Today was decision day about my “transition to retirement” plans so I had to bite the bullet, make the decision & post the paperwork off at the Cloncurry Post Office.  We also took the opportunity to refuel & fill our second gas bottle plus buy a few spare batteries for torches etc.

The rest of the day was spent driving a fairly lonely (as in not much traffic and NO towns) from Cloncurry to Normanton, a distance of 392km. The roads were mostly long & straight, with a little bit of intermission for roadworks & some slowdowns for some of the roadkill.  The most prominent birdlife here is Black Kites & Wedge Tail eagles at the side of the road feeding on the roadkill.  I can’t remember seeing a crow at all, where previously they have been the most common. The country is mostly very poor soil with low shrubs & grasslands.  Another prominent feature is the termite mounds, there must be millions & millions of them all grouped reasonably closely together & seeming to go on for ever.

Our first stop in Normanton was the dump point, then the caravan park where we managed to grab the last powered campsite for a couple of nights.  As we were setting up a small interested crowd gathered to watch the Karavan go up.  They had never seen a Kimberley Karavan before & were fascinated by its construction, how quick it was to set up & all the features inside.  The one that impressed the ladies (and Tereza) the most was the inside toilet.

Normanton has a few interesting old buildings in the main street.  After setting up we had some cheese, bikkies & a coffee (this time not a red) then went on a walk around town in the cool of the late afternoon.  Some of the old buildings are very well preserved & still in use, the Westpac Bank is still trading in the same wooden building as originally built & is on the National Trust list.  We also came across a replica of the largest crocodile ever shot in Australia near Normanton, it was over 28 feet long & had a very large head.  I’m glad it was only the replica we came across.

We left Cloncurry after we boosted their economy with a good tail wind behind us. The vista changed from yesterday, the earth changed to red and we had some low hills but still a lot of flat poor scrubby grass land.  We had more changes of kilometre after kilometre of sameness.  For 2 days now we haven’t had radio, Elvis or salsa, just the hum of the car, the gentle sway of the grass, the long road ending in the big blue sky – it lulls you into a peaceful tranquillity.

Arriving at Normanton you’d think another small town, but NO you have got the most brilliantly painted houses, I mean like lime green, orange, red, bright yellow and purple – it’s wonderful.  We have been getting into warmer weather as we are travelling further north.

The caravan park has got everything here, even an artesian bore swimming pool with nice and clean facilities.  We caused a bit of an excitement, like a visiting circus.  We had some interest prior in the Karavan but never like today – we had at least half a dozen people watching how we set it up and they were amazed how quickly it went up & what was inside.  Ron was the acrobat doing all the work and me the ring leader explaining it all.  I don’t know if there is so little excitement around here or is it because we are all parked in cheek to jowl.  The hot water in the showers is straight out of the artesian bore, hot, smelling of sulphur & soapy.  A little bit of getting used to.