Like Herbie, we loved Normanton, we stayed there instead of Kurumba and just did a day journey to there, 75kms each way good bitumen road.   Normanton Info Centre has all the info you need.   If anyone does got to Karumba, make sure you visit the Barra Farm hatchery, the breeding stock will make your mouth water....

Normanton also has a free camp (see CAW) on the river bank, permits from the Info Centre....

A little bit of our stop over in Normanton,This place is a place you either hate it or love it,so the locals told us.

Well I fall into the latter,it just has always had a good feel about every time I visit there.

The people are just the most friendliest people one would want to meet.

The lady in the info centre,is a wealth of knowledge and the coffee is pretty good also for a gold coin donation.

A little bit of trivia here....Normanton was used by Neville Shute in his novel ..A TOWN LIKE ALICE.(not Alice Springs as most would think )He visited Normanton and commented that the place was very short on services and women, as I guess it still is today by modern standards.But in saying that it has retained a lot of it's heritage.The old gaol is worth a look as the bricks were made on the bricks were made here and the walls are 19 inches thick.Once this place was the hub for the police district (due to all the mines in the area )In 1881 the station was maned by a sergant and one constible , in 1888 it had grown to having a inspector a sub inspector 16 other ranksand one Aboriginal tracker.

The railway station is truly beautiful building,housing an amazing museum and some rolling stock .

The amazing thing about this railway system was that it never connected to any other part of the Australian railway system. Today you can still do trips on the Gulflander which is purely run as a tourist operation.

Another must see is KRY'S ( exact replica ) of the biggest Croc shot and recorded, the measurement is 8.63mtrs an estimate weight of 2 tonne and around the girth measured 4mtrs.it was shot in 1957.The talk around town is that there is even a bigger one seen lurking around the waters around here.

Another interesting to old building is what is known as The Shed,(O'Neils Shed )it is the shed that was used for the storage of fuel for the Catalina Flying boats during the war'.

The other thing that I have noticed is there is flocks of the true green budgies, they just rise from the side of the road.These are the true natural budgie,all those different coloured one's we see around are mutations inbred for human pleasure.

The roos are the red colour as opposed to the eastern greys.

I must return back here again real soon as we only had half a day here and you really need at least three daysWill I be back you BETCHA.(even the boys could not get enough of the place)

I almost forgot yep we had a beer in the purple pub and it was A1 one also .three pubs in total here, but the locals appear to drink and eat from here so that always tells me it must be ok.

The women who live here car pool and go to Mt Isa to do their food shopping once a month,i did notice a s/market ,maybe it is an excuse to hit the big smoke for some retail therapy. ..And good on them for thinking outside the box.

Beaut place Herbie, we were so relaxed there we didn't feel like leaving....can't understand anyone not liking the place.

Glad the time with your son is going well Herbie, will give you both fond memories in the future. 

That movie sounds great Sheba, hope you can find it

Hi Gary, this is your kind of place for sure,can see you now with your camera out clicking away.It would sure as hell make all your blog readers from O/S sit up and book their ticket out here.

Just thought of a brilliant idea!!! instead of the tourist mob paying six O/S people (one even from Afghanistan )over $100.000 plus board and lodging for a year, you could do it for the price of your fuel,that way it a win/win for us all.

Regards Herbie.

PS really enjoy your blog writing by the way .I am sure when you do get to get out on the road ,it will be interesting to read your views on places and all of what takes your interest....A lot of blogs are no more than from  one camp to the next kind of thing,doesn't give the person reading it much knowledge of any thing much really Also some blogs only cover what that person is interested in ,we all have varied interests so a blog in my opinion has to tell it as you see it ..good or bad that way the person reading it can make up their own opinion of the place when they get to go see it for them self. If the world was perfect we wouldn't have to travel from one place to the next to try and find that next slice of Paradise.

We loved Normanton too Herbie, here is a couple of shots you will recognise, the big barra is outside the motel/caravan park we stayed at;

Have to get up there to see Krys one day soon Vic.   I met Krys Pawlowski in Brisbane years ago, when the family came down for her to get treatment for Breast cancer.  Her son-in law used to work with my first husband.  She was such a tiny lady, it seemed unbelievable that she shot him.  But she did.

I've got a copy of the short movie about her somwhere.

Cheers,

Sheba.

Thanks Vic for posting the pics..when I opened them up. I wanted to head straight back there...The boys have taken heaps of pic's and vid's. We arrived back in Longreach today.So now all the cleaning out of the red dust.But that's half the fun.

This six weeks away with my boy has been one of the best six weeks of my life,regarding to really bond and get to know him as a mate rather  than me as Dad and him as the child...When the kids were small I guess a lot of us were too busy working our butts off to provide for all the family ,to really go off into the never never and just take it as it comes .

At Longreach, as well as the Stockman's Hall of Fame, the Qantas Museum, Radio School of the Air (recommended) we also did the Cobb and Co Stagecoach ride, Rusty Gates was our driver (used to be a guide at Stockman's Hall of Fame) it goes on part of the old original bush track used by Cobb and Co.   Tea/Coffee and scones at the Depot included as is an Aussie movie in their small cinema.

Not cheap, but worth it, we really enjoyed it.  See;

http://www.kinnonandco.com.au/  

I believe the River cruise is really good but we did not do that.   We also didn't stay at the free camp on the River bank but at one of the caravan parks near town.