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Thurs 15 Jul to Fri 16 Jul
After a early breaky and then a jummy morning tea with our wonderful hosts Bill & Max we all said our goodbyes and were on the road again by about 11. We reached Normanton by lunch time and everyone needed to stock up on a few groceries, petrol & water so we headed straight for the grocery store (no, not Ned Kelly's). Normanton is the second oldest town in the Gulf & in its heyday was port for the Croydon gold rush and is a terminus of the historic Normanton to Croydon Railway. As we had not seen the famous Railway station on the way through, that and also the purple pub was a must see. The Gulflander rail motor departs Normanton every Wednesday and travels along the most original railway line in the world. The Phillips Steel Sleepers were created with a hollow base that was filled with mud, making ballast unnecessary.(Hows that for a bit of trivia) The rail motor goes from Normanton to Croydon, stays overnight and then returns the following day.There are mail stops and a morning tea stop along the way. The old Victorian style railway station boasts a museum, souvenir shop and a multi award winning garden. The Purple Pub which stands out like the proverbial sore thumb, so Warren & Bob just had to have a beer in the bar before leaving. I went in to take a picky and met a really nice aboriginal man named Roy, he was from Halls Creek and he followes the Rodeo circuit from town to town. We caught up with our other travelling companions down the track a bit and by about 3 o'clock we pulled into the Burke & Wills roadhouse and booked in for the night. It was chock-a-block full & there was no real order in which to park our vans, so we did our normal thing and parked with our awnings all facing inwards. Happy hour at 5 o'clock as usual.
The following day another early start as we had 144ks to go to get to Gregory Downs which is the turn off to Lawn Hill National Park and another 90ks of dirt road after that to get to Adels Grove Resort & Caravan Park. We stopped at Gregory Downs for a cuppa & bite to eat before hitting the rough & dusty road. They were doing roadworks on one part of the dirt road, Warren & I were in the lead so we got through unscathed but before Bob & Paul could come through they sent the water truck ahead of them, well did they have a slippery time and their cars and vans were caked with thick mud. We all stopped to check for any damage, nothing but a good hosing down would have been in order, we had a few things move around inside our van, and enough dust that one could grow potatoes in. We arrived at Adels Grove, registered, parked, cleaned up the inside of the van, then took a walk through the camping area and along the beautiful creek that runs right through Adels Grove. Adels Grove takes its name from its founder Albert de Lestang's initials and is a privately run venture servicing tourists and scientists who come to visit Lawn Hill National Park & Fossil field at Riversleigh which is another 60ks down the track.
Well another days ends with happy hour, early to bed and early to rise tomorrow as we have a big day planned, a visit to the Gorge which we were all looking forward to very much. We hope that you will come with us when we go paddling up the Gorge in a canoe. I hope you are all enjoying our travels so far as much as we have, so keep on logging in to our website for more fun and adventures. Bye for now ....Carol
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