Day 59 Normanton to Karumba

After spending most of the previous evening contemplating what to do in regards to the flat tire (we noticed a small puncture), we had decided to drive the last 40 km to Normanton with the punctured tyre instead of getting the spare one on. We stopped a few times along the way to pump up the tyre and were relieved to find a mechanic in Normanton straight away. The mechanic was the grumpiest person on earth (!) but he fixed our tyre pretty quickly for $40.-

Happy that all was back to normal we went on with being our normal touristy selves and explored the town. They had a replica of the largest crocodile ever captured in the world and with a length of 8.63m it was unreal to think this was the actual size of this monster when it was shot! It was even more unreal to learn it was living in the area we were visiting.

The old railway station was a little gem in this dusty outback town and you could see it was taken great care of. A lady working there overloaded us with information and we felt very welcome.

As we were so close to the Gulf of Carpentaria we decided to drive the extra 70 km to Karumba to check it out. We were very well aware of the fact that Karumba was fishing heaven and was very popular with the grey nomads at this point of year. Nevertheless we wanted to see it anyway. We hadn’t booked any accommodation (which was essential around this time a year) but with a bit of persuasion we managed to get a spot on a campsite.

We spent the afternoon relaxing and planned an early dinner. Afterwards we walked to the ocean because the sunset supposed to be gorgeous up here. After strolling around the beach for a bit (again no swimming because of crocs) we ordered a beer at the Sunset tavern and watched the sky turn  yellow, orange and red, all in just a few minutes of time. Not as spectacular as we expected but nevertheless still beautiful!