Georgetown

After we left Cloncurry we travelled on to Normanton for the night along the Burke Developmental Road. In Normanton we snapped a couple more ‘bigs’ which seemed amazing in this part of the world. After a quick look around town which seems to be a very popular fishing spot probably because it’s the closest fishing area to Karumba on the coast and is very popular, we headed out along the Gulf Developmental Road towards Croydon to a spot recommended in the Camps 4 book called Norman River. This camp is a seasonal one and is located at Leichardt Lagoon and was just beautiful. We had a site for $14 and met up with many other campers around a campfire and BBQ for tea. We were able to use the generator so we had everything we needed included very clean facilities and a twin tub machine which fortunately I didn’t need to use as its quite a while since I’ve used one of these! The campfire was a very interesting set up comprising a star picket post with a hollow log over the top and a small collection of twigs and paper at the bottom. When it was lit it fired up beautifully and as Ian (CFA hat on!) informed me very knowledgeably “it performed like a candle tree does in a bushfire’. Whatever it was, it was spectacular and certainly provided our entertainment for the evening still going strong when we went to bed.
In the morning we journeyed on listening to the Olympics for the first time as radio has been very poor – Warwick where is the ABC in the bush? We cheered as the men’s hockey team excelled against South Africa and as the swimming events progressed with the Aussies doing well talking back to the radio as the debate raged about ‘suits’ or ‘no suits’ and the advantage they have played in all the world records.
Our stop for tonight is a shady and grassy park in Georgetown which is only a morning’s journey to Undara where we will stay for two nights.