The Gulf of Carpentaria

We passed through a couple of outback towns and eventually reached Normanton, which is a surprisingly interesting town that we took a look around. In prominent position is a life-size model of the largest crocodile ever captured.

Then we headed across the salt pans to Karumba on the Gulf of Carpentaria. This is the only sealed-road access to the Gulf, so it’s even more remote, particularly as we seem to be the only mad tourists around. Apparently this is the off-season as people are put off by the threat of cyclones and extreme heat. If heavy rain falls, you can get cut off here for months. However, it seems the wet season is failing here for the third year and the rest of Australia is suffering a heat wave.

Along the salt pans we spotted numerous cranes and other wetland birds. Karumba is famous for prawns and barramundi. So we bought both from the fishery and sat and watched the sunset while we ate them.