Day 63
Cloncurry - Burke & Wills Roadhouse - Normanton - Karumba
" city boy taking heart without a second glance, he journeys past the mountains just to watch the brolga dance..."
Ay Karumba this place is full! You can't fit anymore people, caravans, boats and stuff in the one place surely! But, we made it to Gulf Country and it's a pretty spot too. It's just that everyone else thinks so as well and so decide to spend the whole of winter here!
We left our roadside camp at 7.30 this morning ready for another full days driving ahead. We fuelled at Cloncurry and drove out to the airport to see the original Qantas hanger from 1929 that's still in use today.
From there it was retracing our steps for 2ks and turning right to head North up the Burke Developmental Road. Luckily we had a tail wind today and so we cruised along all day getting good mileage. The Disco is in kill mode obviously at present as we took out a Magpie Lark today to add to our recent tally.
The road starts off normal and then once you get half way to the Burke and Wills Roadhouse, it pretty well becomes a single lane highway. Yes you have to share the single bit of bitumen with oncoming traffic - including 4 trailer road trains! Luckily we didn't encounter any. Some sections are being resurfaced and so the cars and vans are covered in dirt again.
We drove into Normanton and noticed instantly the temperature change. It had been gradual all day to that point but once we got out to look at the historic railway station we noticed the 30 degrees was back - and we liked it!
The railway station is a moment captured in time. A beautifully preserved old railway station that is still in faithful service today for the Gulflander train.
We drove on another 75ks to Karumba though some beautiful wetland areas. The stretch between Normanton and Karumba is home to a third of all the migrating bird species in Australia. We must have seen over 30 brolgas - the most I've ever seen before, as well as Jabiru's, pelicans and masses of kites. We also saw 4 Wedgetail Eagles on the road today up close - most by the roadside and 1 flying alongside us.
We got into Karumba just before 5pm. The place is overflowing! We were lucky to get 2 unpowered sites for a couple of nights - and they charge a fortune for it too! Peak season! All the nomads in town.
Tomorrow we're going fishing out in the Gulf. Can't wait! Hopefully we'll bring back enough to feed us all for dinner!