Karumba 23-26 August

Before leaving Burketown a quick wash of the vehicles was in order. Some of the red dust had to go. A relatively easy drive today in the order of 200kms. Passing through Normanton hoping to find a supermarket which seems to be non-existent up this end of Aus. A fuel stop, then off to Karumba.

We booked into Karumba Point Tourist Park for a couple of nights after studying the reviews on Wiki camps. We were led to our site by the owner which was a nice touch. He said it would be a nice shady site in the arvo. Looking at the state of the trees we were a bit dubious. The locusts had fairly well stripped the trees of their foliage.

Did a drive through town and there was not a lot to be seen. However, when we drove past the golf course, which was covered with wallabies munching the minimal green grass, we spotted a large goanna. This was fairly significant as this was the first we have seen for our trip. According to all the rangers we have spoken to the goannas have been wiped out due to the invading Cane toads. Our last destination before returning to camp was the Sunset Tavern for some deserved cold beers. We also managed to catch up with some Tasmanian travellers who we had previously meet elsewhere.

After a relaxing meal at camp washed down with a few beverages it was off to bed to again recharge our batteries.

Day two was fairly relaxed with the normal not so early breky. Then it was off to do some grocery shopping. The shops here are quite different as they cater for multiple needs. This shop was the supermarket and tackle shop rolled into one. Back to camp with the fridge's restocked with food. The temperature was a nice 35 degrees and no real relief from the sun, so it was off to the park pool. After a couple of dips and a few beers we were feeling a little more relaxed. Yeah, this is the life.

We did happened to notice a fishing charter boat, which was residing at the park pull back in for the day. Well off we headed to the fish cleaning area to view the bounty. The catch was very good so this swayed us to book out the boat for a trip in the coming days.

Dinner time again but this time we decided to walk to the Sunset bar for dinner and of course to take more pictures of the sunset. After three attempts at getting our meals sorted we sat back enjoying the sun setting in the west with some lovely cold beers. Walked back to camp in the dark and then another early night.

Day three here saw us having breakfast as usual then headed off to the boat ramp to see if the boys could catch some fish of the beach. Colin continued to persist with lure fishing while Joe had a go at bait bombing. The water here is a lot dirtier than we are used to but apparently you can still catch good fish. Well Joe proved this wrong all he could catch was a catfish. Meanwhile Colin manage to snag his lure just off the edge. He was very patient and waited for the tide to recede before rescuing his lure being very careful not to go too close to the croc infested water. After a couple of hours of non-productive fishing it was time to go back to camp to visit the pool once again.

Another day in paradise was enjoyed, sun, pool and beer. Checked out the next day’s catch on the charter to see what we could expect from tomorrows trip. Early tea and early to bed in anticipation for our big day on the water.

Day 4 saw us up early and at the boat ramp at 7:45am. When we organise a fishing trip we seem to have the ability to change the weather. This morning started out windy and the water was choppy, nothing like the forecast predicted. The other aspect of the water that is different here in the gulf is that there are only 2 tides per day, because the Gulf is so wide and shallow the incoming and outgoing tides mix together. Our skipper, Ray Aquilina explained it all to us. Being of Maltese descent he was full of stories and tales and had us going all day. Wendy lead the way with the first fish on the boat. We did manage to catch a few fish but not as many as we had seen from the previous trips. The fish landed included: steelback salmon, bronze whaler sharks, threadfin salmon, and there were a couple of mackerel that did not want to get in the boat. We also caught cat fish and a sea-snakes but these were not allowed on the boat. After a big day on the water and trying a couple of spots marked on Ray’s GPS we headed in for the ramp. On the way back Ray had promised he would give us a bit of a history tour of the river that another charter charges $65 for.

Ray kept his promise and he started off where the biggest prawn trailer in the southern hemisphere at the time was beached after a cyclone. He explained to us that the owner had waited for 7 years before the insurance company paid him out. Next was the Zinc export port. Well the zinc comes to the port via a slurry then it is dewatered and the product, which is very pure 50%, is conveyored onto the barge. The Barge has to then make 6 trips to the mother ship which is anchored 25kms out at sea. The next point of interest was Australia’s only live cattle export port. The yard capacity was only for 2000 head of cattle, and the export market is based in Indonesia.

Ray also told us a story as to why there are no indigenous people in Karumba, He said that Karumba was the home to the Black fella boogyman, and apparently he will take little children from their sleeping beds.

Our heads throbbing with all this knowledge, we headed back for the ramp. Then back at camp it was time to clean the catch. That didn’t take long as we had only 9 keepers.

Tea time saw a feast of freshly caught shark again washed down with plenty of amber fluid.