13.08.07

KARUMBA

Left Normanton about 10 after checking the post office and picking up the shockers I had ordered from Brisbane. Country very flat and open with a lot more water holes and billabongs, saw a lot more Brolgas.

Booked into the Sunset Caravan Park which is absolutely full of oldies, we feel quite young. A very nice park shaded with palm trees and good clean facilities. Every other site has a boat and when we came in the trailer park at the ramp was incredible, there must have been 200 Fourbys and trailers there. About midday they all began to return and it was shoulder to shoulder at the cleaning bay, everyone had at least half dozen blue salmon some up to about 450-550 long and an occasional Mackerel. The general consensus was that they caught them on the flats with a high tide. Later in the day it became apparent that the tides were the best today.

Karumba is in two parts, one the old part of town with all of the industry, fishing traders and a huge Pasminco factory were the ore from Century Mine is processed. I read somewhere that they pump it in a slurry form from there. The main shopping and police are back there. We bought some 2^nd prawns from the Raptis factory there $10 a kilo, even though they sell them as bait they are fit to eat as they are smalls and broken.

Spent some time getting the boat down off the top and getting it all ready to use. The outboard had to be blown out with the air hose as it was absolutely full of dirt. Pulled it down to the ramp and did a lap to test it, all going OK. Will go in the morning with a rising tide.