TOD Tour 2.0 Day 31 - Clouds & Cruises

The Morning Glory

It was a day of extremes, with wonderful experiences at either end of the day.

One of the natural wonders we hoped to catch, was a cloud formation which moves in over the southern end of the Gulf of Carpentaria in the early morning, called The Morning Glory. You have to have the right weather conditions for it to happen, which the lady at Ash's explained to us. This morning seemed to fit the bill, so we were up at sunrise, which for me was no more than a daily occurrence but for Sue was a major effort.

Sure enough, a long, continuous cloud stretched from as far as we could see to ... as far as we could see! It just gradually rolled on over us and head inland where it began to dissipate. It wasn't perhaps the greatest example of a Morning Glory but it was never the less what we were hoping to experience.

We went into Karumba for another coffee at the Wild Fish Cafe. Afterwards, we watched them feeding the barramundi in the big pond at the Barramundi Discovery Centre. They cast pellets onto the water surface, causing the fish to strike at the surface. If it wasn't enough watching these big fish rolling about the surface, next came a flight of Whistling Kites - perhaps ten or twelve of them - who swooped on the surface to also grab the pellets for a feed, eating them mid flight as they prepared for the next swoop. It was an aerial ballet, choreographed by some natural instinct and complete with those haunting calls they make.

Fish and chips at Ash's for lunch and then bummed out for the afternoon.

Late afternoon, we joined a cruise by Crab & Croc Cruises, which took us the short distance back up the Norman River to the port. There was lots of information about the history of the port and the various stages of infrastructure that have supported it. During WWII, it was a base for The Black Cats, a Catalina Flying Boat Squadron and before that, Sunderland Flying Boats use to land and refuel in Karumba as part of the route from Sydney to London. They would land on the river, water taxi to the boat ramp, drop their wheels and run up the steep ramp to a hangar at the top. The Federal government constructed two large buildings for passengers and crew, with a restaurant and sleeping quarters.

We also got to watch a Jabiru (Black Necked Stork) at close quarters. on the bank of the river.

The skipper turned seaward - or is that gulfward - and we zipped out through what is still a fairly shallow channel of 4 metres deep, to a sand island 7kms off shore, where we de-camped to watch the sunset. The viewing treat was accompanied by drinks and prawns and other delicious additions. Too many cameras and with enough sunset shots, we just enjoyed the experience rather than recorded it. On the way out, we saw two fledgling sea eagles sitting on a nest originally built by an osprey. The osprey like a high nest and often pick the tops of lit channel markers.

We slept well.

Click for today's photos