Laura to Karumba.

 We left the beautiful Cape York via Laura. I was a bit sad to finish this part of our trip. I didn't expect to find so much beauty up here. All I had heard about the Cape was how rough and wild it is with crocs and mossies and how so many cars get ruined travelling through. In fact, it is all that but so much more and we enjoyed every day.
 We are heading now to Karumba in the Gulf, to catch up with a friend who lives out there. We high tailed it down the development road to Laura for an overnight stop before heading west. While we were in Laura we stopped to see the Split Rock art work. This was amazing, these rock paintings are one of the oldest in the world over 1500 years old! Well worth the detour.

Split Rock Art.

 The road that cuts across to the Bourke highway was through some private properties. Some of these stations were amazing and very impressive and we stopped by one for lunch on their creek. a local monitor came by to check us out. Very cool for our resident reptile man!

Local reptiles come out to play.

 Surprisingly the roads were in good condition and it was a nice drive, although there was about 30 gates I had to open and close, hence earned the nick name Gate Girl!

This classic road sign kept us on the right path.

A nice place to stop for lunch.

One of many!!

Beautiful view along the track to the Bourke HWY.

 It took us 2 days to get to Karumba, We travelled over 700 kilometer's of dirt road, having to carry enough fuel and water as there was no services until Karumba. We found a great spot along a creek for a camp meeting another Tvan couple who told us of other great spots in the Limmen Nat Park in the Northern Territory.
 When we pulled into Karumba we headed straight to a tyre place. Ivan's tyres were wearing thin due to the bent stubs and desperately needed replacing. The mechanic was an absolute character! Dry as a bone and took his time in everything! He didn't have what we wanted but said that if we hung around he will check out the van.
 We decided to check out the town and were taken by surprise by how many caravans with oldies there were! Every camp ground was full with them and the tinnies!! They littered the water ways! I met a great lady who ran the mini mart and she suggested to ask the mechanic for a night in his yard as he has just started having campers stay, so back we went but he said he was full! After a few hours he checked out Ivan, and found some old "shitters" to put on that would get us out of trouble. It was now after 5 and Ron took pity on us gave us a spot in his back yard. Believe it or not, we had the best spot in all of Karumba! No cranky caravaners, big open space with shade, a rare thing in Karumba, water, power and our own bathroom. We told Ron we would stay for 2 days but we ended up staying for 4! One morning I saw him to buy some Ice and in his slow dry manner he said, " how long youse staying for?" Thinking we might be overstaying our welcome, I said that James would pop in to see him later. His reply, "Well, you've been here long enough, do you want a job, I need someone for 2 weeks." Not sure if he was joking, I mentioned it to James as he went to pay for another night. James came back and said he wasn't kidding and that he had work for him as well!! Great guy, and if you find your self in Karumba say hi from us!

Best spot at Karumba!

Busy fishing!

 Karumba is a magnet for gray nomads and their massive vans and tin boats. They arrive for 3 months of year to get a tax break and take over. My new friend at the shop said that they don't spend any money, they complain if children make to much noise and they fish until there's none! We couldn't believe how many people came here to fish. Every morning the bay was full of over a hundred tin boats. If It wasn't for Ron's back yard we wouldn't have stayed a night!
 We caught up with Darren who came by for dinner. He is a commercial fisherman and lives up here about 10 months of the year, we met him through our Point plomer mate Guy so it was a fun night catching up. And check out what he brought for us for dinner....

The King Salmon fed us,  all other campers and we have some for another feed!

Thank you Darren!!

Nice one James!

Reel it in Danny!!

 The next day the boys got onto a charter and caught 5 good size fish, mostly being blue salmon, so now the freezer is stocked...where can one get a steak around here! After four days, I turned down Ron's job offer, and we packed up to leave. We didn't mean to stay for so long, and our first impression of Karumba was not great but it grew on us, but it was time to move on, taking the Savannah Way out to King Ash Bay, where Daniel will have his last opportunity to fish before we head inland.
Bourketown. We were hoping to get to King Ash Bay in the early afternoon the next day.

Crossing into the NT.

 We pulled into Borroloola and James got some info from a local who said that there was some great camping on the river at Bing Bong Bay away from the caravaners of King Ash Bay, but to be careful of crocs! Right, we had been hearing that every where  since leaving Bundeburg! We pulled into Bing Bong Bay and yes it was beautiful but harsh. Judging by the rubbish left at the camp I deducted that no white fellas camp here! An indigenous ranger of some kind drove by and said we could camp but be careful of crocs and not to let Daniel near the water. It was suggested before we got here that for safety a few rounds should be let off to scare away any crocs...I was starting to feel worried, especially when Daniel was desperate to fish. James did what was suggested and Daniel started to fish, only catching a ray which he returned.

While Dan fished, we kept a look out.

It's hard to see but there's a croc in there watching......

 That night, I got up and my light scared off a croc, which scared me and for the rest of the night I listened to them splashing and carrying on around us. when I got up, I counted 30 of my steps to the slide mark left by the croc I scared off from the Tvan. Too close for comfort. We felt uneasy and quickly packed up to leave the Gulf and Croc country....not quickly enough, I got completely hammered by midges that gave me hell for a few days, keeping me up in tears and pain..Bing Bong Bay, if the crocs don't get you the midges will!

Bloody midges.