Quamby – Normanton

Got an early start given the hangovers we were supporting. We were the second to leave and there were a few saw heads floating around. We said a fond farewell to Quamby and headed off into the heat of the early morning. The countryside was magnificent leaving Quamby. Lovely large rocky outcrops and lush green trees.

Midget with her Quamby Pub companions. 12 week old Healer, and 7 month old monster! They had fun playing together.

Within an hour of leaving Quamby we were back to grass plains and the Matilda Highway was switching intermittently between one and two lanes of highway. Arrived at the half way point of the Burke & Wills Roadhouse around lunch time. It was a pretty boring place. I was expecting some interesting history, photos etc, but nothing but cheapskate pensioners refuelling with the $1.78/L prices and pulling out their thermos and their loaves of bread. Maybe they new something we were about to find out. The food was pretty bad.

Arrived in Normanton around 5pm. It’s a cute town with a few lovely old buildings and wide streets. Normanton’s claim to fame is the stunning Gulflander Railway. The 1870’s rail station is a real gem and the train trip to Croydon or just the short hop and return is apparently a must do. The building looks entirely original and its just overgrown by beautiful plants and lovely brolgas coming in for some bread from the owner. What a spot!

Steve fished from just before sunset till about midnight from the old bridge. The town have spent up huge turning the old single lane bridge for the highway into a fishing bridge. From both ends there are fish gutting tables, BBQs and taps ever 20m or so on the bridge. There are also shady seating dotted all the way along the bridge. This has got to be a fisherman’s dream come true. Given how many locals and visitors frequent the place, it appears to be money well spent!

The day was really hot and humid and the evening bought lovely cooling breezes to the van. The evening also bought a plague of crickets many of which were 3” or more long! One long term resident was telling Steve of the croc seen at the water’s edge some 50m from where we’d parked who was building a nest on the other side of the Norman River. This was his/her river and all that was in it. Being our millionth “Barra Capital of Australia” that we’d visited, they weren’t catching much last night, but Steve said a real pro of a local caught 2 within 5 minutes of arriving. It appears that locals get better with the more practice they get. This guy must just live on them. Many still say its still a little cold for the Barra to bite, but this guy seemed to have the knack.