Aye Karumba!

Today we took our time getting up, got another load of washing done and on the line then headed off to Karumba Point to see where the Normanton River flows into the Gulf of Carpentaria. Along the way, in fact just out of town Fin pulled over because he had seen some Brolgas. I took some photos and, in fact got some great photos of them flying away when I was just about to get back into the car, then looked up my Field Guide only to find that this particular bird is not a Brolga per se but another crane species that is very similar called a Sarus Crane. It has more red on its head, covering the eye and going down to the top of its neck. We saw many more of these types of birds along the way to Karumba and found that there were both the Brolga and the Sarus Crane in this area. The Sarus is only meant to be in a very restricted area in the north of Australia but we have both here. So I have lots of photos of each! We also saw a White-breasted Sea Eagle just taking off from the road in front of our car but I was unable to get a photo. It was a huge, beautiful white bird and although I didn’t get a photo I felt privileged to have seen it so close. We saw some other waterbirds too; with the Normanton River and other pockets of swamp and dams etc around the area, these kinds of birds have the perfect environment.
We went into Karumba itself but it is not a tourist town and in fact it has the emptiest bakery I have ever seen! We walked in to see row after row of empty shelves and about half a dozen pies in the warmer so we decided to go further down to the cafe where we were able to get a sandwich and juice. We decided this wasn’t the tourist spot so went to Karumba Point which certainly is – it has two caravan parks, a boat ramp, hotel-motels and cabins also! We took a little walk down to the edge of the river where some people were fishing, took a few photos and then wandered back to our car to make the trip back to Normanton. It is a pretty area and I believe the fishing is fantastic around here so I guess that is what attracts all those people to such a distant destination.
We went to the Purple Pub for dinner and were amused to see a skink lizard wandering along the counter where you order your meal which was outside under a veranda. It was obviously after the insects that were attracted to the lights from within. It just epitomizes our trip so far with wildlife being a very big part of everything we do but often trying to join in at meal times!