It’s a long way to the top, Day 57 – Around Normanton
Day 57 Friday Aug 1st 2014 Normanton A bit of a look around on our last day in Normanton. Continue reading It’s a long way to the top, Day 57 – Around Normanton
Day 57 Friday Aug 1st 2014 Normanton A bit of a look around on our last day in Normanton. Continue reading It’s a long way to the top, Day 57 – Around Normanton
Day 54 Tuesday July 29th 2014 Croydon to Normanton It’s another clear hot morning and hundreds of galahs wheel overhead, oh that sweet air. The road is good, very good and straight and flat. As always there are hundreds of … Continue reading It’s a long way to the top, Day 54 – Normanton
Thanks to Thejuicenut at http://pearsnotparsnips.com/ for alerting me to the fact that I didn’t put up a picture of the charming and historic Burns Philp warehouse in Normanton up in outback Queensland. It looks a little dim as the photo was taken at sunrise during an early morning stroll. Quite possibly we were savouring the coolest part of the day. Continue reading Burns Philp another era
July 2014 Welcome to Normanton “Outback by the sea” says the sign. The slogan pretty well sums it up although the sea is the Gulf of Carpentaria 70kms away at the mouth of the Norman River. It is very much … Continue reading Normanton
July 2014 We’re in Normanton on the Gulf of Carpentaria and I hear a Grey Nomad complaining about the heat (it’s 31 degrees and feels like 41). A local curtly rebuffs her with “wait till summer when it’s 56 degrees and 80% humidity!” Continue reading It gets warm in Normanton
Up in Normanton on the Gulf of Carpentaria it is winter, dry and hot. We drive our washing to the Laundromat to save it from walking there all by itself! The Laundromat is in the post office. In these parts every business multi tasks. As I wait for Woody to sort out the coin washer problems with the postmaster I lean on the verandah rail. I am overcome by a smell that takes me back to my childhood, but what is it? Then I hear brrrp, brrrp there are a few shrubs, a tank stand giving shade, a couple of … Continue reading Normanton Laundromat
We drive out to Karumba on the Gulf of Carpentaria, the remotest point of our trip. It is a 70km drive north from Normanton through savannah land and then the flattest flood plain of grassland and salt pans. In the savannah there are contented cattle and spider webs as big as flags that take ownership of their host shrubs. On the flood plain we spot a flock of Brolgas in a small swamp. Of course I’m breathless with excitement and I say to Woody that all we need now is to see a Jabiru and I’ll be happy. All of … Continue reading A stalking stork amongst the stalks
As the wet season begins once more in northern Australia, I’m reminded of our visit to the Gulf of Carpentaria in the dry season of 2014. We assemble at the Normanton railway station in Far North Queensland at 8:00am to board the Gulflander train to go to Croydon 150kms away. The Gulflander is also known as the train that goes from nowhere to nowhere. The pretty little wooden station is all gussied up with flowers in pots and railway relics. In Queensland’s colour of maroon the diesel rail motor has three carriages. The 3ft 6inch wide line was opened in … Continue reading The Gulflander