Blogs from Normanton, Queensland, Australia, Oceania

4th November 2012. It was 8am Sunday morning in Normanton and already 31 degrees. Everything was closed except for Foodworks. So, we checked into a caravan park and setup camp next to the pool. We spent the entire day relaxing and cooling off in the pool. Sasha rescued a tree frog and a small lizard from the pool after they went for a dip and couldn't get out. . The right brake pad had somehow broken off Taylor, and while Daniel was under Taylor, he noticed Taylor was leaning to the right. Not only was the right brake pad broken, so was the right leaf springs. Daniel was rather upset as this meant would could not do the Gulf track to the Northern Territory via Burketown and Borroloola. The Gulf track was another dirt road which ... read more

The other day we had a flat battery because I had unintentionally knocked the light switch on. Thankfully, due to our awesome solar panel, the battery was charged up enough to start the van after a couple of hours in the sun. Nice! And the perfect excuse to take a break and watch movies while it was charging :-) I can’t help feeling that we are now entering into the ‘real Australia’. The east coast is nice and interesting but it is also well developed and a magnet for tourists. The landscape that we now find ourselves in is quite different. Making our way along the Savannah Way, which stretches from Cairns in Queensland across the top of the Northern Territory to Broome in Western Australia, there is dry bushland, lots of earth and mile upon ... read more

Après une bonne de nuit, nous nous promenons à l’une des rares attractions de Ravenshoe, les Millstream Falls. Ce sont parait-il les plus larges chutes d’eau d’Australie à la saison des pluies, mais en ce moment c’est la saison sèche. C’est quand même pas mal, mais on ne s’attarde pas, pas de rando intéressante. On reprend la route en direction de l’est pour les Innot Hot Springs, qui se situent à quelques km de là. Ce sont des sources chaudes naturelles, il est possible au caravan park du coin de s’y baigner moyennant quelques dollars. Nous qui sommes fans de thalasso, on ne peut prater ça, même si à 10h30 du mat on n’est pas spécialement inspiré pour se baigner ! Et c’est pas mal du tout, il y a 6 piscines de différentes températures, on ... read more

Since the last entry on this very prestigious website, a number of rather note worthy events have happened. On top of the list (my list that is) are the Undara Lava Tubes and the Riversleigh fossil site. The Lava Tubes are probably what everyone wants to hear about so I’ll start with them. We went on a tour through some of the lava tubes where we learnt about them. Basically, when a volcano erupts and the lava flows across the ground and the lava gets cooler. The lava comes out of the volcano at around 1200 degrees Celsius and travels across the land until it cools enough to solidify at 700 degrees. Sometimes, however, a lava flow will form a shell of rock over the top of the flow and the lava underneath will be insulated ... read more

Georgetown Rodeo, what a coup! We had resigned ourselves to the fact that getting to see a rodeo wasn’t going to happen, and here we are right in the thick of it, soaking up the thrills, the skills, the spills! Hey, when you’re in the front row and a very large and very angry bull charges right at you, there are a few extra spills!! (especially when it ends up 50% in the arena and 50% in the spectators stand) After 3 hours Deb took Steve home deciding too much excitement at his age was not good for his health… Normanton on the Gulf of Carpentaria was our next stop. We stopped at Croydon for lunch by the side of lake Belmore, then turned right and headed north. What’s in Normanton? Bugger all, so we took ... read more