20120723 Qld Normanton
20120723 There's not a lot to see when travelling along these very long narrow to wide back to narrow again, open space roads except a lot of roadkill, crows, heaps of hawks and the occasional
eagle scavenging
on the dead. Sometimes you a lucky enough to spot a lizard
crossing the road or some Brolga’s in the paddocks which I can’t get close enough
to take a descent photo, plus Des won’t slow down or stop for me.
Camped up about 20ks from Normanton $14 for the night but no power that's fine they had hot showers, that's the main thing.
What a waste it doesn't even look as though the crocks will eat them.
This tree is full of Hawks there everywhere, I could be wrong but I think there called Black Kite
24-07-2012 Able Tasman was the first European to explore the Normanton region, sighting the entrance to the Norman River in 1664 and naming it “Van Dieman’s inlet”. The first European to navigate the Norman River was William Landsbrough in Jan 1867, it was then that he chose the site of the township, high above the apparent flood levels on the iron stone ridge and in May, the first settlers arrived.
Des went walking around the camp asking the travellers questions about the converter, ask that guy in the van he’s been helping everyone. Sheng Yee the electrician gave Des all the information he needed and more. I couldn’t get the Internet, so he set up a coaxial cable and hung it outside, I got 3 bars, cool.
Kry's savannah king is an accurate artist's impression of the largest recorded saltwater crocodile captured in the world. Krys was shot on the MacArthur Bank, Norman River downstream from Normanton in July 1957 by Krystina Pawlowski, one of the many crocodile shooters operating in the area at that time. The crocodile’s name “Krys” reflects the feats of this lady. Krys measures 28ft 4in (8.63m), Krystina’s husband Ron estimated that it would have weight over 2 ton. The replica has been built to the dimensions listed in the Guinness Book of records.
James Burns and Robert Philp formed a partnership which was formalised in 1883 as Burns,Philp & Company making this the first branch outlet in the colony. The Burns Philp Building was constructed in 1884 shortly after the formation of the company that was to become one of the most significant mercantile providers in Queensland.
Sheng who looks Chinese but was a Kiwi, told us of a place to camp on the other side of the bridge as you leave Normanton, we were to meet him there the next day so I could buy a car charger for my laptop that he was having delivered to the Post office. Sheng has a good lurk going, he helps travellers out and get cash in hand and moves onto the next town.
Arriving in Normanton we stopped at the information centre and asked about the free parking, yep you will need a permit but a lot of people say it to dusty so go and check it out first; we walked the town and checked out the tourist spots before camping up.
We found a great spot on the river, stuff the permit we said, were not driving back to town, only then we saw a guy sitting on his own, park here if you like he said I’m just waiting for my wife to return with our permit, a witch from the council turned up and you must have a permit, shit so we camped up and I road back to town.
Des through a crab pot in and we sat around a fire waited and watching for the crocks to come out of the river.
25-07-2012 We were lying in bed watching the morning show when we heard a car pull up, it’s the bloody council Des said, he quickly put his cloths on and went outside to meet her, "bad mistake" you can’t camp here she said, why not said Des, the camping area is down there, so you won’t me to move 100yards down there, what’s the difference. This scene went back and forth then I stepped in, what it is about Queensland, we travelled all the way up the South Coast without being hassle and as soon as travel in our own state we get nothing but hassle’s. Australia belongs to everyone you no and all we won’t to do is see it without getting moved on, we don’t do anything wrong we always leave the area clean and we don’t litter. This is where it got interesting; we had some crushed beer cans and empty bottles of wine lying near the door of our van which she pointed to, that is classed a littering, the crows fly in at night and take them away, no they don’t said Des, they sleep at night, I’m not going to argue with you she said and left, I hope you have a nice day said Des, I will have a lovely day she said, well I hope you have a shit of a day said Des. No wonder you get fined you need to learn to shut your mouth some time Des. So that was the start of our day we packed up pulled the pot which had 2 undersized mud crabs in and moved 100 yards down the track.
After we were settled in to our new spot we removed the pushes and road into town for some more site seeing and stock up on veggies.
Got to have a drink at the Purple Pub and an aboriginal man asked if he could sit with me, ya mate sure you can, he was a bit pissy but he showed us photo’s on the wall of the floods then brought a carton and left without saying goodbye, we finished our drinks, Des brought me a Tee-shirt and we left for the Albion Hotel.
The sketches shown on the tiles were once the bar top in 1959 -60s. Each of the 14 sketches depicts a character or char actor in a situation which has been immortalised in the style of the bush.
We brought our veggies and lucky for Des the couple we were talking to were kind enough to take them back in there car for us. On the way back to camp we stopped at a park with a shower outside. I wore my togs but Des went in his birthday suit, then a car drove down and he run for the Lou, where's the camera when you won't it.
Sheng turned up but unfortunately the car charger didn't fit my laptop so we sat and had a couple of beers and listened to his tails.
153ks from Croydon to Normanton and this is what the roads are like, it's just lucky there’s not much traffic but when there is Des pulls over to let them go, only some of them are so dumb they still go off the bitumen and fly rocks up.
Crossing the Gilbert River, I don't have much to do so I take a lot of flies by shots, up close
there not real good shots but they still tell a story.
I’ve
been trying to catch a shoot of an eagle and I missed a beauty, a wedged tail
eagle flew directly in front of the van and I wasn’t ready for it, not happy
Jan.
This is the best shot I've been able to capture so far of the Brogan, the
noise they make sounds prehistoric.
Don't hit the Lizard
Des, as he Scurries
of the road.
Camped up about 20ks from Normanton $14 for the night but no power that's fine they had hot showers, that's the main thing.
Des and I walked to the weir which was full of dead Barra, apparently it happens every year but no one can figure out why. We were told they let the water go in the weir and it flushes the dead fish out, man it stunk.
What a waste it doesn't even look as though the crocks will eat them.This tree is full of Hawks there everywhere, I could be wrong but I think there called Black Kite
Leichhardt Lagoon where all the dead fish were.
One of the locals, I finally got a decent photo of a goanna running around the camp before he scurried off into the bush.
24-07-2012 Able Tasman was the first European to explore the Normanton region, sighting the entrance to the Norman River in 1664 and naming it “Van Dieman’s inlet”. The first European to navigate the Norman River was William Landsbrough in Jan 1867, it was then that he chose the site of the township, high above the apparent flood levels on the iron stone ridge and in May, the first settlers arrived.
Des went walking around the camp asking the travellers questions about the converter, ask that guy in the van he’s been helping everyone. Sheng Yee the electrician gave Des all the information he needed and more. I couldn’t get the Internet, so he set up a coaxial cable and hung it outside, I got 3 bars, cool.
Kry's savannah king is an accurate artist's impression of the largest recorded saltwater crocodile captured in the world. Krys was shot on the MacArthur Bank, Norman River downstream from Normanton in July 1957 by Krystina Pawlowski, one of the many crocodile shooters operating in the area at that time. The crocodile’s name “Krys” reflects the feats of this lady. Krys measures 28ft 4in (8.63m), Krystina’s husband Ron estimated that it would have weight over 2 ton. The replica has been built to the dimensions listed in the Guinness Book of records.
 |
| Des riding Krys, the big kid. |
 |
| Krystina Pawlowski the lady who shoot Kry's the crocodile. |
2011 marks the 120th anniversary of the completion of the Normanton-Croydon Railway, with the third and final stage of the track opening on the 20 July 1891.
Built to follow the gold rush and overcoming some of the “most flooded and rotten country in Australia” along the way this fantastic engineering achievement now stand as a proud witness to the rich history of Queensland.
This would be the Butcher in Normanton they seam to like the very bright colours in this town and this one really stood out.
James Burns and Robert Philp formed a partnership which was formalised in 1883 as Burns,Philp & Company making this the first branch outlet in the colony. The Burns Philp Building was constructed in 1884 shortly after the formation of the company that was to become one of the most significant mercantile providers in Queensland. Sheng who looks Chinese but was a Kiwi, told us of a place to camp on the other side of the bridge as you leave Normanton, we were to meet him there the next day so I could buy a car charger for my laptop that he was having delivered to the Post office. Sheng has a good lurk going, he helps travellers out and get cash in hand and moves onto the next town.
Arriving in Normanton we stopped at the information centre and asked about the free parking, yep you will need a permit but a lot of people say it to dusty so go and check it out first; we walked the town and checked out the tourist spots before camping up.
We found a great spot on the river, stuff the permit we said, were not driving back to town, only then we saw a guy sitting on his own, park here if you like he said I’m just waiting for my wife to return with our permit, a witch from the council turned up and you must have a permit, shit so we camped up and I road back to town.
Des through a crab pot in and we sat around a fire waited and watching for the crocks to come out of the river.
25-07-2012 We were lying in bed watching the morning show when we heard a car pull up, it’s the bloody council Des said, he quickly put his cloths on and went outside to meet her, "bad mistake" you can’t camp here she said, why not said Des, the camping area is down there, so you won’t me to move 100yards down there, what’s the difference. This scene went back and forth then I stepped in, what it is about Queensland, we travelled all the way up the South Coast without being hassle and as soon as travel in our own state we get nothing but hassle’s. Australia belongs to everyone you no and all we won’t to do is see it without getting moved on, we don’t do anything wrong we always leave the area clean and we don’t litter. This is where it got interesting; we had some crushed beer cans and empty bottles of wine lying near the door of our van which she pointed to, that is classed a littering, the crows fly in at night and take them away, no they don’t said Des, they sleep at night, I’m not going to argue with you she said and left, I hope you have a nice day said Des, I will have a lovely day she said, well I hope you have a shit of a day said Des. No wonder you get fined you need to learn to shut your mouth some time Des. So that was the start of our day we packed up pulled the pot which had 2 undersized mud crabs in and moved 100 yards down the track.
After we were settled in to our new spot we removed the pushes and road into town for some more site seeing and stock up on veggies.
The Albion Hotel built in Croydon late 1880s and relocated early 1900s, we sat with a drink waiting for the veg truck to unload and chatting with another couple of travellers. There are three hotels in this town and one in particular we haven't seen anyone go into, I don't know how they make their money.
The sketches shown on the tiles were once the bar top in 1959 -60s. Each of the 14 sketches depicts a character or char actor in a situation which has been immortalised in the style of the bush.
We brought our veggies and lucky for Des the couple we were talking to were kind enough to take them back in there car for us. On the way back to camp we stopped at a park with a shower outside. I wore my togs but Des went in his birthday suit, then a car drove down and he run for the Lou, where's the camera when you won't it.
Sheng turned up but unfortunately the car charger didn't fit my laptop so we sat and had a couple of beers and listened to his tails.
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