Day 197 – 21/6/14 – Normanton – Karumba Point QLD

Luckily we had booked into the van park yesterday, about the 2^nd time we have done it this trip, as we got the last available site. We did a bit of school work, drove the 70kms and rolled into Karumba at 10am. We set up and the boys found some new friends, the only other kids in the park, so they were off running around eventually ending up playing red rover on the dry mud/salt flats beside the park. 

We needed some fresh bread, get some supplies as we heard it was cheaper than Normanton and wanted to have a look at the Barramundi Discovery centre in town ( as we were camped at Karumba Point 15 minutes up the road) so we grabbed the boys and headed off. When we got there the supermarket was closed ( 12 on Saturday) the bakery was out of bread and the Barra centre was also closed. What a worthwhile trip that was! So we drove back out to the point, where the local supermarket has the bakery bread (Dooh), had lunch and let the boys loose again.

The wallabies were playing so at 2:30 I headed up to the Sunset tavern to watch the game. Getting it on was an ordeal as the bar lady had no idea what channel it was on, we found it on 10 but the digital reception was so bad you might as well have been watching a blank screen. Luckily at this moment Helen, one of the mothers from Jack’s rugby team messaged me and was able to confirm that it was on fox sports 2! Yeah! While the picture was far from perfect, it looked like it was snowing in Sydney, I happily settled in to watch the game. My next challenge was one of the barra fishing charters had placed an advertising TV on the was beside the one I was watching. On it was scene after scene of people catching massive barra. I sat there for the next 3 hours and I didn’t see the same scene twice....grrrrr....Oh yes and the Wallabies ended up whipping the frogs!

Which TV to watch?

I headed back to the van park ready for a good night. At this particular park they have a free fish BQ every Saturday night, starting at 6. At 4 De had messaged me to let me know they were already heaps of nomads heading up with their tables and chairs to get the best spot! So as soon as I  arrived we packed up and grabbed a spot next to some other ‘newbies’. Like many of the park in this part of the world they are inhabited by the same snow birds every year, with many of them coming back to the same site, for the same period for 10, 20 or 30 years. Along with the feed they put on a concert with a great old country and western singer leading the way.

The boys loved the song he sung about the room in the back of an old FJ, but I have the feeling they may have missed the meaning....hopefully anyway! Another lady sang some country songs but I was afraid she was gong to start to yodel but we were saved by an old bloke telling jokes. Towards the end the boys even went up and were the animals in a rousing rendition of Old MacDonalds Farm, sung by Connor who was somehow related to the new owners of the park.

Around 8:30 a few raffles were drawn including announcing the winner of the weeks fishing comp. Once they were drawn, despite the best efforts of some old ladies dancing to the Macarena the night was over. It was like 15 minutes before the bell at a Brisbane Lions (or Reds for that matter) game with everybody leaving en masse! I was pretty happy as despite it being early I was tired after a big afternoon of footy watching and was looking forward to a good nights sleep!

Just before the BBQ this bloke wondered past our site, and was pretty happy with his catch. He had been on one of the local charters and caught a feed, more than pretty much everybody else in the park. His biggest problem was that he didn't have a decent filleting knife. 15 minutes later we had them both filleted with my favorite knife and he was happy to donate a fillet for my troubles!