Karumba

We drove into Karumba with gale force winds kicking up the dirt and thought...hhmmmm, not much. We couldn't have been more wrong. We loved Karumba. Yes, dry and dusty like everywhere else, but there was the ocean, and the mouth of the massive Norman River. Magnificent.

No choice here but to stay in a caravan park squeezed in with all the other vans. Fortunately most are on their way home, so by the end of our four days we had elbow room!

Our spot. Two neighbours left after two days :) no grass, but plentry of trees.

Activity number one....Sunset Cruise, complete with De Bortoli wine in real glasses (that we got to keep), and prawns, and yummy fresh fruit.  Real holiday stuff. The sun sets into the ocean here. SPECTACULAR! And they only have one tide per day, not two.

Heading out for wine and prawns :)

Cheers!

Lovely!

Activity number two....fishing. Half day charter. We had to get up at 6 o'clock - middle of the night!

Lots of fun, and great being out on the water. Did I mention Bevy caught the first fish, and the most? In fact all the girls out fished the boys ha ha!

He did get some!  We caught mainly blue nose salmon....very yummy :)

Check the confident hold on the fish! Best part about a charter? they bait the hook and take the fish off the line.

... and Dezzi gets to fillet them !

Activity number three....... Crab and Croc Tour. This was four hours on Saturday morning, and so good.  Mark and Julianne, that own the business were so much fun. They are commercial crab fishermen as well as running the cruises. We learned so much about Karumba from them. Plus we got to see some crabs, and how to tie them up,and EAT THEM :) along with more wine and prawns and fruit. Tough, hey?

Pulling up the pots.

How to tie a crab up without getting your toes bitten off.

Showing male and female crabs. Male on the left, female on the right ( she got thrown back n 'cos you can't keep the females ).

Oh yeah!

mmmmmm! and then EAT THEM :)

yum scrum!

Happy Dezzi

The other part of the cruise was Crocs, and we got to see our first real life in the wild crocodiles!

Karumba is one of those little places that you like the more you stay. Even though it is so dusty and dry, it is still lovely.

It has sand.......

and pretty flowers....

loads of birdlife...

he caught his lunch!

Activity number four....dinner at the Sunset Point Tavern. Man! What a find! It would take a very long time to be bored with the view and the food. Brilliant!

The terrace looking out to the mouth of the Norman River.

Some refreshments of course..

.. Entree ...

... Mains... and then ...

the sunset :) Stunning!

For such a little place - population 500 - the amount of activity in this little Port, that looks like it is fit to collapse - is astonishing.

MMG Mines ship out 5,000 tonnes of zinc per day on a mine barge out to the mother ship, further out to sea, which holds 25-30,000 tonnes. The zinc is mined at the Century Mine at Lorne Hill, made into a slurry, and then piped 300klms to the Karumba facility. It is then dried and loaded onto the barge.

The mine barge.

Also, Karumba is a major port for the export of live cattle, and soon, live goats. So plenty of road trains bringing the cattle into Port, but not while we were there.

The other main industry, of course, is barramundi and prawns.  The barramundi fishermen do all of their fishing from these little boats, out in the ocean. The larger boats are only for living on and processing.

Barramundi fisherman in his boat. These guys catch staggering volumes of fish during the season. This year, though, due to the drought their numbers are down by half.

Also, this tiny town supports 49! Prawn trawlers who were all out at sea catching our yummy Endeavour and Tiger prawns. Head down to Woollies, to the freezer section, and pick up some Raptis Gulf prawns....mmmmmmm! 

You wouldn't think this jetty would work support so much industry!

So Karumba...you were great! But time to move on. Lorne Hill National Park here we come.