Kingfisher Camp to Normanton

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Today was much warmer and the kids wanted to stay another day, so we agreed as long as their journals and reading was done before lunch. After much procrastinating it was done & gave the computer to the caretakers to charge up for us. The day was much warmer and it was “water day”, which mean the generator for the water pump was on all day until 4pm, instead of only 1hr, but also meant the sprinklers were on for 2 hours. After lunch I picked up Kate and ran with her under the sprinkler. Once she was wet, we ran in and out for 30 minutes or so. Even conned Rod & Alex into going under as well. Chatted to our camping neighbours - they sold their house and have been traveling for 4 years, no kids but. During the night 2 bulls were in the campground and had a fight. People in a tent had lots of damage done, including chairs and their light.

Had lovely egg & bacon sandwiches for breakfast and headed out on Savannah Way towards Burketown. Through Dommadgee, on and off the bitumen and sand. Burketown is a very small town, but quite nice. Fuel $1.50 per litre, but had to go to 3 places (all shops but the hotel) for bread. Got a stone hit our windscreen - right in the middle. A very nasty bullet hole & crack. Of all places it hit us whilst driving along the bitumen and neither car was on the dirt. The only thing we could buy was sticky tape to help stop the crack from spreading - we will see.

On to Leichhardt Falls and set up camp. One thing we are lucky the Ultimate can set up on uneven surfaces, so we drove out onto the rocks and set up away from all the other campers. By more good luck then management we were able to unzip the window behind our bed and wake up to a beautiful sunrise without getting up. It was getting rather windy, so we decided to pack up and move on.

Stopped at Camp 119 (Burke & Wills most northern camp) and Alex saw a green tree snake trying to hide in a hole in the tree. Three other cars stopped as well, so we moved on to Normanton. Grabbed something to eat at the bakery and bought some of their bread. They bake 500 loaves a day - the smell is wonderful. The funny thing is they cut and bag it out front in the eating area. The bakery is run by an Aboriginal family and they all help out. Went to see about the Gulflander Train, but the timetable has changed, so we don’t want to wait around until Saturday to take a run on it - cost $42 per adult anything. Crossed river and set up at free camp. Off to Karumba in the morning.

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Photos

Kingfisher Camp
Kate holding Rod under the sprinkler

1st gate leaving Kingfisher camp
Kids are really getting into the swing of things!!

Leichhardt Falls Camp
You can see how close we are to the falls

The graze on Alex's foot
It is getting better