Day 15 Sunday July 6th Hughes Crossing to Chillagoe (225km) We were awake at first light....around 6.15 am. Then we heard the kookaburras...but only in the distance. It had been a warm night, and it was a lovely morning, except for the first time on this trip there was few overnight and our chairs were wet! We had breakfast standing up!! Back on the road again we saw lots of water birds at the numerous road-side waterholes, as well as birds of prey, cattle an...

Day 14 Saturday July 5th Karumba to Hughes Crossing (Mitchell River) on the Burke Development Road (275km) There was no need for an alarm clock this morning, (not that we DO ever use one when camping!), because someone close by started their diesel engine pre-dawn and left it running for a whole hour or more! We can only assume that they were using it as a generator because their fridge battery needed charging!!! Apart from that, it was a lovely morning, and ...

Day 13 Friday July 4th Karumba Sunset Caravan Park My fears about noise late into the night were unfounded, and we even slept late........didn't wake until 7.15 am! (Probably due to the fact that we had closed our blinds to block out caravan park lights and so did not stir at first light). Our camper-trailer neighbours packed up and left this morning after only arriving late yesterday afternoon. We now have a caravan next to us. Folk from Victoria, who, li...

Day 12 Thursday 3rd July Normanton to Karumba on the Gulf of Carpentaria (72km) We broke camp at around 7.45 am and we were not sorry to leave Normanton! One feature that Normanton does boast though, are wonderful wetlands just a few km to the north. These wetlands are meant to be spectacular places to view bird-life.....but they dry out to less than a few little billabongs in the dry season (which is now). Nevertheless we did see some water birds as we passed ...

Day 11 Wednesday 2nd July Normanton to Croydon to Normanton! This morning we went on a train! We climbed aboard the legendary Gulflander, originally built to connect the once bustling port of Normanton to the rich gold fields of Croydon, some 90 miles to the east. Today the Gulflander is a tourist/ mail train. This Normanton - Croydon-Normanton track was never connected to the main rail of Queensland, and is often referred to as the 'train to nowhere'! This i...