Outback by the sea is one of Joanne’s late entry bucket list activities. Joanne had been informed this is where you can get the best fish and chips, and watch spectacular sunset over the Gulf.
Heading towards the Gulf of Carpentaria we found the small town of Croydon with an interesting mining and farming history. What really was most incredible was their claim to have the oldest store in Australia. The next major population centre was Normanton where we remained for a while until the post office reopened following their lunch time siesta break. In Normanton, we met “Krys” or at least the life size monument to this 8.64 m long saltwater crocodile, the largest ever taken, shot by Krystina Pawlowska in July 1957 in the Norman River.
Our next port of call was the Sunset Caravan Park, Karumba Point where truly spectacular events occurred:
- Fantastic fish and chips, only place I know where barramundi is the standard fish for paper wrap battered fish and chips.
- Incredible sunsets out over the Gulf of Carpentaria
- Watched Richmond Tigers finals win over the Geelong Cats
We also had some time to do a 10km bike ride from Karumba Point to Karumba, crossing on a recently developed 4 km walk/cycle trail. Karumba while it is small does have amazing history being a pre-war flying boat stop over point for QANTAS. Then during WWII, it became a central point for RAAF Catalina flying boat operations, the town is very proud of its wartime role.
We also visited the Karumba Barramundi Discovery Centre, which was amazing however our ride back to Karumba Point was lengthened by two flat tyres.
