Gulf of Carpentaria, Qld

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After spending a few weeks at Tully heads in Googarra Beach Caravan Park we headed past Innisfail & turned left onto the Palmerston Highway through Milla Milla & then left on to the Savannah Way to Georgetown.The road is all bitumen but a few places are narrow which can be a bit awkward to pass another vehicle coming in the opposite direction especially if the edges are wet.Common sense usually prevails & the trip to Gilbert River where we spent the night was uneventful.The Gilbert only had a bit of water in it due to the "wet season" being very dry, none of the gulf rivers had managed to flow but you don't have to look far to see how mighty they would be in a decent wet. Next morning we headed for Croyden which was a mining town which in its heyday boasted around 20,000 people & about 30 pubs. There's one left.The town had done very well to preserve its heritage & there are some fine buildings. The visitors centre has a great video of the history of the town.A frenchman who owned a nearby cattlestation was the owner of Archer who won the first & second Melbourne Cup.The story is in the centre.The Gulflander train runs between Croyden & Normanton, its station is well worth a look. The track was supposed to go from Normanton to Cloncurry but when the gold rush hit Croyden it was diverted. We moved on to Normanton which boasts the largest croc ever shot & there's a life size replica & history of the area. We saw the purple pub but did'nt stop as it was too early & not open, pity!!!! We are now at Karumba on the Gulf of Carpentaria & are trying to catch some grunter. because of the size of the fifth wheeler we're staying at Gulf Country Caravan park which is the only one we can fit in. We've been to the Animal Bar in the Karumba tavern & have yet to try the Suave Bar which is s bit more upmarket, the boat ramp is next to the Animal bar which is very casual with its dress code.The drinks are very reasonable & very cold.We checked out the sunday markets at the Point & the Sunset tavern which does meals looking out to the sunset over the Gulf. The drinks there are a bit more expensive than the Animal bar.Karumba is mostly fishing, prawning & a process plant. There's a small supermarket, Post Office, bakery, Butchers & Pharmacy & a couple of eateries.There's also a health centre, sports centre, library & Golf Club. The fresh vegies come in on a Monday & its first in best dressed.If you are lucky you may get a newspaper thats only a couple of days old but it'll cost twice as much to cover the cost of freight.Not good if you're wanting to look at the races though the Sunset tavern has a TAB.

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