Mareeba to Karumba

July 9 to July 16

Mareeba is the northern township of the Atherton Tablelands. We were a week too early for the rodeo, which many say rivals the Mt Isa Rodeo in size and participation. We stayed at the rodeo ground (which is also the local low cost camping ground) and enjoyed the lead up horseman competitions like “cutting”, where they separate a calf from a group and try to keep it isolated. We didn’t understand the rules but were impressed with the horse and rider expertise. A free country music concert was also held that night.

The region is renowned for the agriculture. Particularly interesting was the history of the tobacco plantations.

Curtain Fig at Yungaburra

Some of the smaller town on the tablelands proved most interesting, such as Tolga (with a fantastic woodworks and timber arts centre), Yungaburra with the huge fig trees and bushwalking trails, and Millaa Millaa for the number of waterfalls.

Millaa Millaa Falls

Tuesday we departed the tablelands to drive west along the Savannah Way to the bottom of Cape York. It is a 550km drive to Normanton, but we found the couple of towns along the way interesting. Although the Savannah Way is “sealed” to Normanton, the single carriageway sections are pretty lengthy east of Croydon.

Plenty of single carriageway road east of Croydon on the Savannah Way 

The area was first populated by gold mining in the late 1800’s, and Croydon has a great museum and restored heritage building area.

Croydon Heritage Museum

After breaking the drive into two days, we arrived in Normanton on Wednesday.

Krys the Croc, 8.6 metres long, real life replica size

Only 70km away was one of the planned destinations for this trip, Karumba. This coastal settlement on the Gulf of Carpentaria is primarily a commercial prawning and fishing centre, and the largest live cattle export port in Australia.

New Barra Centre under construction, Karumba

Karumba has long been a dream destination for fishermen, with the unusual gulf waters holding some of the best examples of prized fish such as barramundi, Spanish mackerel, large salmon and huge grunter.

Of course, barramundi aren’t really a winter target fish, and another poor wet season has meant the catches of the recreational fishers have been average at best.

Not a target species, but fun to catch

I did enjoy a fishing charter, and although a bit disappointed with our haul it compared favourably with other boats.

Fair sized Grunter, the largest we caught was 60cm

We stayed at Karumba Point, an incredibly friendly and accommodating area. Saturday night the caravan park put on a complimentary fish BBQ for the guests, including live entertainment.

Free fish BBQ and entertainment night on Saturday

Many isolated tourist towns seem to be geared to just take your money with overcharged tours and overpriced commodities. Karumba is refreshingly different, they are overtly customer focused and have kept “cost of living” and recreational pursuits at a reasonable price. This is why many guests in the caravan parks come back every year, some for 6 months at a time.