling down the track looking at all manner of interesting stuff. The engine driver pointed out coolibah trees and some other trees that are an Australian native rubber tree. First time I have heard of it. We saw some lovely cows and wallabies, the local variety is called the Agile Wallaby but like the driver said some of them are not so agile when they cross the road!

And apparently there is a bird that is a crane but looks like a brolga,  the difference being that the crane has more red on its head and neck and its legs are pink. So there you go, check out the legs on the birds.........

Along the way we crossed the mighty Normanton river before turning around and coming back to the station. The entire trip there and back was 32 mile or 48 kilometres and took two hours. Good way to use a morning.

This is a picture of a marker beside the track showing the heights of the water during the floods at various times up here. Guess this means the railway line is out of commission occasionally.

Monday...25 July 2011

Ok so we left Cloncurry and headed back towards Normanton but just our luck there was a Winnebago convention AND the local train called the Gulflander was having itself a 150yo birthday,  so the bloody place was over run by train enthusiasts in their Winnebagos or as we like to call them, Win a bag of sh*t. End result, no room at any inn (caravan park) in the entire district. Now there are only two in Normanton and three up the road a bit in Karumba but those darn Winnebagos had the lot occupied! So we spent a night out in the never never back of Burke (literally) in a free camp on Saturday night and came into town on the Sunday, not a big deal, I mean who wants to voluntary share a town with wall to wall Winnebagos????. Our park of choice could fit us in and the site was in a prime position and lovely and big, but sadly we could not access the offered site, wrong turning angles etc. Darn shame really, we really liked that park and it is just over the road from the famous Purple Pub. Never mind the second park in town could fit us easily, just a shame the people running this one do not take lessons from the other ones. Lovely big sites, water and power and about as much soul as a lemon! Park owners have a motel at the front gate and take little or no interest in their park behind it. Sad really, it could be such a nice spot, they started well with a BIG BARRA at the front gate but thats it, no further money spent. We sit in a dirt site with a couple of stunted trees for company. The same trees have reticulation but sadly like most other things in this park it is not working. The trees rely on the kindness of the travelling public for an occasionally drink to keep them alive.
Today we went for a quick trip to Karumba to look around again and to see if maybe any of the three parks in that town had vacancies. Not likely, its right beside the ocean and is in a known fishing spot! We did catch up with people we shared the free camp with on Saturday night. Lovely folk. We walked around their caravan park but sadly there was only a couple of places we would have fitted in and they were all occupied.
Quick trip to the cheapest fuel in the gulf at the local fuel depot then onto Raptis which is this areas fresh fish supplier. Himself picked up a kilo of fresh prawns for $15 and a dozen oysters for $18, which I am told is good prices. Guess what he is having for dinner for the next few nights???? I will settle for a packet of Latina pasta!!!
Tomorrow we are taking the early ride on the famous Gulflander train to a place called Critters about an hour down the track, then they serve morning tea while the train turns around and we come back by lunchtime. Should be a pleasant little trip. Bit different for us. Longtime since Himself got on a train for any reason.......

Friday...6 August

Today we took a day trip up the road to the end of the road! Karumba is a pretty little fishing village at the mouth of the Normanton River and the Gulf of Carpentaria. After the lovely clear blue WA oceans the thing that struck me the most was that the Gulf water is green. We drove all around the area looking at points of interest, but the highlight of the day was a tour of the Barramundi Centre the only place to successfully breed these fish in tanks. The fish they breed are then released into the water systems of Qld. Since being started in 1993, this fish breeding place has put more than half a million fingerlings into the lakes and rivers of Qld.
The crafty barramundi all begin life as boys, they mature first at 2-3years as males then change at 5-7 years into females. Females are capable of multiple spawnings and generally produce 3-6 million eggs per season. Barramundi only have two natural predators, humans and crocodiles!! Generally though, they are the top of the fish food chain and can grow to enormous sizes.  One of the breeding females at the fish farm today was over 20kg. She looked extemely autocratic and the staff say she has real attitude some days. After the life cycle and habits chat and following a video, we moved to the breeding tanks and everyone had the opportunity to climb the ladder to the top of the tank and hand feed the big big fish. Was fun watching them, they have no teeth and literally inhale their food (whole fresh sardines). They make a whoosh as they rush up from the bottom of the tank to take fish out of your hand, splashing the feeder in the process.
The lass that did our tour really knew her stuff, and she was good at getting and keeping our attention with plenty of little male and female fish jokes along the way. Turns out she is a commercial fisher and volunteers at the barramundi centre in her off season. Most interesting visit.
At one stage Karumba was a staff changing post for the commercial Empire Flying Boats en route from Sydney to London.
The town boat ramp was originally built by the RAAF during the war to service and load their Catalina flying boats.
As Karumba is a base for a commercial fishing and prawning fleet, we went to the one major fish market outlet and bought a kilo of fresh cooked banana prawns for $15. No prizes for guessing what himself had for tea tonight...

We are thinking this area is a place we may come back to another time in winter as so far the weather has been wonderfully barmy.

Thursday...5 August

Spent this morning wandering on foot around Normanton town looking at seriously old buildings. The town has good signage all around the place pointing out buildings of interest and then giving a bit of information on each as to why it is of interest.  Even the caravan park is of historical interest. Well not the park itself but inside the park is a hot artesian bore that was put down by the govt in 1896. The flow is 140,000gallons a day of hot water that contains natural fluoride. It is used as the hot water supply for the amenities blocks in the park, and you definately need to add cold water for a shower. 
In a local park is a exact replica of the largest crocodile ever shot (recorded by the Guiness Book ppl), and it was a wee slip of a professional girl shooter who got him in 1957 when crocs were allowed to be killed,  this monster was 8.5m with a girth of 4m and weighed 2 tonnes. It is humongous. It looks like one of those oversized "biggest of" things used to highlight some towns. This is no biggest of, this was real. Scary people, real scary.
We came back to camp and then drove down to the local railway station at the other end of town. Once again it was eye popping on the museum side of things. Wandering around the station was a pair of brolgas who come and go but generally call the station their territory.
Beautiful birds, the wife is a bit timid, but of course the male is confident and happy to wander among the tourists and have his pic taken. The local station volunteers sell 'shares' in Mr & Mrs Peck and the money is donated to the local SES. "Shares" are recorded in a ledger and certificates issued!!  A novel way to support the birds and a local group.

Tomorrow we plan to drive the 70kms to Karumba for the day. Karumba is the base for the prawn fleet for the Gulf of Carpentaria and we are told that prawns are a good price. Naturally himself will buy some if they are affordable.

Wednesday...4 August

Ok so we left the Territory via Threeways Roadhouse, windy as all hell and trying to rain. Travelled on to a wayside stop called Avon Downs (windier than threeways), which turned out to be over the road from the last Police station in the Territory. We made camp and spent the rest of the day watching them pull over most of the vehicles passing that way for general vehicle inspections and RBT (it was a public holiday in the Territory). They missed us as we had already parked for the day.

Next day we headed off down the road all the while being bucketed by an incredibly persistant crosswind, crossing  the border into Queensland and onto Camoweal and Mt Isa, which seems bigger than last time we were there. We did not stop as parking for us was near impossible. I would have liked to stop and top up at the local supermarket but signage was minimal thus making it difficult to be in the right lanes at the right time and parking was hopeless. We decided to continue to Cloncurry. Probably Cloncurry is a fine little place but it was ruined for me by the caravan parks attitude. Maybe another day we will look at the sights of Cloncurry, including memorials to the Mary Kathleen mine which was the first uranium mine in Australia (long closed now). I always remembered that mine during history and geograhpy lessons as a kid, given that it contained my name and my sisters middle name. Twice now I  have driven past the gates and wondered if it would be interesting to visit  Maybe one day when it no longer matters if I glow in the dark, I will stop and have a look!!  Cloncurry was the birthplace of the RFDS, and we all know Rev John Flynn had the vision to start it, his pic is on the $20 note. Perhaps it was after that that even he had the good sense to leave Cloncurry as I do know that he went inland and helped to invent and then teach the use of  the pedal radio which was the first version of todays modern two way radio, and such a help to the station people and outback folk of Australia. My luck he did all that first then went to Cloncurry. One day I will google him but for now it suits my purpose to remind you that Flynn of the Inland was an ordained Presbyterian minister who is remembered for his "Mantle of safety over the Outback" (The Pedal Radio and the RFDS). One for my mob!  Cloncurry was full of oversized cattle trucks, three and four trailer roadtrains and we did eventually find a Woollies supermarket and restock the fresh bread and salad vegies.

Today we travelled north from Cloncurry via the Burke and Wills Roadhouse, not surprisingly in the middle of nowhere and full of stuff no one really wants and with nothing of the stuff one really does want!!! (Food for lunch). Maybe this was meant to be, as we then had lunch in our van made with fresh bread and fresh bananas. Healthy and yummy. Much bouncing and breath holding on my part followed, as the road occasionally became one tiny little bit of bitumen to be shared by all, neccessitating the old one wheel on one wheel off when passing oncoming traffic. We arrived in Normanton which is on the Norman River in the Gulf of Carpentaria. Cattle country, big beef cattle all nice and fat ready for market. We are 70kms from Karumba on the coast and will visit it and maybe Burketown further out if we can handle the weather. We think we may have found THE place to sit out winter but the next day or two will decide.......

Tonite we went out to dinner at the famous Purple Pub. I kid you not! It is called "The Purple Pub" and of course it is painted purple purple purple. Meals were reasonable, service was happy, whats not to like? I did not have to cook or wash up so I vote it OK.

John Flynn Memorial near Threeways Roadhouse

Threeways Roadhouse NT