Normanton

THURSDAY, 16 JUNE 2016

Frangipani at Cloncurry

Small cattle train

Burke & Wills Roadhouse

The roadhouse

Very pretty, very flat butterfly

Ore trains

Mustering

We had a fairly quiet day yesterday in Cloncurry after failing to find the advertised Old Chinese and Afghan Cameleers’ cemeteries – they were marked on the maps but no longer seemed to exist.  The late afternoon did liven up with a bit of excitement: we asked the Tasmanians next to us to join us for a pre-dinner drink and Les also went to ask the lady next to them (she was travelling in a caravan on her own).  She was a bit upset as she had been to the doctor and been diagnosed as having had a stroke and highly likely to have another one at any time.  The doctor ordered her to hospital for the night at the Cloncurry Hospital and then transfer to Mt Isa on Friday.  The men helped her pack up her little Avan, which was put beside the owner’s residence, then I took her to the hospital.  Felt so sorry for her, all on her own and hope that it all works out okay for her.

Another very warm morning today as we packed up for the drive to Normanton.  It didn’t take long for the temperature to reach 30 degrees, topping at 33 before we arrived.  The road was very good and only the final 145 kms were divided between two and one lane bitumen, with good shoulders – hard and dry.  Traffic was fairly light, although there were quite a few road trains carting ore and, of course, lots of caravans!  We stopped at Burke & Wills Roadhouse, along with a couple of hundred other travellers; there weren’t many actually in the roadhouse!  Lunch was enjoyed under a shady tree at a rest area before continuing to Normanton.  At one stage we passed through a large swarm of locusts and then caught the tail end of a cattle muster across the road.

We are staying at the Normanton Tourist Park, which is very similar to Cloncurry, but without the grass.  We do have a slab, though, and are parked under a nice shady tree.  It was so hot and sticky after setting up that we actually found our bathers and enjoyed half an hour in the warm spa and then another shower.

We now have to worry about crocodiles as well as snakes!!!