Ryan’s Journal: Days 47 - 49

Day 47

Distance travelled: 102km

Today we drove out to Riversleigh Fossil Site. It had ancient fossils of crocodiles, big birds, huge snakes and lots of other sea fish. This was just one part of a huge fossil area where full skeletons have been found of extinct species. We joined in with a tour group and got lots of extra information.

We then went out to Adel’s Grove. While Nick, Jackson and I were swimming in the river and jumping off a pontoon, Mum and Dad were up at the bar getting a drink.

We all had a lazy afternoon, either doing school work (on a Sunday afternoon!), swimming in the river or sleeping. We did eventually all go for a paddle in the tyre tubes up part of the way of the gorge.

Day 48

Distance travelled: 441km

After our longest stop since Darwin, we packed up from Lawn Hill and started driving. We hoped to get to Normanton today, but we weren’t sure if we could make it, 400km on a rough dirt road. We had lunch at Leichardt Falls, where we saw a huge dead cow, and some nice falls. We did make it to Normanton, where we set up in a campground there. Again, while Mum and Dad went to get a drink from some of the iconic pubs, Nick, Jackson and I went to the pool and had a swim. The pool was cold, but refreshing after a hot day in the car, and the artesian spa there was a hot thirty-eight degrees. We had fun jumping from the spa to the pool, then back to the spa again.

We had dinner, and then took Mum and Dad to the pool and spa.

Day 49

Distance travelled: 167km

Today I was incredibly excited. Yesterday, Dad had booked us a fishing charter in Karumba. Karumba, a small town on the point of the Gulf and Norman River is a popular fishing spot for many people during the dry season. Our charter was lead by a guy called Bret, who gave Nick, Dad and I rods and bait. As we had heard, not many ‘Barra’ were being caught but many Salmon were. Our day ended with us catching a total of about 50 fish between us and another couple. We only kept about 12 for us and about the same for the other people. The biggest fish was, somehow, caught by Dad, a Queenfish, 75cm long, and the biggest Salmon was caught by me, at 67cm long. We spent five hours on the boat and while we were fishing, Mum and Jackson spent most of their time sitting at the pub that looked out over the Gulf.

The charter used up all of our day, so we went back to the campsite where Dad and Nick gutted and filleted the fish. Surprisingly, we had fish for dinner!