Normanton and Leichhardt Falls

Our first stop for the day was in Normanton, a small town situated beside the Norman River. In its heyday (1880's - 90's) Normanton was a sea port for the gold mines around Croydon, and to service the new cattle stations in the area.


A big Barramundi statue.......


The 'Purple Pub' formally know as the Exchange Hotel in Croyden, when it was relocated to Normanton it was painted a light mauve colour, over the years the colour of the paint got darker til finally in 1979 it got painted full on purple, then it got the name 'the purple pub'.......


Big croc skull found by some guy in the Wills creek.......


Shana sitting on a seat made on top of old rail wheels.....


Kade sitting really delicately .......


Finally a nice photo of both of them......


A MASSIVE model (made to the measurements recorded in the Guiness Book of records)of an 8.63 metre Crocodile that a lady (Krystina Pawlawski) shot, this is the largest crocodile ever shot (and recorded) it has a girth of 4 metres, and an estimated weight of 2 tonnes!!!! This thing was HUGE!!!!!! You would have absolutely NO chance against something like this!!.....


Shana sitting in its mouth.......


Kade screaming/laughing as he gets 'eaten'......


The old Gaol.......


The Trackers quarters.....(in 1874 Indigenous Males were added to the Queensland Police force, used to find people running from the law, lost persons and lost or stolen stock)


The old crane at the wharf.......


The Norman River.........


And the other way......


Not every day that you can buy fishing tackle at the bakery......

It was nearly lunch time and there was a bakery so.....well that naturally means that you should have food from there of course!!!!! Lunch was just a sausage roll but dessert.....now that was awesome!!!! YUMMO!!!!


Steve's divinely gooey caramel slice......


Kade's light and fluffy jam and cream bun.......


Shana's decadently rich chocolate cheesecake.....( so rich she couldn't eat it all)


And My utterly scrumptiously sweet and tart Lemon Meringue Pie.......MMMMMM!!!!!!

From Normanton we continued on our journey, which took us past the Burke and Wills campsite 119! There were monuments everywhere but I only took photos of a few.....


This map shows where they all went......


A plaque to show one of the trees that they marked to show others that they had been there.....


One of the 'blazes' in a nearby tree.....


The first major river we came to was 'little Bynoe River' which was rather big for a 'little' river - no water over road though......just down the road was Bynoe
River hence the 'little' one before it.......


FINALLY A BARRAMUNDI!!!!!! (with photo proof....lol)


This is Flinders River.....yay some water across the road:) (obviously the previous 130 odd river/creek crossings wasn't enough lol)


Steve having a tough old time - having to go through 3 times to give me a good photo op!!!......


Kade took a photo from inside......not that much to see really......haha


Some pelicans having fun in the current - they'd fly up to the bridge and then float down stream......
Next place to stop at was Leichhardt Falls. This is a gorgeous place to see, which would be even more spectacular in the wet! It looks very peaceful, but we were warned that there are salt water crocs here and that last year a 14 year old girl went missing......very comforting.......


Steve and Kade on the edge of the falls.......


Yes that's a long way down!!!!!...... You can see Steve and Kade at the top left of the falls.....


Beautiful waterfalls......


A very deep pool at the bottom......


Small water fall up a bit further........


Water fall just up from where we decided to camp.......


Look at the old car that was traveling the same way as us...... I'm sure that it's not very comfy.....


A tiny cane toad that Shana found........yes she washed her hands after.....


Part of the road that was washed away......


Looking down the river........


Some new aboriginal art work that we 'found' on the rocks near the falls......


Oh look, they've changed into alien pictures.......lol


This is Steve's idea of a shower, a bucket or two over your head.......


One down your pants, and your done!!!!! Haha ps. He doesn't know that I took these photos lol.......


Then it was Kade's turn...... He reckons it was FREEZING!!!!! Shana and I were WAY smarter and just used the water, heated it up and had a nice HOT shower!!!!


A little visitor that popped into our camp.........


The very 'difficult' view from our caravan........beautiful:)


And down the other way.......


Our campsite.......


And from the other side......see Shana is having a shower next to the car, the campfire is on to get some coals to cook our dinner.......all good:)

That's all from us today......

Lots of love the Barramundi's xxxx


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