Karumba - Sunday 29th April 2012

Right, up at 7am this morning - moving on day, so lots to pack up (not really, but sounds good!), we do have to rearrange the fridge/freezer to fit the fish/seafood we are being given to take with us!!!  So, coffee is needed first thing to get everything going and awake......  Packed up the camper, boys stopped for a chat about Hilux's etc., (probably haven't mentioned that my cousin also owns a Hilux SR5), time to get the camper back on the Hilux, pump up the air bags & tyres to accommodate for the extra weight.  More chatting.......  farewells, more chatting......  final farewells and we are out the gate about 10.20am!!!!  I have to say (not that anyone else probably wants to know), but it was wonderful seeing my cousin & talking to my Uncle - I haven't seen Young Dave for about 10 years we all worked out and haven't spoken to my Uncle for a while.  You all don't necessarily need to know these details, but I'll tell you anyway - my Uncle David is my mum's twin brother, so he has been close to us for all my life - sadly my mum passed away Christmas Eve 2009 and that hit us all pretty hard.

Now, back to more fun things.....  We departed Karumba around 10.20am heading along the Karumba Developmental Road to Normanton. We did manage to take some photo's of some birdlife on our way this time - just wonderful!

Stopped at Normanton for some tourist type piccies & comfort stop (most important!), then continued along the Gulf Developmental Road to Croydon for lunch. 

Lunch consumed, onwards to Georgetown, HOWEVER a east fo Croydon we had a small incident - I was reading our map or something and heard Craig saying repeatedly F*!k, F8!k, F*!k, looked up to see what appeared to be an animal disappear under the bullbar/front drivers tyre of the car, heard thumping along the length of the car, I gave a squeal at some point and looked in the side mirror to see a very motionless kangaroo out the back :(  Craig informed me, that the roo jumped up out the the gutter on the right hand side of the road, took 2 hops and collided with the side of our bullbar and you know the rest......
Craig, as most outback travellers know, didn't swerve otherwise we would end up on our side in the bush somewhere and possibly dead, but he checked the car was steering properly, braking properly and we kept going - and yes, the roo was dead, we would never leave an injuried animal on the side of the road - we know better.

So, we continued on to Georgetown stopping for some beer for boy as we weren't sure if there was a pub at Mount Surprise, which was our stop for the night.  Arrived around 4pm at Mount Surprise and SURPRISE there's a pub there (go figure, if I had of said to boy I'm sure there's a pub there to get your beer, murphy's law there wouldn't have been, so I played it safe!).  We stayed at Bedrock village Caravan Park, which was a very friendly, clean & pleasant place to stay - powered site $27.00/nite.

The reason I didn't update the blog last night was because our neighbours came over to say hello and we chatted for a little too long.  We however have one fillet of King Salmon between us (yes, it was that big) and some potato discs (we had to give all our salad bits to Dave, so we could fit in the fish fillets, prawns, crabs & squid!).

I don't think it was a late night, but we were woken 3 times during the night by the dingoes howling (our guard dog lifted his head once and promptly put it back down in the doona!).  For those travelling that way, we would recommend staying there, it was really pleasant.

So I don't drain all the batteries in the camper tonight, keeping this computer powered up, I will update you tomorrow night on our travels from today & tomorrow when we arrive at Carmila Beach tomorrow night.

Karumba - Saturday 28th April 2012

While the boys were sitting around the fire last night, apparently there was a fishing plan put into place as Dave's not working today.  So 7am and Craig's being called out of bed and told to grab his rod!  The 3 boys went off to the "hut" again, trying to catch you know what and then went back to the point afterwards - you guessed it no Barra!!  Apparently though, a fellow that was down at the hut earlier had caught a couple of smaller ones.......

I tried to stay in bed a bit longer after they left, but dog wanted to get up and needs to be lifted down off the bed - so up we got.  As I was sitting there enjoying my coffee, I noticed the water pump making a strange sound, so turned that off and then noticed a steady stream of water coming out of the drain holes from under the camper......  Hmmmm.  Checked the storage hole and it had about 1/2 inch of warm water in it (not giving a good feeling at this point), so lifted the bed and turned off the hot water system, found a bit of water sitting on top of the water tank (also warm).  Decided there was nothing I could do right now, so sat back down and enjoyed my coffee and had a chat to Neville (Dave's mate) who was getting ready to go to work (deckhand on a crab boat up here).

About 8.30am Dave & Craig came home and I updated Craig on our current issue with the camper this morning - he says to me " I leave you alone for an hour or so and you break the camper!"  Nice....
Anyways, they had brought back some Bacon & Eggs rolls from the corner shop for breakfast, so enjoyed those first, then Craig had a look at the water problem.  Turns out that one of the clip together fitting on the hot water system has just wriggled loose and when I put the water pump on this morning all 14ltrs of hot water from the system leaked out - so nothing major and all fixed.

While we went off to do our voting for our local council elections this morning, or so we thought we would (turns out there's no absentee voting and you have to vote in your own electorate), Dave cooked some muddies for Craig to take with him when we leave tomorrow - steamed, boiled and he has one from the coals to take also.  Talk about being spoilt!

The boys took the boat out about 11am, with the promise of hooking a Barra (every time I write this it gives me the giggles now!).  I reckon my Uncle David in Mt Isa has rang every day since we arrived and asked young David if he's got Craig hooked on a Barramundi yet - sadly the answer as you know has been a big fat NO!  I think Uncle David's asking his son, what's going on.  Anyways we'll see how they go out on the boat.

We're thinking we might dine at the Sunset Tavern again tonight and catch one of those beautiful sunsets on camera! 

Alrighty, boys returned home about 4.30pm and you are never going to guess what!  They brought fish & crabs home - OMG!!!!!  They brought home a King Salmon, Barramundi and Jewel, plus I think about 4 crabs thereabouts.  Go figure....

They unpacked the boat and the fruits of their efforts, then it was time to freshen up for dinner at the Sunset Tavern and to watch a glorious sunset.  Great meal again at the Tavern, then it was time to return to the ranch as the fish needed filleting.

I took a few photo's of this activity, but then retired to bed with the dog and left the David & Craig chatting about their days adventure over a rum.  Won't be a late night, we're on the road tomorrow, heading slowly for home :(

Karumba - Friday 27th April 2012

Sun was out this morning and still a little bit of wind, but all in all an improvement on yesterday.  Up at a decent hour this morning, coffee and omelette's for breakfast.  Threw some washing on, longest washing session in the world - apparently the dial is dodgy and you have to move it manually (eventually we worked that out!).  Temperature right now is about 29.9 degrees, but we have that little wind to keep everything nice.

Right, it's about 12.30pm and we're off to try our hand at the fishing caper again...  Went out to the point place again, along with a number of other anglers - I lost 2 lures and a whole rig and I looked like the white half of the black & white minstrels (covered in a thick layer of sunscreen, but apparently I still looked like I was going red).  No luck there with the fish, so packed up and went down to the "hut" again and there were less rocks to get snagged on.  I had some sort of silvery fish thing chase my lure into shore, but have no idea what it was - probably a catfish knowing my luck and Craig had no luck again.

We were thinking of lunching at the Sunset Tavern today, but when we packed up and looked at the time it was about 3pm, so that idea was out the door.  So, back to the ranch for the moment.....

Dave arrived home from work carrying a big bin of live muddies no too long after, impressive size I must say.  After checking on how we did with our fishing today, Dave told him to grab his rod and he'll show him how to catch one of these alleged Barramundi!!  They arrived back empty handed of course, but the good news is, that Craig actually had a Barra jump after his lure at the shore line and hooked another one, but it shook loose - boy has announced there seems to be some sort of fish that appears to look like Barramundi lurking around in the waters here now and my cousin's decided that Craig is too good looking and has scared the fish away!  Ha ha....

The boys have decided they will try cooking a few of the muddies on coals tonight, some firewood was collected and fire pit made in the back yard.  Also on the menu for tonight's dining pleasure is:  Normanton Rumps for the boys, Chicken Kiev for myself, Garlic Karumba Prawns, Bug tails, Scallops, Potato & Salad - talk about a seafood feast with some meat on the side!!

Great dinner and the crabs cooked on the coals were the final course - I must say the taste of the crabs was magnificent - a little smokey and the crab flavour was enhanced, just scrumptious!

The lads sat around the fire for a bit after dinner, I left them to it and retired to bed with Boris.

Karumba - Thursday 26th April 2012

We did wake up about 6am this morning, but looked outside and it was dark and gloomy and cold, so stayed in bed, checked a couple of more times but the day hadn't improved, so stayed tucked up in bed until 9am!  Due to the dreariness of the morning, we decided while having coffee to buy a bacon & egg roll from the corner shop - our locals have told us they are the best.  Must say, they were really quite yummy.

Dave was telling us that the Barramundi Discovery Centre was quite interesting, so we thought we go have a look at that this morning.  Craig figured he may as well see one of these Barramundi in real life, since it doesn't appear he'll be catching any!  Unfortunately when we pulled up at the Discovery Centre, there was a little sign saying not taking visitors until further notice, so that put a stop to our plan.  We pulled into the information centre, to see what info we could find on Karumba, Normanton and surrounding areas for our trip home.  They had lots of info which was great.

Just to make the day better, as we walked out of the information centre it started raining and with the camper all open we had to make a dash back to camp.  It's actually quite cool today, we've had to put the jeans and jumper combination on today!  The only thing to do today is do a bit of reading on the area and update our blog - apparently there's no point fishing, too windy and the fact the boat ramp car park is practically empty is a good indication (the other day it was jam packed with cars & trailers).  Of course Craig and Boris had a nap again - Boris has woken up this morning with a sore back hoofer, he's running around on 3 legs today, so it's doing him good to have a quite day.

It's just started raining here again (3.15pm) and we've had to retreat inside the camper and close up the windows.  Dave's laughing at us, saying that's not rain what's wrong with you!  Better not be too much rain, don't want the roads to flood!

Due to the inclement weather today, we've already decided we are going to the Sunset Tavern for dinner, but unfortunately I don't think we are going to see the renowned Karumba sunset today, there is always tomorrow.

Karumba - Wednesday 25th April 2012

Up a bit earlier today, bit of a tidy up from last night's BBQ but not much.  Simple good ol' weetbix for breakfast this morning.  Popped 2 doors down to the shop and picked up some mullet & a tide chart for boy, we are going out to the point so he can try catching some sort of fish this morning.

Unfortunately the wind came in last night and it's been blowing a gale since, plus it's cloudy today but really it's not too bad as that brought the temperature down to something a bit more acceptable.  Pulled up at the fishing spot Dave & his mate Neville said to try this morning, stepped out of the car and nearly got blown away and sandblasted!  Off boy went down to the beach to try his hand at this fishing caper again and I setup my chair looking out over the water to read Saturday's paper I picked up before we left home - yeah I know it's old news now!  Boris even retreated inside the car the wind was blowing that much.  I decided he had the right idea and when I stood up my chair starting blowing away!!!

Stayed there for a couple of hours and the only thing Craig caught was a catfish:(
That went back to where it came from.  Other then that he got a few bits, but nothing to write home about, so eventually he called it quits and we returned to camp for some lunch.  Since he's having trouble catching this elusive Barramundi, we went up the street to Ash's Takeaway and ordered some fish and chips for lunch - looks like that's the only way we're going to get to eat some!!  You guessed it, after lunch it was time for a nap for everyone.

I was awoken from my slumber by some noisy birds in the tree outside and realised they sounded like black cockatoos, so got to find about half a dozen in the tree above us.  Grabbed the camera and got a few shots, including a mum feeding it's baby, beautiful birds.  Not much happened this afternoon, other then Dave coming home and a decision about trying down at the boat ramp again tonight for some barra.  Craig is now highly suspect on the ability of his local fishing guide and whether there really is Barramundi at Karumba - he of little faith.......

Being that fishing was happening around 7pm, we decided the boys signature Lamb Shanks with mashed potato was the go for dinner and it was cool enough to appreciate them too.  So he amused himself in my galley creating dinner, while we sat around chatting amongst ourselves.  So, I was left in charge of minding the shanks and off the 3 boys went to fish.......  Firstly down to the boat ramp and there was silence in the front seat I am told by Craig, eventually a bit of hmmm, hmmm, ummm, mmm and then a no too windy fish won't be biting in this, then it was off around to the "hut" and the same silence was heard from the back seat as before upon pulling up and then the same noises and the no, too windy won't be biting.  So, then it was off to the point where we'd been this morning and for the third time it was silence, noises and the no, too windy.  You can imagine my surprise when a car pulled up at the front fence and the 3 of them walked in - all I can say is, just as well dinner was on the stove!

Dinner was lovely as usual, when it comes to Craig's Lamb Shanks they are soooo yummy!  Again, not too late of a night - Dave was supposed to be at work at 7am in the morning.

Karumba - Tuesday 24th April 2012

Slept in this morning, may have had something to do with the consumption of cheer last night and chatting and we were probably tired from yesterdays drive....
I think it was around 7.30am get up and tidied up from last night.  Then coffee with bacon & scrambled eggs for breakfast - that should help make us feel better I'm sure!  Next job is to take the camper off the Hilux, so we can have a look around Karumba.

About mid morning we got going on our tiggy tour, starting with Karumba Point then driving into Karumba itself.  We found the seafood wholesale place Dave works at (yes that's very handy isn't it), had to stop and try the local Bakery's pies of course and then headed back to Karumba Point to the Sunset Tavern for a lunchtime beer or lemonade for one of us and of course enjoyed the view out over the Gulf of Carpentaria - just beautiful!  That done, it was time to head back to camp to have mud crab sandwiches for lunch - yes, Dave gave us one to defrost overnight.

It was quite hot today (4pm it was still 36.6 degrees) and poor black dog (Boris) was feeling the heat, so we dug a half shell from out behind Dave's shed and filled it up with water for him the lie in.  All of this tourist stuff was very tiring, so boy went off for an afternoon nap.  It's Bar-B-Que tonight for dinner (rumps for the boys, chicken kiev for me, with oyster sauce onions & weight watchers potatoe scollops).  But first, my lovely cousin cooked up some Karumba prawns for entree!

Not too late to bed for any of us tonight, one us had to get up for work tomorrow morning!

Karumba - Monday 23rd April 2012

Craig decided he wanted to get us up to Karumba by Monday, so we can spend 4 or 5 days up there and then have about 7 or 8 days to come back down the coast to home (there's a few smaller places we want to stop in at on the way home), at least going home will be a little bit more relaxed then the trip is going up.....

We greeted the world about 6.15am this morning, aim is to be on the road at 7.30am.  Craig checked his yabby traps and got 2 red claw and a little black bream or sooty grunter - all were returned to the creek to grow bigger :)  Made coffee, packed up the camper, put some Up N Go's in the car to keep us going until we stopped for breakfast and at 7.36am we were on the Gregory Development Road, heading NW toward Greenvale for breakfast and a comfort stop.  It was a quick pace this morning, let me tell you!

Onwards from Greenvale about 10.20am to The Lynd Junction, then continuing heading NW toward Georgetown.  The road from The Lynd Junction to Georgetown is dirt, with the occasional bitumen section thrown in.  We passed through some lush green bushland and beautiful mountain ranges, as well as two lovely little towns named Einasleigh & Forsayth.  We commented to each other that if we go that way again, we'd like to stay overnight at Einasleigh and have dinner at the pub, then go through Forsayth the next day and have lunch at that pub.  Einasleigh had a beautiful river you crossed over (Einasleigh River) and the pub looked out toward it.

We reached Georgetown about 12.33pm, topped up the fuel and continued on west on the Gulf Development Road to Croyden.  we grabbed a quick lunch on the go at Croydon & continued on towards Normanton.  Made Normanton around 4pm, topped up the fuel again (it's cheaper in Normanton, then Karumba), rang cousin Dave to let him know we were nearly there and off we set again.

On the home stretch to Karumba now, the road out there is a very interesting drive.  The land is very flat and you can easily see why it floods & Karumba becomes isolated for weeks by road.  Fantastic bird life along the way - Black Necked Stork, Brolga's, Little Corella's, Pelicans, Little Egrets, Cormorant and few others I can't remember now.

Arrived at Karumba Point around 5pm and after driving up and down the street a few times, we finally found Dave's place - it was making us laugh, it's as though there are a lot of houses here, but either there is no number or you can see it!  We setup camp in Dave's backyard and have settled down for a drink and catchup with my cousin.  Of course the conversation has turned to fishing, barramundi and mud crabs and promise of catching some.......

Dave's dog Jazz with Boris

Tonight's dining pleasure will be Moroccan Lamb and Cous Cous, but first David's taking Craig down the street to the boat ramp to try and get his first Barra - expectations are high for one of them!  Upon there return a little bit later, I'm told no Barra, but there were two factors going against them.... Hmmmm (the light was out at the boat ramp and the tide was low - Craig's not sure about his local fishing guides ability at this point - ha ha.  Just as well I'd organised dinner and not waiting for the fish to come home to eat!

Karumba - Sunday 22nd April 2012

Up around 6.30am to see what our campsite & Lake Victoria looked like in daylight.  Pretty is a good word to describe it and the free campsites alongside it's banks are worthwhile staying at - Dogs & Fires allowed, but no facilities.

We were on the road at 8am, destination today was Fletcher Creek, 50klms NW of Charters Towers.  Headed NW on the Burnett Highway & turned left onto the Capricorn Highway to head west to Emerald, then swung a right onto the Gregory Highway/Gregory Developmental Road to head north to Charters Towers & Fletcher Creek for the night. 

Arrived around 5pm at Fletcher Creek and considering last year when we stopped here it was rather full, we weren't sure what to expect this time as we are earlier in the year.  To our surprise there was only about 10 campers over the whole area.  We found a spot on the southern side of the creek (same as last time), but right on the creek this time and setup.  That done, Craig decided to throw those new yabby traps in and see what he got overnight.  We decided to make an easy dinner tonight - Gourmet Hot Dogs (you know the ones with Knackwurst sausages, bacon, onion and mustard - Yum!).  We were in bed by about 8.15pm (you'd think we were old!), but I suppose big days driving makes for tired little campers....



Now just to bring you up to date, as to why we have decided to go to Karumba:  My Uncle Dave has a house at Karumba Point and I've been up there twice in my lifetime so far and Craig has heard my stories and seen the photos.  Craig loves northern Queensland and has wanted to see Karumba for a while now and we decided now was as good a time as any to do it.  To make things even better my cousin David is now living at the Karumba Point house and I haven't seen him in years, so it will be great to catchup with him.  We've decided we'd do this trip earlier in the year also, we normally do our trips anywhere between July and September, but thought it would be interesting to see the country closer after the wet and compare what we've seen in the past.

Karumba Trip April 2012

Finally we're on the road to Karumba....

Hi Everyone, well we finally departed the Sunshine Coast for Karumba at 12pm on Saturday 21st April, 2012 - Ya!  The mornings events including having to get the Hilux serviced as it was going to be due about 1500klms into our trip and this morning was the only time the mechanics could fit it in.  It may have delayed our departure by a few hours, but at least I had packed the camper yesterday ready to go and it gave Craig a chance to duck into BCF and buy a few more yabby traps, apparently we would need them......

So, destination today is Lake Victoria, approximately 50klms NW of Biloela - it's a free campsite on, as the name suggests, Lake Victoria.  We headed up the highway to Gin Gin and fuelled up the car and ourselves around 3.30pm.  From there it was onwards toward Gladstone and turn left at Calliope along the Dawson Highway, then north onto the Burnett Highway toward Biloela.  By the time we reached Biloela, which was around 6.30pm we decided to grab something for dinner and KFC it was that we passed on the road, so KFC it was for dinner :(  Now, the reason we drove for so long and late, was that we'd arranged to meet Craig's brother Donny & his partner Francis (who came down from Rocky) there for the night to catchup, otherwise we most definitely would have stopped at either Monduran Dam or Calliope River for the night.

Anyways, we finally arrived in darkness at Lake Victoria around 7pm, at least Craig got to use the spotties on the dark Burnett Highway and the dirt roads out to the Lake.  Donny had a nice fire going and had picked a good flat campsite.  We setup slowly while having a drink and a chat, eventually having to get a wriggle on because Boris was hungry and needed his dinner!  Sat around the campfire for a few hours enjoying the clear, star filled sky and chatting.  We retired for the evening to our surprise around 11.30pm - I suppose that's what you get for arriving at camp at 7pm!