We pulled out of Lawn Hill National Park and called into Adele's Grove to have a look around. We'd met 2 couples who really bucketed the place but we disagree; we thought the place was really nice, very shady, beautiful gardens and right on the river. No power or water and only hot showers for $34.00 per night seemed a bit steep to us compared to the N.P. so we're glad we didn't stay there though! The road out was pretty rutted & boggy so with rain coming we're glad to be out of there.
From there we went to Gregory Downs and fuelled up then headed back to the Savannah Way via Augustus Downs Cattle Station. It must have been one of the worst roads we've been on; lots of ruts, bog holes & damage. After a very long day of driving we headed up the Burketown road to see the Leichhardt River. It's awesome; at least 1/2 a km wide but not a lot of water at the moment. There's also a waterfall; it would be incredible to see it in full flood. The amount of rivers & creeks in this area is amazing; I had no idea!
We headed on to the next camp spot but we'd just pulled up and set up camp and got the fire out when there were a couple of claps of thunder and within a couple of minutes it was starting to rain. Not wanting to be caught on such bad dirt roads in the wet & chance getting bogged, we quickly packed up and hightailed it towards Normanton. We were hoping to make it to Little Bynoe River but it was already late and the sun was long gone when we came across Flinders River. It was full of water (there's a causeway to get across) with plenty of room to camp beside it and we'd outrun the rain so we set up beside the river. What a lovely place to camp; so much better than any caravan park. We lit the fire and settled back with a drink before cooking dinner & hitting the sack. We woke just on sunrise and peaked out the back window; what a beautiful sight to wake up to. So many birds! There were pelicans, brolgas, cranes, plovers and so many others; it was amazing! They reckon about half of Australia's birds live in the N.T. JJ decided to catch a fish for breaky while I got the bucket out and washed the caravan; I've never seen it so dirty! J.J. had no luck fishing and I'd finished washing the van so we settled for weetbix & a cup of tea. 
On the road again, we stopped in at Burke & Wills camp spot no:119 where Burke died. It's hard to imagine what these early explorers went through. We have a lot to thank them for.
We rolled on to Normanton where we both looked at each other and laughed. There is bugger all in Normanton. A run down BP service station, a purple pub, 2 little stores, a few old buildings and the historic rail museum where the Gulflander runs from. After hearing that's it's the only major town in the gulf we'd expected so much more!
So, on to Karumba to find our caravan park. Once set up I did an oil change on the old girl and gave her a wash (the Landcruiser - not JJ) while J.J. went to catch our dinner. The cruiser is ready to go but we had to go and buy barra & chips for dinner.
I think the only thing anyone comes to Karumba for is to go fishing. The whole town is full of 4 wheel drives, boats & boat trailers. The carpark outside the caravan park is full of boat trailers. The caravan park is full of 4x4's. People stay here for months on end & everyone goes out fishing every day. The fish cleaning tables always have a line-up & the place stinks of fish. We can't get over it; we've never seen anything like it. Who knows what they do with all the fish? You can only eat so much. There's always a line up at the boat ramp; it's like Queen Street. 
The owners of the caravan park reckon it's boat rage; not road rage. They reckon it's interesting to just sit out on the water & watch how everyone reckons they have their own space & watch out anyone who gets into it! We're feeling a bit out of it; we don't do much fishing. We've thrown the line in a few times but only caught a few bream that are too small & we've thrown them back.
Tonight was nice; they put on a roast so we went over & had dinner with a heap of other people then went up the pub to watch the footy.
Tomorrow we head off again. It's time to head towards the east coast.
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