Normanton & the Gulf

If we weren’t keeping an ever watchful eye on the coming of the wet season, we might still be at Gregory. However we had to push on east towards the east coast of Queensland, before starting our run to Cape York. Before we left, I popped in to say hello to the Murrays, the only general store within 150klms in any direction. The actual store part is no bigger than a walk in wardrobe, but all the essentials were there.

So it was back tracking to the Burke & Wills Roadhouse and then a left hand turn, destination Normanton. We didn’t quite make it the first day and laid up at a rest stop about 100klm west of town. When we finally arrived, first stop was the hardware store to get the spare parts to fix the taps on Ken’s van and to replace a shredded piece of water pipe on mine. Luckily, the plumbers equivalent of ‘plug n’ play’ meant that both repairs were made in quick time. Normanton is an historic town and, at the height of the Croydon gold rush back in the 1880’s, the busiest port in Queensland.

The history of Burns-Philp and Co is a corner stone of Queensland commerce and shipping in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The whole story from go to whoa, is laid out in a section of the building. There is also a large section devoted to the history of indigenous men and women in the cattle industry – really well done.

Karumba and the gulf were only an hour away, so we unhitched at the local caravan park and headed to the ocean. Not much to look at but it was quite the occasion. We had reached the Gulf of Carpentaria, on the bucket list of Ken’s big adventure and there was a pub to celebrate at. A cold beer on a stinker of a day with the breeze in our face and the ocean at our backs.

Now, Normanton is a famous tourist destination for two reasons , the Purple Pub and the Gulflander. The first one is pretty self explanatory, the second requires a bit of a backstory.

Meet the Gulflander. From a distance it looks like a VW Kombi towing a couple of buses, but after a long and storied career, it is now a tourist destination. Running from Normanton to Croydon, roughly 150 klms, it provided transport during the gold rush era from the port to the diggings. It barrels along at roughly 40klms and hour and the carriages can best be described as ‘historic’.

After shooting this video, I drove back into Normanton, waited half an hour for Ken. We visited the Burns-Philp museum and then started to head for Croydon in no particular hurry. Imagine my surprise as I loomed up and then passed the Gulflander, not even half way there.

The railway line ran pretty much parallel with the highway, and I can assure you, this is not a rail journey that you take for the scenery. Rather for the bragging rights I suspect. There is another similar journey from Cairns to Forsythe on the Savannahlander, which on appearances alone, seems a decidedly more comfortable experience.

We were embarking on a whistle stop tour of our own as we headed to Cooktown, a mere 900 klms away. Would we attempt the Cape York leg? Ken was still weighing up the pro and cons but by the time we reached Atherton, a decision had been made.