The next day in Kuranda was Saturday - a big market day! We got up early to beat the rush and checked out of the Caravan Park and drove back to Kuranda township. It didn't seem to be so busy as we parked the bus and took a shortcut through the back alleys to the market stalls. We walked through the market and because we had beaten the first train up from Cairns (and SkyRail too) it was very quiet! That's OK, we will head to Petit Cafe for coffee and a sweet crepe for second breakfast! There are lots of nice stuff at Kuranda (and plenty of junk too) but we found something really nice for Georgi. We decided that late morning would be a good time to drive down to Cairns and (hopefully) avoid ... read more

Georgetown is the administrative centre for this outback part of Queensland called Etheridge. The area has been suffering drought conditions for some time. As we drove along the roads, we could see that this might be good cattle country but there had been no rain for some time. The roads, in themselves, are quite tricky. They are quite often only one lane wide with a wide gravel shoulder each side. None of this is very comforting when you crest a hill only to find a road train (or large truck) coming straight for you! Not only do you have to watch for oncoming vehicles. In the bus, you have to keep one eye constantly on the rear vision mirrors for motorists that want to overtake. We saw a car coming fast and to our surprise it ... read more

There are at least three Caravan Parks in Karumba (including Karumba Point). We booked in to one at Karumba Point (partly due to the glossy brochure I had picked up along the way which depicted this magnificent sunset over the Gulf). Unfortunately, our Caravan Park must have been a different one - our site looked out on to the junk yard of the park and then over the fence to some salt flats (which probably get wet on a king tide). Very ordinary. It is funny how you get stuck in really bad places in caravan parks when you say you are only staying for one night. We had Normanton to look forward to and the drive back (about 70 kilometres). Of course, we took our time, checking out the wildlife (hoppers and various birds) driving ... read more

We left Mt Isa and headed towards Cloncurry, from where we would turn off the main road and head north up the Normanton Developmental Road (a highway but with only one sealed lane due to the low traffic numbers). We wouldn't get to Normanton in one day and so we decided to stay at the half way point, a roadhouse called Burke and Wills. The roadhouse is so named because this is close to where the explorers made a final attempt to get to the sea. Unfortunately for them, they picked an area that was full of mangroves, mud and crocs. The closest they made it to the sea (the Gulf of Carpentaria) was approximately five kilometres away, an agonisingly small distance given that they had originally left from Melbourne to traverse the continent. Of course, ... read more

Between Barkly Homestead (a large roadhouse in the middle of nowhere) and Mount Isa is Camooweal. The big thing about Camooweal is that it has the Georgina River (sometimes) flowing by. Rumour has it that (many years ago) two young women were camped in the dry bed of the Georgina River (under the bridge) when a busload of tourists stopped to check out the river. I think the girls had clothes on.... Mostly, things have changed now. Georgina mostly camps inside the bus in a caravan park. There is a big new bridge spanning the Georgina River. But the river was still dry! There wasn't much happening at Camooweal so we pushed on to Mount Isa. We checked in to a local caravan park and walked across the road to the motel for dinner. This was ... read more