Cairns has been raining every night for a few weeks now and although the sun shines
during the day and temperatures reach mid 30s we were ready to move on. Some locals have
been suggesting that we might have troubles on the roads west across to Normanton but I
phoned the Dorunda Lodge near Karumba and learned that people are travelling the 600 odd
kilometre journey in a day if needed. Our last night at the Coconut Village Caravan Park
in Cairns was very wet but worthwhile because we met Max and Sue from Springwood in the
Blue Mountains who are travelling with their 4 children. They are both school teachers and
have taken off Term 3 to do this trip. Their recommendation was to stay at Wonga Beach
when visiting Mossman.
We left Cairns in the pouring rain after spending hours uploading our website material
at the Night Markets internet cafe. We drove into the Wonga Beach camping ground around
4pm but unfortunately it rained all night. Leaving there this morning we started to
consider that the weather may in fact affect our trip across the Gulf but a phone call
made to Rosy last night gave us hope that the Top End is dry.
Mossman Gorge was very wet and very busy with tourists. Midway along the circuit
walking track at Mossman we bumped into Richard and Jenny who were also on the Rum Runner
trip to the Coral Sea - its a small country. We continued on after our walk to Mt Molloy,
Mareeba and finally arrived in Chillagoe.
We are currently camping at the Chillagoe Camping Ground besides two
groups of people we have previously encountered on our travels.I've just spent an hour
pouring over maps with Mel and Gill Morris who we met at Captain Billy's Landing in their
camper Troopy similar to ours. We shall be reconsidering our route towards Gove and also
from Darwin through the Kimberleys. We might be taking even tougher routes than we at
first planned because according to Mel and Gill the roads are most reasonable.
DAY 50 Friday 11th September
We met up with Ken and Irene again after speaking to them in the Coconut
Village and now we find they are at Chillagoe about to be the only other people on the cave
tour with us this morning.
Ken mentioned he has an air conditioning problem and David offered his assistance. Not
only did he find the problem, he fixed it. They are so thankful - the temperatue is rising
and its going to be a hot day. Ken offered to buy David and I a few drinks at the pub
before we left to Dorunda so we rested in the cool of the Black Cockatoo pub before
leaving at 1pm.
The 370km road was in very good condition with little corrugations, but plenty of
bulldust. We noticed the significant difference the new suspension has made to the
vehicle's handling especially in the bulldust. The trailer would go through stages of
being swung sideways to not being seen at all through all the dust!
We pulled into Dorunda about an hour before sunset and setup camp by the car
headlights. Dorunda is a unique place with its feature being a 25km long fresh water
river, which means no nasty crocodiles. There are 4 people living here - 2 brothers, a
girl (Madeline?) and a guy about 30. The two brothers seem characters and on our arrival
offered me a coolie with this saying printed on the side..."I fuck anything that
moves - don't FIDGET!". The bar was interesting - the shelves were stocked with pig's
jaws. Outside parked under a tree was a 75 tray back ute with 5 dogs in cages. Inside was
one of the dogs' owners - who explained that he doesn't fish here, he goes pig hunting.
Pig hunting is different to pig shooting because the animal, once caught by the dogs, is
either let loose or fed to the excited dogs and guns are not used.
When I mentioned I was writing a book one of the brothers became excited and wanted to
tell stories. I wasn't in the mood and asked him to hold it until we came back the next
night with my computer. He did however, take us out the back and show us his pig and
crocodile who live together in a fenced yard with a pond. The croc has been there a while
but the tiny pig was a new addition about 3 mths ago.
DAY 51 Saturday 12th September
This morning we fished for a while but nothing was biting. We cooked bacon and eggs on
muffins, washed some clothes in a bucket of river water, washed Sharky, had numerous
showers using our car shower and David repaired a broken trailer pin. I shaved my legs
etc, had another dip in the river and then David dyed my hair back to blonde. We set up
our campfire and cooked a roast dinner in the camp oven and finished off with chocolate
mudcake (also cooked in a camp oven) whilst watching the stars.
DAY 52 Sunday 13th September
Yesterday was almost unbearably hot and again the fish are not biting. We've decided to
pack up, try to get some of these bush stories out of the brothers and head off to
Karumba.
The locals told us that they travel at 130km per hour along the roads out here - we
certainly don't. The number of cattle that lift their heads as they hear us approach and
then bolt across the front of the bull bar has slowed us down to 80 - 90km per hour. The
road surface is hard, probably more bauxite, but the bulldust can catch you out if you're
not looking
We arrived in Karumba late in the afternoon and pulled into the caravan park called
Karumba Point Tourist Park. We argued whether this was the one that Ken and Irene were
going to be staying at but paid our $13 for one night and positioned the trailer. We had
one of our usual arguments about the best positioning and the angle of the sun and our
neighbours looked on and laughed. Finally, the lady next door walked over and advised that
we had the worst site of the park as it never had any shade. She then told us we could
move site tomorrow because they had the best site of the park and were leaving in the
morning. We'd had about enough by then and so we left the trailer and drove out to the
Point to watch the sunset.
We were rather stunned to find one of the best pubs we've ever seen
placed right on the grass at the beachfront with a perfect view of the sunset. Pool
tables, picnic tables in the shade, roller door walls to take advantage of the view and
the sea breeze and best of all - cold beer.
A few hundred metres down the road, also at the beach, we found the Karumba Point
Sunset Caravan Park. After watching the sunset we returned to the first caravan park and
lifted camp to relocate to the Sunset park.
DAY 54 Tuesday 15th September
The last two days in Karumba have been quite busy - you have to be to keep out of the
heat! On Monday we took advantage of a price-war between the airlines and took a ˝ hour
scenic flight with Karumba Air over the Gulf for only $19 per person. The airstrip was a
patch of dirt and the airport terminal itself was a tin shed. The trip was definately
worth doing!
Later that afternoon we went back down to the Tavern to practise for the pool comp that
night. We had a beautiful dinner and watched the sunset. Ken and Irene turned up and
wondered why we weren't at the caravan park where we'd been told to meet them!
Both David and I entered the pool comp but neither of us were playing up to scratch.
Actually, I played some of my best shots but sunk the black! David made it through 3
rounds but lost to the player who came runner up overall. It was a fun night with the
locals.
Today, we went out fishing on a charter boat - an 8˝ metre Cougar Cat called Castaway
run by husband and wife team Alan and Pam. Our group caught 33 salmon and 2 grunter
between the 8 of us. Ken came with us and just as well - he caught the biggest of the
grunters and offered to share it with us that night. After stuffing it with corriander,
garlic and butter we cooked it on the hotplate of our gas cooker- yummm!
We had planned to leave tomorrow but we're talking about staying another night. Karumba
is very hot but there's plenty here for us to do. We'll be heading out to Escott Lodge
near Burketown for a couple of nights and then into the legendary Lawn Hill where we'll
meet up again with Ken and Irene.
Oh - almost forgot... last night there was a terrific wind which nearly blew down the
tent. I got up a few times to check the sky thinking that the weatherman's prediction for
a cyclone might be true. Around 2am I saw the legendary Morning Glory that has only been
observed in the Gulf of Carpentaria and the Gulf of Mexico. Special conditions are
necessary and it was only a fluke that I happened to see it. I wasn't even sure at the
time but this morning all the locals were talking about it. I'm very happy to have
experienced this fascinating cloud formation.
DAY 55 Wednesday 16th September
This morning I wrote 6 postcards and sent the 2 letters I had written at Dorunda. Later
in the day I did a load of washing, swam in the pool and read my book by Rodney Liddell -
when will I ever finish it so I can spend more time writing my book??
It was time for me to pay back David for dying my hair at Dorunda so using the surgical
scissors from our first aid kit and my teasing comb I gave David a short back and sides
(about a number 2 all over). Looking good we dressed up and went off to the pub to
photograph the beautiful Karumba sunset from the Sunset Tavern and to play a few more
games of pool. We met up again with Ken and Irene who were leaving the next day for Lawn
Hill. We realised that although we were going to Escott Lodge in Burketown first we would
overlap our stay in Lawn Hill with them.
We've learned that the only place to get any information about absolutely anything
worthwhile is to talk to the bar staff at any pub along the way. At the Sunset Tavern, the
barmaid told us all about the strange black pipes we'd seen from the sky the previous day.
Pasmino Mining Company has recently bought the Century Mine from Rio Tinto and have
developed a unique transportation method for getting the zinc to sea. From the mine site
near Lawn Hill PIHA are contracted to lay polyurethane pipes to flush the zinc in a slurry
solution all the way across the gulf country up to Karumba. At Karumba they have employed
nearly 250 people already to dry the zinc before it is shipped to Holland. The zinc from
this mine is said to be the purest grade in the world. Most of the staff employed at
Karumba are from Townsville and have been accommodated in the most upmarket demountable
units built specifically for the workers. Each cabin is fully airconditioned and has
satellite TV. Apparently, the selection process is long and arduous and once on-the-job
includes random urine and blood tests for drugs and alcohol.Pasminco are estimating at
least 20 years of employment from this mining venture.
Currently, house blocks in Karumba are only $15K - I'm predicting that with the new
mining venture and the new pub, the town will grow to become the next Noosa. Travellers
can already access Karuma from Mt Isa on bitumen roads so it won't be long before they get
a population boom.
We had a fish n' chips dinner with Ken and Irene at Ash's Place - reputed to serve the
freshest fish in the Gulf (and that was told to us from Alan our fishing guide).
