July 10^th

There was movement outside our rig in the night..evidently a padamelon (like a wallaby) was seen hopping through the camp ground during the early hours.

What a busy morning. Up early to listen to ‘Macka’ on Australia All Over. We had been warned that he would be interviewing John Olston who is the guy we saw 10 days ago, walking and wheeling a trolly across Australia. It had been arranged that he would contact Macka from Camoweal on this Sunday.  We heard the interview at about 7.30 am. John Olston is walking to raise awareness for the nasty disease that killed his partner.

John Olston walking across Australia

Off to the Market at Point Karumba. This was fun with lots of clothing and jewellery for sale. We  bought a couple of Papayas. These are a close cousin to the Paw Paw but have a much more acceptable aroma.

After coffee and doughnuts we set off north on the Burke Developmental Road to explore another area. What great fun with so much to see along the way. A huge variety of birds was the main point of interest for me. Lots of Brolga and Sarus Cranes. A Jabiru choking down a fish for lunch and a Greater Egret, a Straw-necked Heron, a pair of Magpie Geese, a Pelican and even a Pheasant Coucal which flew up from the weeds on the roadside. The regular road kill provides meals for the kites and hawks and especially the huge Wedge Tailed Eagle with its long feathery pants. After we chose a camp spot we saw a Darter diving for fish..what a long neck it had. Then several black cockatoos flew over making themselves well heard! There was a lot of water on the roadsides some man made after scraping gravel up for road work and some lovely natural lagoons with a few water lilies. The countryside  was really pretty and quite green featuring some wattles in bloom and also the Silver box tree, there was also a Blue leaved melaleuca growing along the roadside.

The mobs of cattle are mostly fat and seemingly ready for market! They actually appear to be very pretty in the bush with all the multi colours of cream, grey, brown, tan and black (and every colour in between). I expect they are a drought resistant breed waiting to go to market..maybe even to be exported live to an overseas country.

We lunched on the Gilbert River where we saw about 10 Freshwater Crocodiles either floating below the surface of the river water or out sunning themselves on a sand bank.

Tonight we are settled on a small lagoon which is part of the Staaton River system and about 150 kms from Kowanyama which is on the coast of the Gulf.

It has been a delightful trip north today.