Day 12 Karumba


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Oceania » Australia » Queensland » Karumba
May 8th 2018
Published: May 8th 2018
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Today dawns bright and early for these two intrepid galactic travellers. We have a date with destiny or rather a 7am fishing charter vessel. We are at Karumba at the south -east end of the Gulf of Carpentaria and today we are targeting Jewfish. If not them, then Blue Salmon, or if not them, perhaps some Bream, a couple of toadies, anything, really. We join the vessel and are immediately in the middle of an eclectic bunch of crew and fellow anglers. Over the next five hours in the melting pot of the highs and lows of fishing, we will get to know each other.

The deckhand regaled us with stories from fishing to politics to social engineering to fashion to gender and finally to the fall and fall of the real man. The last one he blames on ankle socks, closely followed by cyclists in lycra. All this was very entertaining but we weren’t really there to hear the thoughts of Deckhand Chris, we were there to catch fish and catch fish we did. Both Chris and I caught our fair share and donated those we didn’t need to the others. We kept our two best which we filleted and zipped locked for dinner. Remarkably, we came for Jewfish and we got jewfish. “It’s fishing, Chris, but not as we know it.” I say. But the story of the day was the quiet little bloke who was just minding his own business when he hooked on to a 1.1metre Black Jewfish. This thing was enormous taking two nets to get it on to the boat. This was the trophy fish and topped off a fun day fishing. We left the vessel with a brain full of radical right wing doctrine and a bag full of fish. A good time had by all.

Just a quick rundown on our fellow anglers. We had the pot smoking hippy angler from Humpty Doo and his pregnant girlfriend. We had two single guys who weren’t related but their teeth were. Possibly descendants of the Giant Beaver that once roamed these parts. Lets’ call them Bucky 1 and Bucky 2. Bucky 1 was the one who caught the leviathan of the deep. “Bet you can’t wait to get your teeth into that.” I think, but I refrain. We had two ladies from Victoria who were Victorian in every aspect. They looked like they belonged at a bingo game. In fact, they could be one of the numbers in a bingo game. And that just leaves me and Princess Leia. See, I told you it was eclectic.

The afternoon was blistering hot and we were relieved that on returning to our tent there hadn’t been any carnage wrought by our pig shooting neighbours of last night. They had left. As for us, we found out pretty quickly, that, other than fishing, there is not much on the activities board in Karumba, so we bunkered down until it was time go to the Sunset Point Pub for a bit of dinner and to watch the footy. Sunset Point is 4km out of Karumba and the pub is situated at the end of the Point. We were pleasantly surprised, because not only were they playing the footy on a big screen but had a surprisingly extensive menu. But the real surprise was the sunset itself. It was magnificent. One of the best I think that I have ever seen.

After the sunset, it’s time for a bite. In a town awash with fresh seafood, Chris ordered a Goat Rogan Gosh. Clearly not the most popular dish on the menu as the woman taking our order had to look around to the Blackboard to see how much it was. Neither fresh nor fish. ‘Now let me think, oh I know I am going to have the pan- fried Barramundi fillet. Yes, that’s right, the one that was caught 3 hours ago, please’. Having said that both meals were very good. Chris had a couple of more beers and managed to annoy some Souths supporters in his vociferous support of Newcastle whilst wearing a Wests Tigers cap. Never a dull moment. We made it back to the campsite in one piece and headed straight for bed as we have an early start in the morning. We have no neighbours tonight apart from the singing Camper who is not there as he is at the jungle bar trying to find victims to listen to him. Goodnight.

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8th May 2018

Karumba
Will have to agree that the pub at Karumba is an absolute ripper . Especially the view at sunset . Plus the sign that says don't swim here as the water is full of man eating crocks.

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