Sunday, 26 May 2013

17 May 2013 – Karumba Point (and Zoe’s 10th birthday)



Josh and I stayed up last night decorating the van for Zoe’s birthday.  We had streamers and balloons hanging both inside and out.  We were all awake before her but when she woke up she jumped into our bed for a lovely cuddle.  We brought out her presents and card consisting of mostly things that she knew about such as a skirt, moshi monster cards, nail polishes, etc. but also a few well hidden things such as a new Parra jersey and a dart board (great for practicing maths).  We had breakfast and packed up the van, and then approached reception about leaving our bikes behind (the bike rack had cracked yet again and Josh was having it welded back up for further travels).  We first stopped at the Normanton butcher and then were bound today for Karumba Point which is on the south eastern tip of the Gulf of Carpentaria and is known as a good fishing town.  As we drove along, there were a lot of kangaroo “splattos” on the road with stacks of small kites and eagles eating at the flesh but as we got closer towards the coast the rough Savannah grasses and small trees disappeared and left just a very flat horizon in our sights.  The rocky red dirt began to turn lighter in colour and to more of a sandy texture and we began to see quite a few brolgas along the road, mostly in pairs.  Fortunately we had booked into the Sunset Caravan Park as when we arrived, it was packed.  It was easy to find our spot as it was about the only one vacant. Luckily the sites were a pretty good size too as nearly everyone had tinnys alongside their mostly Toyotas.  We set up the van, including hanging all of the balloons and streamers outside as there was very little room in the van to get around them, and Josh set up outside including taking our tinny off the roof and setting it up ready to use.  We went for a bit of a drive into the town of Karumba as well as to the information centre to see what we could do, before heading to the bakery around 3pm to try and pick up a cake for Zoe’s birthday.  We had just missed out as they closed half an hour earlier so tried the local store instead – and again failed, but we did pick up some candles.  Upon getting back to the van, we booked a sunset tour in the Gulf to celebrate Zoe’s birthday.  Sami and Josh headed to the pool for a while Zoe and I showered and got ready to go out.  By the time we were all ready to go and got to the wharf for take-off, everyone else was already on board and waiting for us.  Our tour started by taking us up the Norman River and pointing out a few sites and telling us about some of the local boats moored along the river.  While doing so, we enjoyed some dips and crackers, fresh prawns and then cakes followed with beer, wine and softdrink to wash it down.  Both Zoe and Samantha were given a go at driving the boat as we headed out into the Gulf of Carpentaria to witness the cloudy sunset.  The operators even had everyone on board sing Happy Birthday to Zoe while she was driving the boat (fortunately she had something else to concentrate on instead of facing everyone while they were singing – she was just a tad embarrassed).  After the sun had set and we’d all taken lots of photos, we headed back in.  We drove back to Karumba Point and went to the pub to buy a dessert (a piece of blueberry cheesecake) to stick our candles in and sang Happy Birthday to Zoe – again I think she was very embarrassed but had a lovely birthday! 




































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