Normanton - in the Gulf

After 16 days free camping (the last 3 at Flinders River in 37C heat) I promised the Bride a bit of luxury – long showers, swimming pool, hot spa, 24/7 power, and some female company.  So we booked into the Normanton Caravan Park for three nights.

Man eating croc

Normanton is a small town of around 600 folks in the wet but well over 1500 when the grey nomands invade in the dry. I am not sure that all the locals appreciate their town being over-run as some of them vacated the town in the busy season. For example – I was looking for a guy who could do a small welding job on my caravan.  No luck – one guy I rang wasn’t interested and the local engineering company closed down in the dry as the owner didn’t like being in town with all the visitors (true story).

Three old pubs

Normanton has a few deli/grocery stores, three pubs, and a bakery that doubles as a butcher ( I was looking for the candle-stick maker J). We had crumbed barra one evening at the Central Hotel. Good meal served on white linen on the verandah. The publican gave us the “Rolls Royce” service as we came back for dinner despite being abused by one of the “locals” earlier in the evening.

We took drive out to Karumba which is on the mouth of the Normanton River 75km from Normanton. Its easy to understand why the grey nomad tinny brigade head there every year – lots of fishing spots from river to sea accessible by small tinny (if you keep away from the crocs). The day we visited every caravan park had no vacancy signs out and the place was packed. There is a barra farm in Karumba which stocks barra in the Gulf and nearby dams and rivers. The hour and a half guided tour was good value and culminated in hand feeding a tank of barra all over a meter in length. There is no way that you can see a barra take the bait out of your hand – you see them eyeing off the squid and microseconds later there is a splash of water and the bait is gone!

Lunch before some serious prospecting (aka pokies)

Sad to say the highlight of our trip to Karumba was lunch at the pub (more barra) and winning over $300 on the pokies. The kilo of fresh cooked prawns purchased on our way home for dinner that  night was a good consolation prize.

On the last day doing nothing more strenuous than sipping a hot cappuccino I turned my head to look at the traffic passing by and compressed a nerve in my neck. Talk about severe pain (in the neck)- my lovely wife had to pack-up, hook-up and chauffeur me to the next caravan park at Croyden.