KARUMBA

Dear all,

Karumba is located at the mouth of the Norman River in the Gulf of Carpentaria and is a popular base for serious fishermen and women. The town is just one street with a small supermarket, a butcher, a bakery and a chemist. Oh - and, of course, a pub. It is pretty rough up here but we are at a place called Karumba Point which is where most of the tourists stay. There is a newly established hotel on the point where the grass is lovely and green and the gardens overlook the Gulf of Carpentaria where lots gather each afternoon to watch the beautiful sunsets.



The town is the centre for the Gulf's huge prawn and barramundi industries. The prawns are no longer processed here as this is now all handled by mother ships out in the Gulf and they are exported directly from the ships. The Barrumundi Centre here is the largest hatchery in the world.


The Century zinc mine is at Lawn Hill about 400 kms east of Karumba and the zinc slurry is sent to Karumba and loaded onto huge barges which take the slurry out into the Gulf 45 kms to be loaded onto ships and sent overseas to the UK, Europe and Japan.


During the 1930's, the town was a refuelling depot for the seaplanes which stopped here on their way from Sydney to England.

We have found the golf club, also known as the recreation club, which is managed by Charlie who comes here from Canberra for the winter months and lives in his combi-van out the back. He's a wiry old fellow who also doubles as the entertainment around town (he plays guitar and sings bush ballads). He says he makes more money in the winter months up here that when at home. He also reckons he doesn't have any arguments with his wife for 3 months .... she stays in Canberra. The club opens at 3pm each day (see sign on door). The menu looks good too!




Saltwater crocs inhabit the river here so we can't take a swim, but the water is a beautiful aqua with the sand white.

We visited the Barramundi Centre today which was really interesting - I had no idea that they restock the rivers and the Gulf of Carpentaria with Barramundi fingerlings due to the commercial fishing nearly wiping them out up here. They release over a million fingerlings in various spots around the Gulf and rivers each year. The grunter (fish) is also in low numbers due to the growing number of fishermen each year in the Gulf - not only commercial, but for sport as well.
We are really ready to leave here now .... we've seen it all. Tomorrow night there will be a fish bbq here at the caravan park - we'll see if we can get any fish (one has to fight off the older patrons to get near anything that might be free!!)
We'll sign off with this photo of Christmas in July - Outback Style. Merry Christmas in July to you all. xxxx