A write up for the week

 So last time we reported in we were setting off from Cloncurry to Karumba, 500 kilometres on a red and dusty road with lots of road trains. Murphy's Law was in force ..on the wide, sealed, two lane sections of the road, we passed no other vehicles, but as soon as the road narrowed we would  meet a three trailer road train carrying a few tons of beasts, or a caravan.
All the way north we have heard that there hasn't been a decent wet from three years, and every creek and river we have crossed has been bone dry.

Another dry river bed

All through the trip to Karumba we saw beasts, trying to find some green grass along the edge of the road. The drought situation in northern Australia is dire.

Rest stops were few and dry and dusty...and crowded ...and expensive fuel. 

The road narrowed and we passed a few  road trains and many, many termite mounds. We have come to the conclusion there are gazillions of termite mounds in the north of Australia.

The road narrowed

Millions and millions of termite mounds

We pulled up for a late morning tea where the wind was blowing hard and swirling in red dust. Darby and Joan, here, carry their own hot water and morning tea in the 'day crate' so we can pull up anywhere for a cuppa. We are truly turning into grey nomies.

Morning tea stop

Finally we reached Normanton, the last town before Karumba on the Gulf of Carpentaria.
We passed the Purple Pub, and a life size replica of an 8.4 metre crocodile shot by a female croc hunter fifty years ago

We arrived in Karumba in the early afternoon and checked into the Sunset Point Caravan Park.

We settled into the park, set up camp and put the annexe up this time as we were staying 4 days. The ground was rock hard, and bare dirt...very different to the green and shady park promised. We set off to explore Karumba which is very different to the east coast beaches and boat ramps we are used to.

Boat ramp at Karumba

Before dinner we set off on another walk to get the first of many Karumba sunset pictures...truly magnificent, and then early to bed for Ian to be up at dawn for a fishing charter with the Kerry D Charter company.

A sunset worth waiting for...

Next Karumba instalment to follow...