The last two days in
Karumba have been quite busy - you have to be to keep out of the heat! On Monday we took advantage of a price-war between the airlines and took a ½ hour scenic flight with
Karumba Air over the Gulf for only $19 per person. The
airstrip was a patch of dirt and the airport terminal itself was a tin shed. The trip was definately worth doing!
Later that afternoon we went back down to the Tavern to practise for
the pool comp that night. We had a beautiful dinner and watched the sunset. Ken and Irene turned up and wondered why we weren't at the caravan park where we'd been told to meet them!
Both David and I entered
the pool comp but neither of us were playing up to scratch. Actually, I played some of my best shots but sunk the black! David made it through 3 rounds but lost to the player who came runner up overall. It was a fun night with the locals.
Today, we went out fishing on a charter boat - an 8½ metre Cougar Cat called Castaway run by husband and wife team Alan and Pam. Our group caught 33 salmon and 2 grunter between the 8 of us. Ken came with us and just as
well - he caught the biggest of the grunters and offered to share it with us that night. After stuffing it with corriander, garlic and butter we cooked it on the hotplate of our gas cooker- yummm!
We had planned to leave tomorrow but we're talking about staying another night.
Karumba is very hot but there's plenty here for us to do. We'll be heading out to Escott Lodge near
Burketown for a couple of nights and then into the legendary
Lawn Hill where we'll meet up again with Ken and Irene.
Oh - almost forgot... last night there was a terrific wind which nearly blew down the tent. I got up a few times to
check the sky thinking that the weatherman's prediction for a cyclone might be true. Around 2am I saw the legendary Morning Glory that has only been observed in the Gulf of Carpentaria and the Gulf of Mexico. Special conditions are necessary and it was only a fluke that I happened to see it. I wasn't even sure at the time but this morning all the locals were talking about it. I'm very happy to have experienced this fascinating cloud formation.